Jimmy Burns
Night Time Again
(Delmark DE-730)
By day, James Olin Burns, 56, runs his barbecue stand on Chicago's West
Side. When the sun goes down, however, it's blues time, and he's off to
his regular gig at Smokedaddy. It is there that guitarist / singer /
harmonica
player Burns delivers his smooth, soul-inflected brand of down-home blues.
As a young man growing up in Dublin, Miss., Burns, younger brother of
Eddie Burns, sang in various vocal harmony groups on Chicago's West Side
and his brother-in-law was the late Chicago blues guitarist Eddie Taylor.
He even waxed a few 45s with his colleagues and as a bandleader over the
years. Burns, however, married early and spent much of his adult life
raising his family, performing only sporadically. Now, his children grown,
Burns is making his music a priority. His reappearance on the Chicago
blues scene in the early 1990s was nothing less than a blessing to fans of
West Side blues.
The 14-track Night Time Again is a worthy follow-up to
1996's Leaving Here Walking, and after one listen it's easy to tell that
Burns was way past ready to record. There is a little Muddy Waters, some
Howlin' Wolf, a splash of Nappy Brown and Eddie Taylor and, of course, a
hint of his brother Eddie all present here.
- Matt Alcott -
Southwest Blues CD Review - March 2000
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