Tommy McClennan
recorded his entire output, some 40 tracks in all, for
Bluebird Records
between 1939 and 1942, before wandering off the
blues
stage forever, supposedly dismissed by
Bluebird
because of his drinking problems. With his hoarse, shouted vocals, often with spoken asides, and rudimentary guitar style,
McClennan
worked from an intriguing but limited palette, and his work is best sampled in two- or three-song doses. Still, the diminutive singer managed to turn out a handful of
country blues
classics, including
"New Shake Em On Down,"
"Bottle It Up and Go,"
and his signature tune,
"Whiskey Head Woman,"
all of which are included here. So is
"Whiskey Head Man,"
which simply changes gender and uses the exact same arrangement and phrasing as
"Whiskey Head Woman."
In a genre known for recycling guitar runs and rhymed couplets,
takes it a step further and recycles his own songs in only slightly different guises, making him somewhat of a one-trick pony. By the second volume of
Document
's two-disc series of his recordings, it is obvious that
had run out of ideas. This first volume is the one to get, then, because the tracks seem just a bit fresher. ~ Steve Leggett