Big Jack Johnson & Kim Wilson – Stripped Down In Memphis

M.C. Records is proud to release "Stripped Down In Memphis" by legendary Mississippi blues man Big Jack Johnson. This posthumous, acoustic release, was recorded during several sessions in Memphis in 2000. All the tracks have never been released before and feature either the late Wild Child Butler or Kim Wilson on harmonica. The extended EP contains nine songs.
M.C. Records recorded and released four recording by Big Jack Johnson from 1996-2002. His collaboration with Kim Wilson, "The Memphis Barbecue Sessions" won The Blues music Award for Acoustic Records of the Year

Track Listing:
1. Baby What You Want Me To Do – 3:19   2. Run Blues Run – 5:32   3. The Hucklebuck – 2:48   4. Aching All Over – 6:44   5. Part Time Love – 4:30   6. Alcohol – 5:32   7. See Me Coming – 3:51   8. Going To Norway – 4:34   9. The Hully Gully Twist – 5:32

Reviews:

1. bluesblastmagazine.com – Marty Gunther - 2022.07.11
When Big Jack Johnson died at age 70 in 2011, the planet lost a giant figure in the world of Delta blues. But he lives again here as he joins forces with harp players Kim Wilson and George “Wild Child” Butler and delivers a bare-bones, deep-in-the-pocket set of tunes from the M.C. Records vault that see the light of day for the first time ever.
Born in Lambert, Miss., and one of 18 children, Johnson was known affectionately as The Oil Man because he supported his own 13 kids by delivering fuel for Shell Oil during the day. The son of a fiddle player, he was influenced by the electric guitar stylings of B.B. King and started working professionally in his dad’s band at age 18.
After polishing his skills with Earnest Roy Sr., C.V. Veal & the Shufflers and Johnny Dugan & the Esquires, he picked up the bass and joined forces in 1962 with drummer Sam Carr and harmonica player Frank Frost to form the Jelly Roll Kings, one of the most important trios ever to emerge from the Delta, recording a couple of albums in their 15-year career before he went solo with his debut CD, The Oil Man, on Earwig in 1987.
Possessing a booming voice and doubling on guitar and mandolin, Big Jack’s at the top of his game on this one. The songs here were culled from outtakes from two previous releases, 1998’s Lickin’ Gravy and 2000’s The Memphis Barbecue Sessions. But they’re far more than that – especially when you consider that the Memphis album captured the W.C. Handy Award – precursor to the BMAs – for country blues album of the year. A Blues Hall of Famer, it was his only win despite about a dozen nominations.
Produced by M.C. head honcho Mark Carpentieri, both of these sessions were recorded at Memphis Sound Works where they were engineered by Posey Hedges and were captured in duo settings. Wilson, the founder and front man of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, shines on five cuts, ripping and running on harp without benefit of amplification. A native Alabaman who recorded in Chicago with Willie Dixon, Jimmy Dawkins and Cash McCall in the ‘50s and ‘60s, Butler was a skilled reed player and vocalist, too, which comes through loud and clear on his four cuts.
A laid-back, fun effort in which the artists were obviously enjoying themselves, the action kicks off with The Oil Man and Kim putting their own spin on Jimmy Reed’s “Baby What You Want Me to Do.” Wilson invokes first-generation masters as he plays counterpoint to Johnson’s string work to open, working the full range of the diatonic, before Jack’s rich voice takes command. Wild Child sits in for the Big Jack original, “Run Blues Run,” next with Johnson keeping tempo with a heavy foot as Butler lilts across the reeds with a much lighter attack.
The Oil Man swings on electric six-string to kick off Andy Gibson’s familiar instrumental, “The Hucklebuck,” before trading measures with Kim who delivers a fiery closing solo. Up next, Wild Child’s at the mic to deliver his own song, “Aching All Over,” an unhurried complaint about being mistreated by his lady. His hushed reed work is mirrored by Big Jack’s restraint on guitar, which makes his powerful pipes even more potent throughout.
Johnson’s prowess on mandolin comes to the fore in “Part Time Love.” Made famous by Little Johnny Taylor, it drives steadily forward with The Oil Man on vocals and Wilson doubling the notes emanating from his stinging strings, before launching into a sprightly instrumental cover of Big Jack’s “Alcohol.”
Another Butler original, “See Me Coming,” follows with Johnson giving Wild Child full rein to rip, run and talk over the guitar for the first half of the instrumental, gives Big Jack a break and then takes command again to close. Their cover of Big Jack’s “Going to Norway” swings steadily throughout before Kim joins the action for a sprightly take on organist Bill Doggett’s instrumental “The Hully Gully Twist” to close.
If you’re a fan of acoustic blues, you’ll definitely want this one. Strongly recommended.

