Customer Reviews

Good Morning Judge

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Furry was born in Mississippi in 1900 but moved to Memphis early on. These tracks were (very well) recorded in 1962 & 1967 by George Mitchell. They feature Furry on voice & acoustic slide guitar. Despite being alone he manages to make one hell of a sound. The most apparent feature of this sound is the unity of the voice & guitar - the guitar doesn't accompany the voice but rumble under & weave around it - creating gorgeous orchestral textures - a lot of open strings & undamped slide work. The voice is majestic - strong & heavy with experience - from a time before words like beauty & refined existed. You experience a simple slice of Furry's life - nothing special or contrived - but immensely rich & honest & uncompromising. It's the sort of music you feel you could listen to forever.

There's a CD out there that claims that Furry was in his prime in the 1920s. After listening to these recordings from the 60s, I have to disagree. Age did nothing but add strength and poignancy to Furry's voice, and his guitar work is as hypnotic as ever. On top of that, the sound quality is superb. I prefer these songs to his "Shake Em on Down" recordings because they have an intimate, right next to you sound, whereas the Shake Em tracks have this echo on them, like they were recorded in a bathroom or something. Another reviewer commented that this added an otherworldly feeling to the production, but I think it does nothing but detract from the performances. The blues aren't supposed to be otherworldly, they're supposed to be very earthy and immediate. Check out this CD first instead.

"Good Morning Judge" is not only one of the best tracks Furry Lewis ever recorded, but one of the best recordings of the Country Blues revival. "Farewell, I'm Growing Old" is a touching, beautiful work, and Furry only fails on "Old Hobo", his version of Jimmie Rodgers' "Waiting For A Train", simply because, at Furry's age, he was not able to yodel very well. This is an extremely enjoyable cd, especially considering how it was produced by the Fat Possum Record company, which rarely produces anything even remotely related to Blues. Fans of this disc should also check out the Fred McDowell and Joe Callicott releases from the George Mitchell collection. Furry's take on Blind Lemon Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" is also noteworthy.

Furry must have been quite a character. My Memphis friends told me about him, and I popped on this CD. Almost every song is a winner, and many made me smile.

An amazing album, thats pretty much all i can say about it. Furry Lewis does wonders with his rhaspy slide guitar, and true bluesy voice and lyrics. His songs of lost love and rambling are almost as interesting as the story on the inside of the case about his losing a leg while jumping a train. He is in every way the closest thing to the old delta blues musicians that i have heard. A more modern day version of the roots of blues, with as much soul as Robert Johnson and Son House.