U.P. Wilson
On My Way
(Fedora 5014)
For the uninitiated, U.P. Wilson is a veteran blues man who has made
his home in Fort Worth for the last thirty years or so. Over the years,
U.P. has played in a variety of settings ranging from the legendary Boogie
Chillun, a primitive duo that he and Robert Ealey formed in the 50s, to
his current solo career which has found his style of blues to be very
popular with European audiences. In the 90s, U.P. has released five discs
on the JSP label, as well as a couple of other releases on various import labels.
This latest release from Fedora is a reissue of a 1988
session that was originally recorded for Eddie Stout's Pee Wee Records in
Dallas and was licensed and distributed by Red Lightnin'. If you are
familiar with U.P Wilson, you know that the quality of his performances,
both on stage and off, can be hit or miss. Like fellow blues greats Buddy
Guy and Otis Rush, U.P. Wilson is an instinctive player who is not afraid
to stretch out and take chances. While this "flying by the seat of
your pants" approach can lead to some less than brilliant moments, it
can also produce glorious results when everything clicks and the chemistry
is right.
Each previous U.P. Wilson album has contained a few sub-par
performances, as well as some of the most urgent and raw blues recorded in
the past decade. Fortunately, On My Way is one of Wilson's more consistent
and entertaining records and catches the Ft. Worth bluesman at his
uninhibited best, backed by a talented group of Texas sidemen including
Matt McCabe, Paul Orta, Bill Eden and Freddie Walden among others.
The
disc starts off with the instrumental shuffle "U.P. Express"
that showcases U.P.'s uniquely syncopated and unorthodox guitar work which
results in a sound that instantly brands U.P. as a true original among his
blues guitar playing peers. Several other cuts on the album including the
Fort Worth themed "Bluebird Boog-A-Loo" and "Como
Station" are also instrumentals featuring U.P.'s guitar work up front
and center. U.P.'s forte however, is slow blues. For all the hype
surrounding Buddy Guy and Otis Rush, at this stage in his career, U.P.
Wilson is by far the much more authentic and riveting player. Wilson takes
classics such as "Reconsider Baby," "Mean Old World"
and "Cold, Cold Feeling" and quite simply sings and plays the
hell out of them. U.P. Wilson's music is not the slick, polished blues
that so many artists are content on releasing these days. Instead, his
music sounds as if it were recorded in any one of the numerous bars or
nightclubs that Wilson has made his reputation performing in. This is a
recording is a welcome reissue and is a nice compliment to U.P.'s previous
JSP discs. Stevie Ray Vaughan once said that U.P. Wilson was one of his
biggest influences when it came to playing real blues. It is not hard to
see why; U.P. Wilson is simply one of the best traditional blues
performers working today and a true Texas legend.
- Barry T. Gober -
Southwest Blues CD Review - February 2000
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