4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Stuff, May 20, 2010
For my money, this album does not quite come up to the standard set by Butch Thompson in Good Old New York, because the music is not as interesting. But it's very good.
Here Butch Thompson -- Garrison Keillor's versatile sometime house pianist on A Prairie Home Companion -- plays piano blues composed, and performed and recorded by the performers, in the 1920's. Classic boogie woogie might qualify for this description, though it came somewhat later. But with one exception, these are slow blues, in the style of Cripple Clarence Lofton, Montana Taylor, and the other greats of the period.
In the brief liner notes, Butch pays homage to Jimmy Yancey. I have always associated Jimmy Yancey with boogie, but as this album demonstrates, he wrote some slower stuff as well. I don't think he, or the other artists represented here, would object to Butch's embellishments to the originals, which always add something while preserving the original flavor.
This is very nice work.
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