Hattiesburg Blues by Mississippi Heat

In my experience as a band leader, I have never gone through a recording session without witnessing or experiencing some drama. Whether it is dealing with someone forgetting the time of a recording session, asking for extra money in the middle of a song, or a guest singer coming with allergies so severe that the vocals were unusable (while having the gall to ask to get paid anyways!). No drama was spared on this session as well. To wit: on the morning of the first day of recording (September 10th, 2007), harried, I trimmed my moustache to take away unwanted hair that might interfere with my harp playing (a potential nuisance for a bearded harmonica player!). In my haste I cut my upper lip with the scissors. Blood gushed, and I was unable to stop the bleeding for about an hour. Thank God it didn’t hinder my harp playing during the recording as the cut was located away from my lips’ playing range in spite of blood stains regularly showing up on my harps. Here are two other examples: again on the first day of recording, about the third song into the session, Carl Weathersby injured his right thumb. As with Lurrie Bell, Carl’s wonderful tone is achieved with this thumb, and not with a guitar pick. The injury was so serious that he had to leave the recording room to attend to his wound. Trooper that he is, as soon as he could find a way to bandage his injured thumb, he came back to the room and finished the two days of recording with the same gusto and focus as ever. He now has a new nickname among us: “The Thumb”, as he played his lead and rhythm guitar with … a bandaged thumb! Finally, to top it all of, on that day as well, Giles Corey was battling stomach flu and had to sit down to play! After last-minute reshuffling of schedules to accommodate some guest musicians and/or band members, we were ready to forge ahead. Everyone came to Delmark’s Riverside Studios with a positive attitude. The recording unfolded amazingly well. We had done rehearsals on the road, at my brother’s Hyde Park home, and at Delmark’s Riverside Studios. These rehearsals paid up big dividends. We recorded six tunes on the first day. This is an unusually high numbers of songs as it takes hours to set up and level everyone’s amplifiers, microphones and drums, before tackling the first tune. You quickly tend to become drained with the amount of time and concentration involved in preparing for the recording process. From the first songs on, we knew we were involved in a special project. The rhythm section of Kenny, Steve and/or Spurling were locking in tight, Hambone did his keyboards wizardry to add unique flavoring touches to the tunes (check his work on “Calypso In Blue” and “How Much Worse Can It Be?”, for example), while Giles and Carl worked harmoniously together, leaving ample creative room for each other to do their guitar work. Finally, Inetta dived right into the songs and delivered her best on each tune. As for me, I always pay attention to what I play or don’t play as a harp player. Like my collaborators here, I tried to blend into the whole as part of a well-woven fabric. ***** On this recording I have added a Latin and a bit of a Gospel flavor, and I am thrilled they turned up as well as they did. Gospel is naturally inspiring to me. It easily can bring tears in my eyes. The music, lyrics, and vocal harmonies are so uplifting to me. Yet, as odd as it may sound, the “cry” so movingly expressed in blues music, moves me as profoundly as the Gospel “celebration” response. Go figure. I have always enjoyed the full range of emotions expressed by the music of African heritage as it developed through many different cultures in South America, the Caribbean Islands, and North America. As far as the Latin dimension on this CD, they reveal my love for my wife Vickie and for her side of the family. From the time I first met my Cubanita about thirty years ago, she introduced me to a Latin musical world I would have never had the privilege of knowing and appreciating. Besides this obvious emotional ties to Latin music, I am also the lucky godfather to three beautiful children who are either born to Cuban parents (Alina , 23 years old; and Jasmin, 2 years old), or born with at least one Cuban parent (Nicolas, 7 years old). Adding to this list our many Latin friends, these songs add even more sentimental value. ℗ 2008 Delmark Records