"Keeping the Blues Alive Award" Achievement for Blues on the Internet Presented by The Blues Foundation
Larry Johnson first appeared in the middle-1960's when he recorded for Prestige/Bluesville under the supervision of Samuel Charters, but unfortunately, he hasn't appeared often enough in the past 30-plus years. Two Gun Green has the throaty-voiced guitar player and songster in the company of Brian Kramer and the Couch Lizards, a four-piece band from Stockholm made up of second guitar from Kramer, acoustic bass by Pa Ulander, drums from Jim O'Leary, and harmonica courtesy of Mats Qwarfordt. Johnson gets solid and sympathetic accompaniment from start to finish and his enthusiasm shows perfectly on the up-tempo Midnight Train where the harp chugs along sounding like a locomotive steaming out of the depot. Kramer delivers some fine acoustic slide (sounding a bit like Muddy Waters) with his steel-bodied National on I Used To Be Down without overshadowing the take and he's just as focused everywhere else on the CD. The title track is a storyteller's tale set to a thumping backbeat where O'Leary's drumming has the perfect snap and bounce to push things along and Back To The Groove has a looser jam approach showing the delight of Larry and the Lizards. Can't Last Very Long and Late Last Night are wonderful and heart-warming originals while Old Time Religion and Goodnight Irene put Johnson's traditional songster abilities well to the fore. This isn't a produced effort with gloss and shine, it's nothing more than a group of friends and musical counterparts who thankfully sat down with tape machines rolling, and in the end, there's a beautiful simplicity here sadly absent in too many present-day recordings. www.bluearmadillo.com. 10 tracks, 43 minutes.
Your purchase through this Amazon.com link helps to support this website.
Simply click on the cover at left or the buy button to order this CD NOW!
Copyright reuse notice: If you would like to reprint or use this review please include the above copyright notice, contained within the quotation marks, PLUS this statement: "Used with permission." Then send an email to Ray at: mnblues@aol.com indicating how you are using the review or the website page address it will be appearing on. Thanks!
You can help support this blues website by making a contribution (click on the banner below for details).
Or mail a donation to: Ray Stiles % Blues On Stage, PO Box 582983, Mpls, MN 55458. Thanks!
Web Hosting & Design: Web Hosting & Design.
Most affordable web hosting and design services available.
Find out how you can host your current site at Blues On Stage, or how I can help you design your own website!
If you would like your CD reviewed, please send TWO (2) copies, along with promotional material to:
Blues On Stage
PO Box 582983
Minneapolis, MN 55458-2983
Larry Johnson first appeared in the middle-1960's when he recorded for Prestige/Bluesville under the supervision of Samuel Charters, but unfortunately, he hasn't appeared often enough in the past 30-plus years. Two Gun Green has the throaty-voiced guitar player and songster in the company of Brian Kramer and the Couch Lizards, a four-piece band from Stockholm made up of second guitar from Kramer, acoustic bass by Pa Ulander, drums from Jim O'Leary, and harmonica courtesy of Mats Qwarfordt. Johnson gets solid and sympathetic accompaniment from start to finish and his enthusiasm shows perfectly on the up-tempo Midnight Train where the harp chugs along sounding like a locomotive steaming out of the depot. Kramer delivers some fine acoustic slide (sounding a bit like Muddy Waters) with his steel-bodied National on I Used To Be Down without overshadowing the take and he's just as focused everywhere else on the CD. The title track is a storyteller's tale set to a thumping backbeat where O'Leary's drumming has the perfect snap and bounce to push things along and Back To The Groove has a looser jam approach showing the delight of Larry and the Lizards. Can't Last Very Long and Late Last Night are wonderful and heart-warming originals while Old Time Religion and Goodnight Irene put Johnson's traditional songster abilities well to the fore. This isn't a produced effort with gloss and shine, it's nothing more than a group of friends and musical counterparts who thankfully sat down with tape machines rolling, and in the end, there's a beautiful simplicity here sadly absent in too many present-day recordings. www.bluearmadillo.com. 10 tracks, 43 minutes.
If you would like your CD reviewed, please send TWO (2) copies, along with promotional material to:
We build websites