JUNIOR KIMBROUGH
You Better Run (Fat Possum)
Reviewed by John Sekerka

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For a man who didn't start his recording career in earnest until his sixties, and who ended it not much later due to an expired ticker, Junior Kimbrough is now considered quite the legend. As part of the expiring Delta blues regulars on the Fat Possum label, Kimbrough offered something a little different for the audience. Something chilling. Kimbrough's rolling blues sprawls (most five minutes and going) sway between traditional field rhythms and boogie tempos, but it is the haunting lyrics that set these sides apart. There is sin, and there is sinister, and Kimbrough crossed that bridge with ease. This is dark, disturbing shit, but before it gets outta hand, Kimbrough pulls it all together with his rockin' guitar and echoing vocal. Kimbrough died in '98; his juke joint shack just outside of Chulahoma, Mississippi, where most of this music was played, burned down shortly thereafter. It had to be that way. "You Better Run" starts with a wonderful duet with then neighbour Charlie Feathers from way back in '69, picks away at his recent long players, and closes with a number live off the Clarksdale Sunflower Festival stage. Needless to say, it is essential.

© 2002 - John Sekerka