2. www.bluesmagazine.nl - Martin van der Velde – 2022.06.10
Big Jack Johnson komt op 30 juli 1940 in Lambert, Mississippi ter wereld en overlijdt op 14 maart 2011 in Memphis, Tennessee. Zijn vader Ellis speelt viool en mandoline. Op dertien jarige leeftijd beheerst Big Jack het gitaarspel voldoende om aan te mogen sluiten bij de band van zijn vader Ellis Johnson. Na onderdeel te hebben uitgemaakt van CV Veal & the Shufflers en Johnny Dugan & the Esquires sluit hij zich in 1962 aan bij Frank Frost and the Nighthawks en neemt dat jaar de lp ‘Hey Boss Man’ op. Vier jaar later verschijnt het album ‘My Back Scratcher’. Wanneer Michael Frank, label eigenaar van Earwig Records in de zeventiger jaren Frank Frost opnieuw ontdekt neemt hij met het trio, onder de naam Jelly Roll Kings in 1979 het album ‘Rockin’ The Juke Joint Down’ voor dit label op. Het zal tot 1987 duren voordat er een eerste album onder eigen naam op de markt komt. Naast ‘The Oil Man’, verschijnen ‘Daddy, When Is Mama Comin’ Home’ (1989) en ‘Live In Chicago’ (1997) op het Earwig label. Nu ligt daar postuum het album ‘Stripped Down In Memphis’, dat tijdens twee opname sessies is opgenomen. Op 28 oktober 1998 neemt Big Jack een aantal songs met George ‘Wild Child’ Butler (1936-2005) op in de Memphis Sound Works studio in Memphis. Zo’n twee jaar later staat hij met Kim Wilson in dezelfde studio, nu voor de opnames voor het album ‘Big Jack’s The Memphis Barbecue Sessions’, waarvan een vijftal onuitgebrachte opnames nu middels deze cd alsnog beschikbaar komen. De schijf, die ruim veertig minuten duurt trapt af met Jimmy Reed’s ‘Baby What You Want Me To Do’. Kim Wilson vult met dynamisch harpspel het stevig gitaarspel van Big Jack uitstekend aan. Dezelfde rol is weggelegd voor Wild Child Butler in de shuffle ‘Run Blues Run’, met wederom krachtig gitaarspel van Jack Johnson. Tijdens de barbecue sessions hebben Jack en Kim drie instrumentale nummers vastgelegd, ‘The Hucklebuck’ van Andy Gibson, met een fenomenale Kim Wilson in de hoofdrol, het groovy gespeelde ‘Alcohol’ en de afsluitende track ‘The Hully Gully Twist’, waarop we aan het eind van de song Big Jack Johnson nog even kort een aantal feiten over de song met de aanwezigen in de studio horen bespreken. Het tempo gaat even iets naar beneden in ‘Aching All Over’, waarin Wild Child Butler met zijn doorlevende stem de taak als zanger op zich neemt. De mandoline komen we niet zo vaak tegen binnen de blues, Yank Rachel en Johnny Young zijn wellicht de bekendere bluesmuzikanten die het spel beheersten, maar ook Big Jack weet raad met het kleine instrumentje op ‘Part Time Love’, waarop we hem het ritme met zijn voet duidelijk horen aangeven. Na het instrumentaal gespeelde ‘See Me Coming’ van Wild Child Butler volgt het vlot gespeelde ‘Going To Norway’ swingend op. Al met al een heerlijk traditioneel akoestisch album, waarop we het plezier van inspelen vanaf horen spatten en dat een waardevolle aanvulling is op ‘Big Jack’s The Memphis Barbecue Sessions’ dat eveneens op MC- Records is verschenen.