Label: Stax / Fantasy, Stax, ZYX Music
Release Date: 1963
Releases: September 13, 1999; September 14, 1999; April 2, 2001
Recording Time: 31 minutes
Recording Date: June 10, 1963
Styles: Acoustic Blues, Acoustic Memphis Blues, Country Blues, Folk-Blues, Jug Band, Minstrel, Pre-War Blues, Pre-War Country Blues, Regional Blues
In June of 1963, 79-year-old Gus Cannon went into the studio in Memphis to cut his first recording in close to seven years, all a result of the Rooftoop Singers having made his "Walk Right In" into a number one single. The producers didn't ask for too much out of Cannon, to judge from the results -- just that he sit there with his banjo and old friends Will Shade (jug) and Milton Roby (washboard) backing him, and do his favorite songs. He introduces a few of them in separately indexed spoken passages, and runs through them in leisurely if dedicated fashion: the title track (which is much bluesier than the hit in Cannon's hands), "Salty Dog" (the best track here), "Gonna Raise a Ruckus Tonight," "Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor," and "Crawdad Hole." The album is almost an audio documentary tour through different corners of Cannon's life and career that, ideally, might've run to several volumes.
by Bruce Eder
Recorded in Memphis, Tennessee, June 10, 1963.
Remastered 1999 at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California.
Originally released on LP in 1963 as Stax 702.
Credits: Bob Altshuler - liner notes; Gus Cannon - banjo, composer, primary artist, vocals; Loring Eutemey - cover design; Bengt Olsson - liner notes; Milton Roby - washboard; Will Shade - jug; Jim Stewart - supervising producer, supervisor; Jim Tarantino - remastering; Joe Tarantino - remastering; Traditional - composer; Hosea Woods - composer.
Tracks: 1) Narration; 2) Kill It; 3) Walk Right In; 4) Salty Dog; 5) Going Around The Mountain; 6) Ol' Hen; 7) Gonna Raise A Ruckus Tonight; 8) Ain't Gonna Rain No More; 9) Boll-Weevil; 10) Come On Down To My House; 11) Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor; 12) Get Up In The Morning Soon; 13) Crawdad Hole.