Sam Myers – Coming From The Old School

Let’s call it “Coming From The Old School” Sam Myers suggested with a sly grin after listening to a playback of the rich and varied blues that make up his first solo CD in a fifty year career.
If truth be told, Sam Myers comes from the school they tore down to build the old school, such is the depth and the range of his talent. This Mississippi Blues Legend is probably best known to you as an integral part of one of America’s premiere Blues bands “Anson Funderburgh and The Rockets”, Sam was also an original “Broom duster” who both toured and recorded with Elmore James during the 1950’s. An insightful songwriter, his song “Changing Neighborhoods” won a W.C. Handy Award for Blues Song of the Year and his material has been covered by artists such as Robert Cray and Eric Clapton. Now you can get it straight from the source as here at Electro-Fi we are delighted to reunite Sam with Guitar Master Mel Brown (they first worked together as teenagers in Jackson, MS.) and to place Sam Myers and his superb vocal and dynamic harp work up front and center stage on this winning combination of real blues music. Enjoy.
Andrew Galloway - President Electro-Fi Records

Track Listing:
1. I'm Tired of Your Jive - 4:23   2. Ninety Nine - 3:36   3. I Got a Thing for the Voodoo Woman - 5:22   4. Burning Fire - 4:23   5. Waitin' on You Mama - 4:50   6. I Got the Blues - 4:45   7. My Daily Wish - 5:02   8. You Don't Know What Love Is All About - 3:57   9. Coming from the Old School - 4:25   10. Country Boy - 4:23   11. Money Is My Downfall - 5:34   12. After Hours When the Joint Is Closed - 6:10   13. Packing Up My Blues - 4:55   14. Let You Slowly Bring Me Down - 6:30

Personnel:
Sam Myers (harmonica, vocals) , Mel Brown (guitar, piano on 9,10, organ on 7) , Jack de Keyzer (guitar on 8,9,10,14) , Michael Fonfara (piano, organ on 3,6) , Pat Carey (saxophone) , Alec Fraser (acoustic & electric bass) , Jim Boudreau (drums)

Reviews:

1. AllMusic - Chris Nickson
It's taken Sam Myers fully 50 years to make his first solo album. But he's no stranger to either stage or studio, having worked with Elmore James and Anson Funderburgh. For his debut he's assembled a top-notch band, led by guitarist Mel Brown, to work not so much behind him as with him. Brown is a standout as an accompanist, offering wonderful decoration to "I Got the Blues" and "Burning Fire." But understandably, it's Myers who's the star of the show, and his driving harmonica playing carries its own momentum, as on his version of Rice Miller's "Ninety Nine." But there's also a very pleasing grit to his singing, whether on the slow and deeply soulful"After Hours When the Joint Is Closed," or "Waitin' On Your Mama," which could have come directly from the Chicago school of blues. It might have taken him five decades to get to this, but from the music on the disc, not a single minute was wasted.