Label: Fat Possum Records.
Release Date: February 24, 2004.
Recording Time: 40 minutes.
Release Info: Studio Recording, FP-1011.
Recording Date: September, 2003.
Recording Location: Money Shot In Water Valley, MS.
Styles: Juke Joint Blues, Electric Country Blues, Electric Delta Blues, Regional Blues.
The story of Charles Caldwell is that of too many bluesmen -- discovered too late. At least the Fat Possum label did find and record him before he died of cancer in September 2003. And there was no doubt this guy could play, whether on his own or accompanied by a drummer. You want raw Mississippi blues? This is it, as electric as R.L. Burnside or Junior Kimbrough, full of fire and relating tales of life, as on "Old Buck." There's a wonderful crispness to his guitar playing; to some it will sound basic, but there's plenty going on inside it, complemented by as powerful a voice as Caldwell's own singing. In songs like "I Know I Done You Wrong" you can hear echoes of Robert Johnson and Charley Patton through the ages, and even early Muddy Waters. "I Got Something to Tell You" rocks all the way to Chicago and back, while "Alone for a Long Time" hammers a beat home, strong enough to shake any house party. It all ends, somewhat poignantly, with "Remember Me." Bluesmen like this are, literally and unfortunately, a dying breed. It's too late now for Charles Caldwell. But this, the sum total of his recordings, made late in life, stands as an eloquent testament that it wasn't all in vain. ~ Chris Nickson
(from Fat Possum Records, FP1011)
Just ten or twelve years ago, you could go into a town of 800 and find a least three old guys who could play some guitar. Now it’s hard to find anyone who plays at all, much less anyone really good. And the good players still living lose half their ability as a result of strokes and other illnesses or having been scared into joining the church. Everything in this business is in short supply: our budget, the number of good artists, the time they have left. But seeing Charles Caldwell play changed everything for me. He still enjoyed playing; he was charismatic; he had a presence. In my view, Charles would be the next bomb, a last, undiscovered bastion of a dying breed. Did he want to make a record? Hell yes. I remember the last time I saw him. Charles didn’t know how to just sit around and be sick, he was a horrible patient. During chemotherapy he had built a shed for his four-wheeler and had painted the sheet metal on his tractor. He had something he wanted to show me. I followed him around to the backyard, where next to a chicken coop, and out of reach of the surviving coon dogs, stood a small cage holding a red fox. It had been destroying his garden, so he’d trapped it. I bent down to look, and it was barking and hissing. “You need it?” he asked. In my truck I had a pair of welding gloves that were thick enough to handle the animal, but that didn’t seem reason enough. “Well, do you want it then?” ~ Matthew Johnson
Credits: Charles Caldwell - composer, guitar, primary artist, vocals; Ted "Zaney" Gainey - drums, mixing; Rodney Grisanti - editing, mixing; Tino Gross - drums; Matthew Johnson - producer; Bruce Watson - engineer, mixing, producer.
Tracks: 1. Hadn't I Been Good To You; 2. Old Buck; 3. I Know I Done You Wrong; 4. I Got Something To Tell You; 5. I’ll Do Anything You Say; 6. Alone For A Long Time; 7. Movin' Out Movin' In; 8. Down The Road Of Love; 9. Same Man; 10. Goin' Though The Woods; 11. Remember Me.