5 Songs Friday Mar. 21

I may be digging deeper than ever this week

Otis Rush – “Please Love Me” recorded 1976 released 2005 on All Your Love I Miss Loving Live at the Wise Fools Pub Chicago. I was always envious of Chicago for the presence of WXRT, one of the finest commercial radio stations I ever heard. They recorded this terrific concert by the great bluesman Otis Rush, and then almost 30 years later, Delmark Records decided to put it out on CD. This is an old B.B. King song that Rush obviously had a blast performing. There’s lots of the Otis Rush signature guitar sound – simultaneously liquid and stinging, with at least one chorus here nodding to Elmore James without a slide. He sings this one with a heavy B.B. King influence, most likely because that’s the way he learned it. It’s a desperate plea to be loved, though one verse is a threat to the potential lover. Neither that method nor the one in the verses about buying her a car seems likely to get him what he wants, but I’d think just the guitar playing might get her to give him a tumble.

The Balfa Brothers – “Parlez-Nous a Boire” 1974 from The Balfa Brothers Play Traditional Cajun Music Vol. 2. There were four Balfas – Dewey, Will, Rodney, and Burke – and a ringer named Hadley Fontenot because you can’t have a Cajun band without an accordion player. They carried on the traditions of that music in the interim period between the earliest recording artists and the explosion of success by the likes of Beausoleil. This song is about liquor – the title translates to “Tell us about drinking.” It’s a good time party song that has a different rhythm than most Cajun numbers – the 4/4 feel is much stronger than the 2/4 dance most common to the genre. Dewey Balfa had a clear, sharp tone as a singer, and he sang this one like he knew what he was talking about. I’ve often said if there was truth in reincarnation, I may have been a Cajun in a previous life because I’m absolutely enthralled by this music.

Ishman Bracey – “Leavin’ Town Blues” 1928 available on The Famous 1928 Session. You don’t hear the name Ishman Bracey every day, but he was a major figure in the Mississippi Delta before Charley Patton started making records. This song is one of only 16 Bracey recorded. It’s a basic 12-bar blues that he sings with little expressive variation. His guitar is accompanied by that of Charlie McCoy (though I’d have sworn that was a mandolin playing the filigrees throughout the song). There’s one idea here, most of which is obvious from the title of the song. Bracey is tired of being mistreated by his woman, so he’s taking off for parts unknown. Blues singers rambled – that’s obvious from a pretty good chunk of the evolving repertoire.

Winfield Parker – “Wondering” sometime in the 60s available on Mr. Clean: Winfield Parker at Ru-Jac. Winfield Parker was an active musician for 60 years before he passed away in 2021 due to Covid. He was a member of Little Richard’s band for a while, presumably as a saxophonist, and he was apparently almost the guy who sang “Sweet Soul Music” until Arthur Conley swooped in and took it. Northern soul aficionados are familiar with Parker’s brand of sweet soul, typified by this lovely little b-side written by Alphonso Higdon. It’s a fairly typical early 60s weeper as Parker can’t figure out why his darling should have left him even though he loves her so. It’s made great by Parker’s vocals, which hold his trembling emotions just below the surface of a smooth grasp of melody. It’s also cool that there’s an organ mixed in with the guitar/bass/drums/horns of the backing band. This record deserves to be plunked out of obscurity.

Bob Mould – “Turning of the Tide” 1990 from Black Sheets of Rain. I had completely forgotten Bob Mould did this Richard Thompson song on his second solo album – he had also done “Shoot Out the Lights” on a live EP released sometime back in those days. As much as I love the individualistic drumming approach of Grant Hart in Hüsker Dü, that would never have worked for a song like this one. However, for the two solo albums, and the tours surrounding them, Mould had the world-class rhythm section of Tony Maimone from Pere Ubu and Anton Fier of the Golden Palominos. With Mould’s typical overdriven guitar joined to the propulsive power of those two, this version of the song is incendiary. Now, as much as I love the melody and feel of this song, I’m not overjoyed by the lyrics. Richard Thompson has been accused of misogyny in his songs, and this one is no argument against it. He wants to emphasize the shame of the guy singing the song who acknowledges he’s one in a series of men using the woman for sex, but he doesn’t give the woman any agency, and it comes off as blaming her for her sexual experiences. Mould doesn’t normally sing songs like that, but I suspect he couldn’t resist the joy inherent in the music, either.