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Big Bill Morganfield: Rising Son |
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Monday, 06 February 2006 11:19 |
Big Bill Morganfield
Rising Son
Blind Pig Records BPCD 5053
By John Sinclair
From the photograph of Big Bill Morganfield on the cover of Rising Son, his debut album for Blind Pig Records, and the first notes of "Diamonds At Your Feet," a song associated with his father, there is no doubt that this son of Muddy Waters is following closely in the footsteps of his illustrious ancestor.
Big Bill enters the blues recording sweepstakes with exceptional maturity as a man and an artist. Blessed with the deeply emotive voice and rhythmic intelligence which characterized his father's approach to the blues, Morganfield the younger works his way through an ambitious program of classic songs by Muddy, Willie Dixon, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf and Jimmy Rogers, augmented by a selection of his own compositions clearly drawn from the well of the Delta blues tradition.
Producer Bob Margolin has assembled a stellar cast of fellow veterans of the Muddy Waters Blues Band to support Big Bill's recording debut, with Pinetop Perkins prominent on the piano and Willie "Big Eye" Smith propelling the proceedings from behind the drums. Bassist Bob Stroger fills out the rhythm section with his usual aplomb, while Paul Oscher handles the harmonica role with sensitivity and taste (although not much imagination).
Margolin takes care of the guitar parts, bringing Morganfield's slide into play only on Big Bill's "Left Hand Blues" and the title track, and adding Bill's rhythm guitar to "Don't Want To See You Go." The ensemble provides a loose, comfortable framework for Morganfield's gruff, heartfelt vocals yet fails generally to rise above the emotional level of any number of workaday Chicago blues bands.
But Native Son is by no means a run-of-the-mill blues album. Although it is nearly impossible to listen to Big Bill Morganfield without reference to the earth-shaking achievement of his father, taken on his own merits as a singer and blues songwriter Big Bill has made an impressive debut on disk and should now be able to enter the ranks of working blues artists as a compelling attraction in his own right.
Stand-out cuts include Big Bill's fierce original, "Dead Ass Broke"; his defiant farewell to "Cryin' Days"; convincing readings of Jimmy Rogers' "Sloppy Drunk" and Muddy's great song "Screamin' & Cryin'"; and a reworked and expanded "Champagne & Reefer," another salute to the singer's father.
Whatever his lineage, Big Bill Morganfield is a welcome addition to the contemporary blues world and brings further evidence that the Delta blues tradition is in little danger of dying out as long as its Mississippi roots continue to be honored and well-tended. His debut album both demands and rewards repeated listening, and his further development as a dynamic blues artist definitely gives us something to look forward to.
--New Orleans
April 29, 1999
(c) 1999, 2006 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.
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