December 4, 2009

"Bright Lights, Big City"



Jimmy Reed

4 comments:

Retro Hound said...

Love that, it's a great little blues shuffle. And who doesn't like Jimmy Reed? Only those who haven't heard of him.

Chris said...

Yeah, it's cool. There's a Hendrix version out there that's, as you would imagine, also pretty cool.

Also, I'd betcha 14-year-old girls wouldn't like Jimmy Reed, even if they'd heard of him.

S R Management said...

Jimmy Reed was one of the first Blues artists to "cross over" to the white audiences in late 50's - early 60's. As a child I remember my uncle Boo having the Jimmy Reed "Found Love" album circa 1960, featuring a harmonica laying on red velvet (or some fabric). It is one of the LP's starting me down the blues road. It made such an impression I still have it.

Regarding the "Live at Carnegie Hall" album, I believe it was neither. Not recorded there or at any live venue, but recreates a live performance. Any way an interesting aside is this, Jimmy had trouble remembering his own lyrics and in some songs you can hear his wife feeding him the next line before he sings it. I guess this may have added to his unique cadence that is a Jimmy Reed trademark.

Chris said...

Thanks for the info., S R. I'd read that the Carnegie Hall album was a "redo" of an actual live performance, sort of like some of the infamous Duke Ellington at the Newport Jazz Festival, only on that one, audience noises were actually added later.

I love that anecdote about his wife feeding him lines. You can here her (or someone else) doing it on this particular tune!