Concert Album Showcases Two Blues Giants Live, and Lively
It’s a clash of the titans, two blues giants in a friendly tug-of-war disguised as a concert. There’s no animosity apparent, but plenty of fireworks as Roosevelt Sykes and Henry Townsend share a stage in a 1973 concert captured live from Graham Chapel at Washington University.
Anyone else would be sidelined by the bombast and bluster mustered up by Roosevelt Sykes, broadcasting bigly from his piano stool, his thundering vocals and pounding boogie-woogie piano keeping the crowd shouting joyfully throughout his performances. But Townsend holds the audience’s attention as well with his string-snapping country blues prowess, a quieter but just as powerful technique.
The two worked together throughout their careers, with Sykes teaching Townsend blues piano basics and Townsend reciprocating by showing Sykes some guitar tricks. But here they both stay on their primary instruments with separate performances on all but two of the 30 cuts on this two-CD set.
Townsend is up first, exhibiting his prowess on eight cuts. Townsend introduces “Sloppy Drunk Again” as “a little number I kinda portrays myself on.” But Townsend’s intricate picking belies his claim that “If I had my way, I’d stay drunk all the time,” his mighty right hand sounding like a one-man band as he vacillates between sounding like an old-time banjo plucker and a back-porch country blues guitar picker.
For the most part, Townsend takes a more low-key approach to his performances, seeming almost overcome by the enthusiastic audience support of each of his numbers. He often sounds like he’s apologizing for what he’s about to present. “I’m gonna hafta announce this one as such as a no-title blues cause I don’t have no title for it, but I’m gonna work it out and we’ll get around to that later,” he chuckles, giving it a temporary title of “The Way Henry Feel,” a convoluted, chicken-pickin’ ramble up and down the fretboard.
“Here’s a little what you call a low-down blues, all the way down in the alley, right down behind the police station,” he says to introduce “Lost a Good Woman,” having what sounds like a four-handed conversation with himself on guitar using only his own two upper appendages.
He brings out wife Vernell for “Why We Love Each Other So,” a rattly country blues till Vernell joins in, transforming it into a soulful lovers’ conversation.
Ray Charles’ version is the one that sticks in most people’s minds, but Sykes wrote “Night Time Is the Right Time,” and his version is more laid back and romantic than Charles’ relentless onward-to-the-bedroom onslaught. But Sykes is no prissy crooner, belting out the lyrics like Big Joe Turner, backing himself with meaty piano strokes.
“We’ll change the mood slightly and quietly,” he says in introducing his 1936 hit “Driving Wheel,” proceeding to deliver it in a decidedly unquiet manner, pounding the keys like he was breaking rocks with a nine-pound steel. Levon Helm was in the driver’s seat on a memorable version for 2014’s The Midnight Ramble Sessions Volume 3, but Sykes lets everybody know he’s the owner with his joyous shouts and rattly, percussive piano.
“Let’s shake it around a little bit,” Sykes says before breaking into some raucous boogie-woogie for
“Boot That Thing,” living up to its name as Sykes kicks the stuffing out of it.
“Some people call it suggestive,” he says, introducing “Dirty Mother for You (Don’t You Know).” “Some say its smutty, some say its corruptible, and some say it’s just plain dirty, so listen to the words so you won’t get the wrong understanding — I have no control of your thoughts,” he chuckles before busting out into one of the nastiest songs ever written, reined in masterfully by his slow, careful pronunciation.
Disc 2 unites the two for a couple of cuts, “Done Got Tired,” and “The War Is Over.” Townsend and Sykes work easily together, Sykes laying in tinkly licks in and around Townsend’s riffs, never getting tangled or overriding one another, Townsend encouraging Sykes to “roll on, play the blues,” as he steps nimbly around him.
Townsend brings back Vernell for “Tears Came Rolling Down.” This time Mrs. Townsend takes the lead from the get-go, and steals the spotlight with her heart-rending rendition of Townsend’s composition: “Looked into my baby’s eyes / and I held his hand / said baby are you gonna leave me for some old dame? / He kissed me goodnight and I knew it meant goodbye.” Townsend takes it back with a ringing, chicken-picking outbreak that has the strings cackling like hens all aflutter after a fox encounter.
Townsend takes his turn on piano for “All My Money Gone,” his stride style in stark contrast to Sykes’ bombastic barrelhouse, providing a strong, percussive left-handed bottom end while the right hand rolls and glides along.
Sykes takes Robert Johnson’s “Sweet Home Chicago” out for a spirited stomp and holler fest, barreling through the streets at a frenetic pace.
Sykes closes the disc with the Fats Domino-flavored “Dangerous Man,” sounding like it may have been the inspiration for the melody of Fats’ 1960 hit “My Girl Josephine.”
It’s a great re-pairing of blues legends, beautifully preserved and presented with fitting respect for this timeless music.