Page 47 - BiTS_07_JULY_2023

Lil’ Jimmy Reed with Ben Levin—Back To Baton Rouge—
Nola Blue ASIN:B0BXGGPR3V

Lil’ Jimmy Reed (Leon Atkins) isn’t Jimmy Reed’s real son but
got his name because he was such a good Reed imitator (as
detailed in his song ‘They Call Me Lil’ Jimmy’ this new album
sees him playing with young blues pianist Ben Levin and his
band in Ben’s home town of Cincinnati. The band is Ben
(keyboards), his father Aron (guitar), Walter Cash Jr. (bass) and
Ricky Nye or Shorty Starr (drums).

We start with one of the original Jimmy Reed’s songs ‘Down in
Virginia’ and then we get a series of other blues including songs by Slim Harpo and Jimmy
Liggins all in the similar loping Jimmy Reed-style, some fast some slow. Reed himself had a
distinctive but limited style – someone once said to me “He only had one song…” to which I
replied “Yes, but it was a bloody good one!” – he was rescued by having a great charm and feel,
I’m afraid that for me Lil’ Jimmy Reed doesn’t quite have that same charm or feel. This album
is OK but for me it is a bit of a waste of Ben Levin’s talents, although him and his band do a good
job in backing up Lil’ Jimmy.

Graham Harrison

Tracy Nelson—Life Don't Miss Nobody—BMG ASIN ‏:
‎B0BY3G4W1G

I was first aware of Tracy Nelson in the 60s as vocalist with the
roots and blues collective Mother Earth and then she seemed to
disappear until she joined Marcia Ball and Irma Thomas on the
Grammy-nominated Sing It! album in the late 90s. Now in her
mid-70s she’s back and still in great voice with this album
recorded in Nashville with Roger Alan Nichols co-producing, she
wrote the title track a lovely poignant Latin-inflected ballad as
well as co-writing with Marcia Ball the powerful gospel blues
‘Where Do You Go (When You Can’t Go Home)’. We get
underway with a rocking boogie piano-led take on Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s ‘Strange Things
Happening Every Day’ and Doc Pomus’ ‘There is Always One More Time’ is a bluesy ballad with
Mickey Raphael’s mournful harp.

There’s an up tempo version of Sonny Boy Williamson’s ‘Your Funeral and My Trial’, with
Jontavious Willis guesting on vocals and resonator guitar and ‘Yonder Comes the Blues’ is an
authentic version of the old Ma Rainey song, complete with jazz band. Marcia Ball and Irma

Thomas join Tracy on ‘I Did My Part’, and she also gives us a beautifully understated take on
Stephen Foster’s ‘Hard Times’ that gradually builds (the song also closes the album with Tracy
doing it solo this time). Hank Williams’ ‘Honky Tonkin’ features both Mickey Raphael and his
boss Willie Nelson and on Willie Dixon’s ‘It Don’t Make Sense’ Tracy is joined by Charlie
Musselwhite on vocals and harp, while Buddy Holly’s ‘Brown Eyed Handsome Man’ sees Marcia
Ball and Irma Thomas re-joining her. The band here are excellent throughout and comprise a
core of Nashville stalwarts including Byron House (bass), Mike Henderson and Larry Chaney
(guitar) and John Gardner (drums) - and especially Steve Conn and Kevin McKendree
(keyboards). I thought that this was a really first class album with Tracy’s vocals being
outstanding – they aren’t so ‘out there’ as in her younger days but they are full of character and