Label: Music Maker.
Release Date: January 26, 1999.
Recording Time: 57 minutes.
Recording Date: April, 1998 - September, 1998.
Releases: 1999 (Music Maker), 1999 (Sanctuary), 2004 (CD Baby).
Traditional Blues, Country Blues.
Recording may be a relatively new luxury to Neal Pattman, but in life he is a grizzled veteran. His first album is a stark affair, almost an eavesdrop into a backroom rehearsal. A frisky harp player and singer, Pattman is joined by Taj Mahal and labelmate Cootie Stark on over half the album, and together and in various configurations the trio turns out some fine, jaunty country blues. There are, however, a number of clumsy stabs at testimonial blues, and these diminish the appeal of the album as a whole. In fact, everything has a clumsiness about it, and when it swings in favor of the musicians, it can be quite charming. When it doesn't, though, it can come off as plain gawky. ~ Jim Smith.
Credits: Terry Anderson - Photography; Eddie Boyd - Composer; Timothy Duffy - Audio Production, Engineer, Guitar, Main Personnel, Photography, Producer; Lee Konitz - Guest Artist, Main Personnel, Saxophone; Axel Kuestner - Photography; Mark Levinson - Bass, Guitar (Bass), Main Personnel; Kurt Lundvall - Mastering, Recording; Taj Mahal - Banjo, Bass, Guest Artist, Main Personnel, Piano; Mudcat - Guitar, Main Personnel; Neal Pattman - Composer, Harp, Main Personnel, Primary Artist, Vocals; Donna Ranieri - Photography; Jimmy Rip - Guitar, Main Personnel; Cootie Stark - Guest Artist, Guitar, Main Personnel, Vocals; Traditional - Composer.
CD Baby:
... Nobody makes moonshine, works a cakewalk, chops wood or plays a harmonica like 70-something Neal Pattman. Losing an arm in a wagon wheel at the age of nine hasn't slowed him at all. 66 years ago the Blues knocked on my door and they wouldn't leave. His testimony can be heard in a sound and a style his daddy taught him as a child in the country outside Athens, Georgia.
Tracks: 1) Momma Whoopin' Blues; 2) Catfish Blues; 3) Shortnin' Bread; 4) Talkin' 'Bout You Baby; 5) Market Blues; 6) Neal's Testimony; 7) Prison Blues; 8) Disco Twist; 9) Goin' Back to Georgia; 10) Five Long Years; 11) Bottle up and Go; 12) Oklahoma City Blues; 13) I Want Jesus to Walk With Me.