|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
Special Offers and Product Promotions
- Get $1 in Amazon MP3 credit with qualifying purchase. Limited to one promotional credit per customer. Here's how (restrictions apply)
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
When Junior Kimbrough died in January 1998, part of the spirit of Mississippi hill-country blues went with him. He was a proud musician, aware of his African roots and his artistic singularity--perhaps the last unique voice in the genre. The sound of his bawling singing and unpredictable, serpentine guitar were as eerie as a warm wind humming through a field of tombstones, as hypnotic as the ancient village drum music it was based on, thanks to his complete command of his rhythm sections. This collection serves full notice of Kimbrough's authenticity, from his first recording, an impromptu-sounding "Release Me" played with rockabilly cult figure Charlie Feathers, through his last '90s albums for Fat Possum. It's in the latter cases that Kimbrough paints a colorful portrait of his hardscrabble life just above the Delta. Rape is wrongly equated with love (in the brutal-but-fascinating title track), and sexual prowess ("All Night Long") is the only true coin of manhood. Finally, "Done Got Old" serves as the best epitaph for this blues hell-raiser, whose decades of bootlegging, boozing, and womanizing seemed to catch up with him in his final years. Nonetheless, that song and the 11 others prove that no matter how tired and worn he became, Kimbrough's crackling music never lost its edge or its feeling of danger and menace. --Ted Drozdowski
Product Description
David Junior Kimbrough, quite possibly the most important blues guitarists of the second half of the 20th century, redefined blues. Junior s approach to music is so hugely different from anything that came before him that he ranks among the three greatest bluesmen of all: Son House, Bukka White, and Fred McDowell. An originator, Junior did more than build on certain tradition or perfect a certain style. Junior re-imagined the blues; he made a sound for himself. If Junior s sister has been any kind of babysitter he might not have picked up the guitar. When Junior was too small to help his father work the fields his eldest sister stayed home with him. She was supposedly watching him the day he took his father s guitar off the high shelf, where his father kept everything he didn t want his children fooling with. It became routine: when his father left for the fields, Junior carefully took down the guitar. He learned fast and well, well enough to teach a local white boy, Charlie Feathers, how to play.
Junior was six years old, and his sister was doing her usual bang-up job of babysitting the day he took a gallon jug of corn off the high shelf. His mother found him in an alcohol-induced coma; she thought Junior was dead. Junior s father recognized the problem and knew the solution: his daughter needed a whipping and Junior belonged in the field. After two years of high school Junior was lured into Holly Springs by a job at the John Deere dealership.
Junior couldn t remember the exact date he deliberately set out to create music but knew the reasons. He was still a young man and had gone as far as he could go at John Deere. If Junior was gonna make his mark in the world, he d have to do it with a guitar. Up until then he d been playing the same country blues standards, as well as the contemporary hits of Little Milton and Albert King, in the same jukes and clubs that his long-time friend and rival R.L. Burnside played. And then Junior stopped playing covers and stopped taking requests. Determined not to become just another entertainer or performer, Junior realized playing covers only helped the composers or the artists who first recorded the song. He wasn t going to help anybody ever again. Junior would only play Junior
He might ve been the first person in his family to work off the farm, but Junior never gave up his rural habits like throwing parties every Sunday night with his furniture dragged out in the yard so more people could fit. Before long Junior had to rent a one-bedroom apartment to get a break from the chaos he d started at home. Junior s old house became more than a club. It was an entity: it was Junior s Place and without help from a sign or telephone locals gathered on Sunday nights to drink and dance. Junior understood music, and had a gift for songwriting, and began developing the music that was first recorded in the mid- 80 s for a Memphis State single.
Unfortunately, David Junior Kimbrough didn t release his first album until 1992, when he was 62, but when he finally made his first album, All Night Long (produced by Robert Palmer for Fat Possum Records), the world took notice. Rolling Stone was the first to acknowledge Junior and awarded the album four stars. In addition to giving his music long overdue exposure, All Night Long gave the Fat Possum label hope. Junior, for the most part, was not physically able to tour, now that he finally had the support of a record company. There were notable exceptions: a string of dates with Iggy Pop and several tours with the Fat Possum Circus (a package deal). But the news traveled- to hear Junior you had to go to Mississippi, Rock bands such as the Rolling Stones, Sonic Youth and U2 made pilgrimages to Holly Springs to experience his club and hear Junior with his son Kinney Malone on drums and Garry Bu --This text refers to the Vinyl edition.
