I was very honored when the head of the Chicago Blues Festival - Barry Dolins asked me to perform and play Bass with two of the existing fathers of the Blues. Honeyboy Edwards and Homesick James. This show was one of the highlights of my music career and made the 2002 Chicago Blues Festival a very special day for me.
I first met Homesick back in 1979 at John Brim's Blues Club on the Northside of Chicago. This was a great Club and you could always find Big Walther Hunton, Floyd Jones or any of the Blues legends arguing or telling a great story.
It was not till 1982 that I got the opporunity to play with Homesick James. Homesick was another one of the legendary Bluesmen that sat me down and actually gave me lessons. I give Homesick a lot of credit for actually teaching me how to break time and come up with original phrasing.
Steve with Homesick 1980
Steve with Homesick 1999
More info on Homesick James
CD Review
at
Homesick James
Got To Move
32 Blues 32175
The reissue of Homesick James' (John A. Williamson's) Got To Move LP follows the property damage and havoc wreaked by Hurricane Floyd. In reevaluating some of its choices musical holdings after some untimely warehouse flooding, 32 Records decided to reissue a couple of treasures. This Homesick recording (Trix 3320) apparently was the logical first choice. The original sessions date to early 1994 and were done in Fresno, close to Homesick's California home.
Homesick James follows in a long line of fine bottleneck players. He is his cousin Elmore James' last bandmember; a real Broomduster. Having worked the Delta and Chicago blues scenes, during boths' formative years, places James on an illustrious list of blues veterans. He's played with the best and has recorded on over twenty different labels. His solo pressings and subsequent performing, made Homesick an everyday name to blues fans and genre history buffs.
Homesick's guitar and voice are supported on eleven of fourteen tunes by Jeff Levine on piano, Joe Rosato on the bass, and Ron Thompson on the second guitar. No drummer is credited although they are obviously used. The remainder of the cuts have been completed as solo numbers, with Homesick showing remarkably full sound.
Just listen to
the opening "Can't Afford To Do It', followed by his classic 'Tin Pan
Alley", to get my drift. You hear the standards like "That's Alright",
"Dust My Broom", "Got To Move", and "Highway 51",
beside lesser known tunes like 'Welfare Girl" and "Homesick's Woman".
Like many of the old Delta legends, Homesick has his own particular sound;
honed through innumerable and countless performances. His deeper associations
with and within the blues have taken him from his native Tennessee to Chicago
eventually landing in California. His musical techniques spans from the Delta
influence of Robert Johnson, through his contemporary pursuits with Steve
Arvey, and beyond! You'll find nothing but the real thing listening to Homesick!
Mark A. Cole
www.32Records.com