Label: Blue Moon.
Release Date: July 24, 2006.
Release: 2006, 2008.
Recording Time: 62 minutes.
Styles: Early R&B, Piano Blues, Regional Blues, West Coast Blues, Boogie-Woogie.
Cecil Gant wasn't a particularly gifted singer, but he exuded fun and confidence (and sincerity as well on the ballads), and his piano skills often sacrificed technique for energy and power, attitude traits that make him, in many ways, a prototype figure for rock & roll. Gant sang well enough, and was adept enough at the piano, though, to put it all over, and it is a true pity his career was cut so tragically short, limiting his recording career to a scant six years. He changed the way the record business worked by proving that an unknown artist (and a black one, no less) recording on a small regional label could generate a financially pleasing result, and his hit "I Wonder," aside from being a great song and performance, ultimately ushered in a golden era for independent labels. This set, the seventh volume in Blue Moon's survey of Gant's complete recorded work, finds the singer pretty much at the end of the line, although it retains considerable charm and includes Gant's interesting take on Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene" and a fun, goofy "Hello Santa Claus." - Review by Steve Leggett.
Credits: Eunice Davis - composer; Tommy Edwards - composer; Tennessee Ernie Ford - composer; Cecil Gant - composer, primary artist; Alberta Hunter - composer; Raymond Leveen - composer.
Tracks: 1) Goodnight Irene; 2) My House Fell Down; 3) We're Gonna Rock; 4) Yesterday; 5) Someday You'll Be Sorry, Pt. 1; 6) Someday You'll Be Sorry, Pt. 2; 7) Owl Stew; 8) Playin' Myself the Blues; 9) Train Time Blues; 10) It Ain't Gonna Be Like That; 11) It's Christmas Time Again; 12) Hello Santa Claus; 13) Paging Mr. Jackson; 14) Shot Gun Boogie; 15) Rock Little Baby; 16) Little Baby; 17) Don't You Worry; 18) God Bless My Daddy; 19) The Grass Is Getting Greener; 20) I'll Remember You (If You'll Remember Me); 21) Roll 'Em Pete; 22) I Wonder; 23) Cecil's Boogie.