Lonesome Sundown
(his real name was
Cornelius Green
) had a little bit more
Delta
and
Chicago blues
in him than most of his Louisiana labelmates who recorded for producer
J.D. Miller
. Not that
Sundown
's sound isn't solidly in the so-called
swamp blues
tradition, but where
Slim Harpo
,
Silas Hogan
, and the other
Excello
artists worked from a laconic,
Jimmy Reed
-like shuffle,
quickened the pace (at least for an
act) to a nastier level, and with
Miller
's reverb-laden production, ended up sounding a little bit like
on speed, particularly on tracks like
"Don't Go."
Not that
couldn't do the patented
Louisiana blues
shuffle when he chose to, as his signature tune,
"I'm a Mojo Man,"
shows, or even improve on the pattern, as with the loose-limbed and brilliant
"I'm a Samplin' Man,"
but he seemed most at home doing more standard
blues
fare like the modern-sounding
"My Home Is a Prison."
This collection from
Ace Records
essentially reproduces the same set that is available from
Excello Records
, only with a different running order. Although
made a comeback of sorts with a mid-'70s album from
Alligator Records
, these
sides are the ones you need. ~ Steve Leggett