D. Johnson
Mississippi Delta Blues
(NSCD 081638)
This debut CD is a fascinating exploration
of that tangent of blues music referred to as (for better or worse) the Mississippi Delta
style. The sound is raw, traditional, gritty; fiercely personal and visceral in character.
Johnson has done his homework and then some. The vocals grovel and growl. The acoustic
guitar slides. The foot stomps out the rhythm changes and the harmonica bales like a
wounded hound stuck out in the swamp after dark. This is incredible stuff: Remarkably
disturbing traditional slide blues cut from the same cloth of the likes of Son House and
Robert Johnson. Listen to the anger, the sheer bitter energy D. Johnson throws into Son
House's "Death Letter," or the venomous testament he cuts loose in Robert
Johnson's "If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day." Close your eyes and you can
almost see those dark storm clouds moving in overhead. Johnson has an incredible ability
to conjure up that mood, all within the intricate layers of his ax work. The nuances
normally lost behind the roar of other instruments in other types of music take on new
life in Johnson' hands: the slapping of guitar strings, the stomping of a foot, the growl
of a voice, the echo of silence. Joining him on this musical journey, Alan "Dr.
Blues" Werblin plays a mean harmonica; blowing out the heartache and pain resonated
in the lyrics of the songs. Johnson has six original tunes that sound as though they were
written in the same time frame as his mentors' tunes. There is an obvious love and
admiration of the Skip James, Charley Patton schools of style, and for me, that is one of
the finest things about this release. Not only is Johnson an incredibly talented musician
and performer, but he is also a devoted student; igniting fires of interest and awareness
to the uninitiated of roots that should not be buried or forgotten. Johnson's CD is
something old, something new and definitely something blue. This music is lean, catchy,
scary and in your face: everything it should be.
- Bill Fountain -
Southwest Blues CD Review - May 1999
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