Release Date: 2003.
Recording Time: 50 minutes.
Release Info: CD (A CD 1005), Album, Mono.
Recording Date: July 17, 1968 - July, 1968.
Recording Location: New Orleans, LA.
Styles: Delta Blues, Regional Blues, Acoustic Blues, Country Blues, Folk-Blues, Songster.
The late Babe Stovall, who died in 1974, was one of music's colorful characters, an excellent and adaptable blues guitarist who could move from Delta blues to folk to gospel. With some stunning picking, he was a New Orleans fixture. Indeed, he was the Mr. Bojangles of the Jerry Jeff Walker song. This album, recorded live in the Crescent City in 1968, gives a good indication of his talents. He could be wonderfully soulful, as on "Big Road Blues," but also quite playful, as his ragtime version of "Candy Man" proves. As the booklet reveals, he was obviously a showman -- playing guitar behind his head, for example. But he also offered plenty of more sacred material, like "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" and "The Ship Is at the Landing." This is a great historical document, made even more valuable by the inclusion of interviews with Stovall, who reminisces about the past, his family, and his career. ~ Chris Nickson
Credits: Kearney Barton - Transferring (Analog to Digital Transfer); Clare Conrad - Design; David Evans - Liner Notes; Mark Guenther - Digital Mastering; Jewell "Babe" Stovall - Primary Artist; Bob West - Editing, Engineer, Liner Notes, Photography, Producer; Sonny Boy Williamson I - Composer.
Tracklist:
01. Good Morning Blues - Jewell "Babe" Stovall
02. Candy Man - Jewell "Babe" Stovall
03. Going Away To Wear You Off My Mind - Jewell "Babe" Stovall
04. The Ship Is At The Landing - Jewell "Babe" Stovall
05. Baby Let Me Follow You Down - Jewell "Babe" Stovall
06. Worried Blues - Jewell "Babe" Stovall
07. Will The Circle Be Unbroken? - Jewell "Babe" Stovall
08. How Long How Long Blues - Jewell "Babe" Stovall
09. Dirty Mistreater - Jewell "Babe" Stovall
10. Good Morning Little School Girl - Jewell "Babe" Stovall
11. God's Word Shall Never Pass Away - Jewell "Babe" Stovall
12. Kansas City Blues - Jewell "Babe" Stovall
13. Medley: Big Road Blues And Careless Love - Jewell "Babe" Stovall
14. Interview 1: Family - Jewell "Babe" Stovall
15. Interview 2: Playing In New Orleans - Jewell "Babe" Stovall
Tracks 1, 2, 4-8, 14, and 15 recorded in New Orleans, July 17, 1968. All other tracks recorded later in July.
Mono recording. This CD was digitally transferred from analog tape.