Junior was six years old, and his sister was doing her usual bang-up job of babysitting the day he took a gallon jug of corn off the high shelf. His mother found him in an alcohol-induced coma; she thought Junior was dead. Junior s father recognized the problem and knew the solution: his daughter needed a whipping and Junior belonged in the field. After two years of high school Junior was lured into Holly Springs by a job at the John Deere dealership.
Junior couldn t remember the exact date he deliberately set out to create music but knew the reasons. He was still a young man and had gone as far as he could go at John Deere. If Junior was gonna make his mark in the world, he d have to do it with a guitar. Up until then he d been playing the same country blues standards, as well as the contemporary hits of Little Milton and Albert King, in the same jukes and clubs that his long-time friend and rival R.L. Burnside played. And then Junior stopped playing covers and stopped taking requests. Determined not to become just another entertainer or performer, Junior realized playing covers only helped the composers or the artists who first recorded the song. He wasn t going to help anybody ever again. Junior would only play Junior
He might ve been the first person in his family to work off the farm, but Junior never gave up his rural habits like throwing parties every Sunday night with his furniture dragged out in the yard so more people could fit. Before long Junior had to rent a one-bedroom apartment to get a break from the chaos he d started at home. Junior s old house became more than a club. It was an entity: it was Junior s Place and without help from a sign or telephone locals gathered on Sunday nights to drink and dance. Junior understood music, and had a gift for songwriting, and began developing the music that was first recorded in the mid- 80 s for a Memphis State single.
Unfortunately, David Junior Kimbrough didn t release his first album until 1992, when he was 62, but when he finally made his first album, All Night Long (produced by Robert Palmer for Fat Possum Records), the world took notice. Rolling Stone was the first to acknowledge Junior and awarded the album four stars. In addition to giving his music long overdue exposure, All Night Long gave the Fat Possum label hope. Junior, for the most part, was not physically able to tour, now that he finally had the support of a record company. There were notable exceptions: a string of dates with Iggy Pop and several tours with the Fat Possum Circus (a package deal). But the news traveled- to hear Junior you had to go to Mississippi, Rock bands such as the Rolling Stones, Sonic Youth and U2 made pilgrimages to Holly Springs to experience his club and hear Junior with his son Kinney Malone on drums and Garry Bu --This text refers to the Vinyl edition.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential Blues,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: You Better Run: The Essential Junior Kimbrough (Audio CD)
You thought Robert Johnson's Hellhound On My Trail was spooky? You haven't heard anything until you've heard Junior Kimbrough's You Better Run. How this brand of blues was overlooked for so many years is inexplicable, yet understandable as the Mississippi delta and Chicago styles of blues dominates what record labels choose to release. But up in the hill country of north Mississippi a different style of blues developed. You can hear echoes of it in Mississippi Fred McDowell and John Lee Hooker. Thank God that Fat Possum Records brought bluesmen like Kimbrough, RL Burnside, and T-Model Ford into the studio and preserved this music for future generations. Start here, then search Amazon for "Fat Possum." You will never listen to blues the same way again.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Excellent Overview!,
By deepbluereview "deepbluereview" (SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: You Better Run: The Essential Junior Kimbrough (Audio CD)
You Better Run purports to be "The Essential" Junior Kimbrough and there is no doubt that this compilation of Junior's material is some of his best work and is representative of his limited releases. However, when you consider that Junior released only 6 CD's during his abbreviated career, it seems that the material contained on all 6 discs would qualify as "essential". If you are not familiar with the driving, trance like rhythms of Junior, this is a good place to start. If you like what you hear, buy all 6 of his CD's. You will not be disappointed.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is one of the places it all started.,
By Brett Lemke (www.maximumink.com) - See all my reviews
This review is from: You Better Run: The Essential Junior Kimbrough (Audio CD)
A Juke Joint by definition is a Blues & BBQ club in the American South. Junior's Place was a juke joint of national acclaim hosting such local acts as R.L. Burnside, T-Model Ford, and Asie Payton. The building that also served as his home stood for 130 years, and burned to the ground less than month after Junior's Death. As a testament to a forgotten musician, The Essential Junior Kimbrough is a collection of his eclectic blues recordings over the years. Kimbrough released his first full-length album at the age of 62 on Fat Possum Records. From the 1969 45rpm version of "Release Me" to his Fat Possum versions of "All Night Long" and "Sad Days", Junior conveyed pure emotion into every one of his tracks. You can actually feel his pain listening to the music, but you will also embrace it when you come to the realization that this was everything the man truly was. It draws upon the souls of old Mississippi Hill Country Bluesman, and captures a sound truly unique to an area. A sign stood outside of Junior's Place that simply read: "If you can't read this, get someone to help you read this." This pretty much personified everything that he was: If you didn't understand, then you shouldn't be there
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
