Johnny Young – Chicago Blues / Arhoolie CD-325

Description

CD 325

Johnny Young – vocals and guitar or electric mandolin;
with Otis Spann James Cotton Big Walter Horton S.P. Leary Jimmy Dawkins Lafayette Leake etc.

This CD contains all of ARH LP1029 and most of ARH LP1037.

1. Wild Wild Woman
2. Keep Your Nose Out Of My Business
3. I’m Having A Ball
4. My Trainfare Out Of Town
5. I’m Doing All Right
6. Stealin’
7. Keep On Drinking
8. Hot Dog!
9. Come Early In The Morning
10. Moaning And Groaning
11. Cross-Cut Saw
12. Slam Hammer
13. Strange Girl
14. Ring Around My Heart
15. Sometimes I Cry
16. Don’t You Lie To Me
17. On The Road Again
18. Walter’s Boogie
19. Stockyard Blues
20. Drinking Straight Whiskey

REVIEWS

“Arhoolie reissue containing material originally released on two LPs in the late 1960s. No blues collection should be without this disc. The stellar lineup includes Muddy Waters’ sidemen Otis Spann James Cotton and S.P. Leary. Also heard is the fine playing of Big Walter Horton and guitarist Jimmy Lee Dawkins. Johnny Young certainly rises to the occasion-his guitar and mandolin (!) playing are excellent (and it is a rare pleasure to hear the mandolin used so well in this context.) Musicians perform in a variety of combinations-a favorite is the Otis Spann piano/Johnny Young mandolin duet on `Keep Your Nose Out of My Business.’ This disc features 20 cuts and is over 65 minutes long – a bargain at the price. Highly recommended.”

(Phil Sottile — Victory Review)

“Johnny Young cut the first 12 tracks on this CD in November 1965 just 17 years after recording ‘Money Takin’ Woman’ for Ora Nelle Records in Chicago in 1947 in a style of tough amplified electric blues derived from the Mississippi delta blues which paved the way for the classic electric combo blues that dominated Chicago for the next decade. Twenty-five years after these recordings were made (a longer timespan between Young’s recording debut and these Arhoolie sides) a comparison with Young’s early recordings and this CD bears witness to the fact that Johnny Young at least in 1965 had made few concessions to changing tastes and altered his style hardly a jot.

Born in Vicksburg Mississippi in 1917 Young learned harmonica mandolin and guitar from his uncle. He listened to the Mississippi Sheiks in Grace and Rolling Fork as a boy and in 1940 he moved to Chicago joining John Lee (Sonny Boy) Williamson for six months before teaming up with Snooky Pryor Floyd Jones and Moody Jones and playing in the open air Maxwell Street market. His Ora Nelle sides with Johnny Williams were followed by two sides for Chester Scales’ Old Swingmaster label in 1948 and all he had to show for the Fifties was a session accompanying Snooky Pryor in 1955 for Vee Jay. Throughout the Fifties he performed in Chicago’s clubs and bars and of course in Maxwell Street and he finally returned to the studio in 1963 for Testament.

The sides here come from two Arhoolie sets cut in ’65 and ’67 and the ’65 session in particular features Young at his near best. Producer Pete Welding surrounded him with the best that Chicago had to offer – two thirds of the then Muddy Waters Band of 1965: Otis Spann SP Leary Jimmy Cotton with Jimmy Lee Morris on bass (imagine pulling together a lineup like that today!) and for the ’67 session – Walter Horton still in good form Jimmy Dawkins (then a new name) Lafayette Leake Ernie Gatewood on bass and Lester Dorsie on drums. Johnny is on top form on guitar and his strident mandolin playing is a treat driving the band along and there’s hardly a weak track in sight. `Wild Wild Woman’ ‘Business’ ‘Trainfare’ ‘Moaning’ and ‘Stealin’ are real killers. Cotton is in stunning form and Spann plays superbly.

Johnny who died in 1974 never received the rewards or accolades his talent deserved. Perhaps this set will draw to the attention of a new generation of blues fans just how good he really was. Sixty-five minutes playing time crystal clear sound blues from a bygone era and totally priceless.”

(Tony Burke — Blues and Rhythm)