LONG JOHN HUNTER
Ooh Wee Pretty Baby! (Norton)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Early in Long John Hunter's 13 year tenure as the leader of the house band at the Lobby Cafe in Juarez, Mexico, he helped define the sound that Norton Records has chronicled in its El Paso Rock series with a series of singles on the Yucca label. Accompanied by a rhythm section drawn from the Lobby's bartenders, Hunter used tracks like "El Paso Rock," "Border Town Blues" and "Betty Lou" to prove why the Border Cafe was the place to be, all night, every night, for GI's, students, tourists and night lifers of every intention and description from both sides of the border.

This music wasn't created for the academic crowd or anyone else with an interest in "authenticity" or "purity." Long John Hunter was authentic because, well, just because he was. The only purity he was playing for was pure enjoyment. This wasn't for the folk festivals or the campus concerts. This was music for people who wanted to get a little drunk, a little sweaty and have a hell of a lot of fun. And they did just that, in droves, for years. Ooh Wee Pretty Baby! offers twenty-one examples of what kept folks up all night for so many years. It's worth staying up for to this very day.

Track List: El Paso Rock * Ride With Me Baby * Border Town Blues * Flippin' Fingers * Midnight Stroll * Hey Mrs. Jones * Shuffle Out * School Girl * So Long * The Scratch * Betty Lou * Strange Feeling * Grandma * I Wanna Love You * Old Red * Stop What You're Doin' * Ole Rattler * Slash * Come On * I Don't Care * Betty Lou (alternate take)

© 1999 - Shaun Dale