Jimbo Mathus
Jimbo Mathus and the Tri-State Coalition closed out the regular schedule at the 2011 North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic. After their set, there was a jam session with many of the musicians who had played earlier, and then it was over for another year.
Of course blues in Mississippi was not restricted to the Delta or the Hill Country, but in fact spread throughout the length of the state. L. C. Ulmer, who is from Ellisville, Mississippi in the southern piney woods region, has been playing blues for nearly 70 years, but has his album debut at 80 years of age with the release of “Blues Come Yonder” on the venerable Hill Country Records imprint out of Jimbo Mathus’ Delta Recording Service in Como.
Although Ulmer hails from the southern part of Mississippi, his performance style has many points of similarity with artists from further north. The casual listener might notice moments where Ulmer superficially resembles Mississippi Fred McDowell, yet Ulmer’s style is largely his own, honed during a lifetime of wandering and working odd jobs across America. Legendary Mississippi alt-rock-county icon Jimbo Mathus and Afrisippi bassist Justin Showah provide sympathetic and unobtrusive accompaniment to Ulmer’s guitar virtuosity and vocals, which are particularly evident on the title track “Blues Come Yonder.” And while most of the tunes are in the rural blues tradition, the inclusion of the hillbilly breakdown “Get Along Cindy” and Hank Williams’ “I Saw the Light” reveal a hidden shared heritage and influence between white and black Misssissippians. A masterful debut from a living legend of Mississippi blues.Â
Of course blues in Mississippi was not restricted to the Delta or the Hill Country, but in fact spread throughout the length of the state. L. C. Ulmer, who is from Ellisville, Mississippi in the southern piney woods region, has been playing blues for nearly 70 years, but has his album debut at 80 years of age with the release of “Blues Come Yonder” on the venerable Hill Country Records imprint out of Jimbo Mathus’ Delta Recording Service in Como.
Although Ulmer hails from the southern part of Mississippi, his performance style has many points of similarity with artists from further north. The casual listener might notice moments where Ulmer superficially resembles Mississippi Fred McDowell, yet Ulmer’s style is largely his own, honed during a lifetime of wandering and working odd jobs across America. Legendary Mississippi alt-rock-county icon Jimbo Mathus and Afrisippi bassist Justin Showah provide sympathetic and unobtrusive accompaniment to Ulmer’s guitar virtuosity and vocals, which are particularly evident on the title track “Blues Come Yonder.” And while most of the tunes are in the rural blues tradition, the inclusion of the hillbilly breakdown “Get Along Cindy” and Hank Williams’ “I Saw the Light” reveal a hidden shared heritage and influence between white and black Misssissippians. A masterful debut from a living legend of Mississippi blues.Â
The North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic is an annual two-day outdoor concert at which most if not all of the living hill country blues performers appear, as well as many younger artists from the hill country of Mississippi, many of whom play styles of music influenced heavily by the hill country tradition. But unfortunately, not everyone has the time or money to travel to Marshall County, Mississippi in June for the picnic, so it is fortunate that Devil Down Records has issued a North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic Volume 2 sampler, which amounts to an aural record of the 2010 picnic. There is gospel here by artists like Rev. John Wilkins and Duff Dorough. There is music on the thin line between alternative rock and country, such as “Little Hand, Big Gun” by Jimbo Mathus, or “Midnight in Mississippi” by Blue Mountain. There are aggressive, rock-influenced readings of hill country blues by artists such as Eric Deaton, Duwayne Burnside, Hill Country Revue and North Mississippi All Stars, and there are traditional blues performances by Alvin “Youngblood” Hart, T-Model Ford and Robert Belfour. Of course, no recording can perfectly capture the thrill of being present at such a history-making concert, but this sampler satisfies with consistently-good music throughout. A hidden final track is R. L. Burnside telling a joke from many years ago, like a reminder of his spiritual presence giving approval to the picnic, and this recording.Â
Jimbo Mathus (@JimboMathus): Clinging to the Roots at the Levitt Shell (@LevittShell)
Jimbo Mathus and the Tri-State Coalition, kicking off the Levitt Shell season at Overton Park on May 14, 2011 with a set of songs from his upcoming new album “Confederate Buddah” on Memphis International Records, out May 24. The crowd particularly enjoyed the eerily-prophetic “Cling to the Roots and You Won’t Wash Away” and “Too Much Water Under The Bridge”, which were both written more than a year BEFORE the Memphis flood!
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