MISSISSIPPI FRED MCDOWELL
Best of (Arhoolie)
Reviewed by Eric Steiner

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Arhoolie has released a sampling of Mississippi Fred McDowell's Arhoolie recordings from 1964 and 1969. "Kokomo Blues" and "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" show me why I'm eternally grateful for Alan Lomax' music-hunting forays into the Deep South against the Jim Crow laws of the 1950's. By the time Arhoolie producer and founder Chris Strackwitz walked up to Fred's house in Como, Mississippi in the early 1960's, Chris had already recorded and produced many types of uniquely American music. After touching base with Lomax, Strackwitz brought his Magnecord songcatcher to Fred's house, and true to the spirit that founded Arhoolie Records, Fred began to play. Like many early country blues players, McDowell was very skeptical of the entire recording process, but I'm glad that folks like Alan Lomax and Chris Strackwitz have successfully captured so much of a uniquely American music, the blues. "I Wish I Was In Heaven Sittin' Down" features Fred's wife Annie Mae and their friends, and these hollers capture Mississippi country blues at their best; "You Gotta Move" features Mississippi Fred McDowell's early take on a song that would later be covered by The Rolling Stones, bluesman Paul Pena, and generations of other popular musicians.

Track List:

Write Me a Few Of Your Lines * Do My Baby Ever Think Of Me * Levee Camp Blues * When The Saints Go Marching In * My Bottleneck (story) * Fred's Worried Life Blues * Kokomo Blues * Meet Me Down In Froggy Bottom * Good Morning Little Schoolgirl * Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning * Shake 'Em On Down * Going Away-Won't Be Gone Long * I Wish I Was In Heaven Sittin' Down * Fred's Rambling Blues * I Looked At The Sun * You Gotta Move * My Baby * Shake' Em On Down/Louise (live)

© 2001 - Eric Steiner