Rockabilly Blues by Sleepy LaBeef

13 Feb

Written by Lee Prosser
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Who is this Sleepy LaBeef? Many music-heads would categorize the man as a ``rockabilly`` performer, but that is akin to saying that Paul Newman is some actor and Nat Cole used to play the piano some before he got famous. LaBeef is primarily an interpretive talent, reputed to know over 2,000 songs spanning various styles of blues (from Muddy Waters to Jimmy Reed to John Lee Hooker), gospel, country, rockabilly and rock & roll, he has a voice - no, make that a VOICE - a baritone so joyously expressive, big, wide & deep that you feel it deep down in the pit of your stomach, the way you would hearing Howlin` Wolf or Big Joe Turner.

This here set in question collects a bunch of unreleased blues from Sleepy`s Rounder Records catalog, and when- & where-ever it`s played the room immediately becomes a tavern! , a club, a dance hall or a picnic where the fried chicken and the brew might last all night. You`ll jump & swing to ``Bottle Up And Go,`` sway to a way-cool super-confident take on Jimmy Reed`s ``Bright Lights, Big City`` (Sleepy makes it his own) and get yer machismo jones taken care of with ``Mannish Boy.`` So if you like your blues stew served with a soupcon of down-home non-corny country seasoning, or if you appreciate blues eclectics like Clarence Gatemouth Brown (who recorded an album with Roy Clark), if you want to put the Ponder Mechanism in your head in neutral & have a dandy good time, grab Rockabilly Blues.