Larry Garner
Here Today Gone Tomorrow
DixieFrog VDCD132
Louisiana Bluesman Larry Garner has taken the health troubles that could have killed him and turn them into a killer CD. An eyewitness of human nature with a gift for turning those observations into classic blues songs, Garner used his own heart attack to turn into the mirror and capture feelings and experiences we can all relate to.
A comprehensive, sensitive narrator of humankind’s moving stories, Larry Garner continues taking that fine tradition to new heights on his first release for DixieFrog records, Here Today Gone Tomorrow. In doing so, there are lessons to be learned, or perhaps be reminded of, in every song.
“Bull Rider” reminds us not to judge the book by its cover. The description of the 21-year-old in the back of the bar wearing a black Stetson hat and Tony Lama boots may lead you to think a bar brawl is imminent. But this young man willingly admits while his contemporaries listen to Country, he loves the ‘low down dirty Blues’. Garner makes another friend and fan.
Here Today Gone Tomorrow finds pleasure in getting older. Nearly been denied that chance, Garner sees it for the gift it is. ‘So if you love me, give me my flowers while I can still see, touch, feel and smell,’ is excellent advice for us all – let those you love know it while they’re here. Life is a beautiful, but fragile and uncertain thing, none of us are entitled to for eternity. Yet, if you’re lucky, ‘Just keep waking up in the morning and you’ll be old folks one day’. Appreciate that too!
No coincidence that track is followed by Larry’s ode to The King of the Blues, “For You Mr. King,” full of respect for the immense dignity and grace B.B. has carried himself and his blues with over his long and influential career. Kudos to Garner for telling him now. There will be hundreds of songs written in his honor when he finally passes, but will B.B. be able to enjoy them? A legacy is wonderful and certainly well deserved in this case, but the warmth of the praises of people who love and respect him while Mr. King is still here to enjoy them is a priceless gift.
Able to add a touch of humor to life’s parables, Garner does so again with “The Last Coke,” warning you of the chilling fate that awaits you if you take his wife’s last Coca-Cola!
Can’t move forward if you don’t remember where you’ve come from, and this is explored from opposite angles on “Raised in The Country” and “Keep Singing the Blues”. The first song is about being proud of where we’ve come from – it’s part of what makes us who we are today. But “Keep Singing The Blues” reminds the youngsters who think blues are “old folks music” that the roots of blues run deep, and they and their music are not as removed as they might think. Got to love it that Larry threw in some Hendrix licks, raps the first verse of Tupac Shakur’s “Life Goes On,” and sings some of “Shaft” yet never looses the message and feel of the blues!
Larry Garner’s CD’s are not just extremely fine blues; they are reflections in the human experience. Here Today Gone Tomorrow is no exception. You’ll move and you’ll groove, but you’ll learn something about life and the blues as well. Schools in, and a master is at the head of the class!
- Blue Lisa -
Southwest Blues CD Review - February 2010
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