Texas Twister

Johnny Copeland | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rounder Select
• ASIN: B0000003LO
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #117,651 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #53 in Music > Indie Music > Blues > Texas Blues
  • #57 in Music > Indie Music > Blues > Electric Blues Guitar

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A collection of four of the Texas guitarist's sessions for Rounder Records, Texas Twister doesn't quite pack the punch of the individual albums, but is still an excellent introduction to the guitarist's work. Underappreciated until the last years of his life--though daughter Shemekia has been shaking things up since her debut album was released in 1998--Copeland had everything that epitomized the Texas blues: scorching guitar riffs; a growling, expressive voice; and a sense of the grand that one rarely finds in any other flavor of the blues. From smoking slow blues like "It's My Own Tears" and "Honky Tonkin'" to more uptempo numbers like "Claim Jumper" and "Love Utopia," everything here is rock-solid. What's extra special, though, are the final three tracks--drawn from 1986's Bringin' It All Back Home--which, by setting Copeland's blues to African rhythms and backing music, highlight both the family resemblance between the two types of music, and how far they've diverged. --Genevieve Williams

From Grove Press Guide to Blues on CD

Johnny Clyde Copeland, a recording artist since the late 1950s, is one of the most imposing of the Texas blues singers and guitarists. He and his synthesis of New Orleans funk and Kansas City jazz only reached a sizable audience in the 1980s, when he relocated to New York and landed a record deal with Rounder. Parts of four albums for the Cambridge label ballast this 1986 collection, a fine entry point for novitiates but something less for longtime admirers. The horn-sumptuous Copeland Special - one of the most poignant blues records of the last twenty-five years and unavailable on CD-quits after four opening tracks, and none of the ensuing eleven tunes anneal the spirit equally. Which isn't to say they're less than damn good. -- © Frank John Hadley 1993

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome, July 31, 2001

By 

D. L. Johnson "guitardlj" (NW, Indiana United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Texas Twister (Audio CD)

I first got turned onto Johnny Copeland from the great Showdown disc featuring Albert Collins, Robert Crey and Johnny Copeland. Everyone should own Showdown!!! I found that my favorite cuts from that album featured Johnny.

Texas Twister was the first CD's from him I purchased. It had some other great things like Stevie Ray Vaughn's involvment. Don't Go By the Creek Son ( which is featured in SRV's box set) rocks the bones out of ya. Johnny's has to be the best blues vocalist I have ever heard. I get goose bumps from head to toe every time I hear him. You can't go wrong with this disk. I give it two thumbs up! (I'd gve more if I had more)