Search - Papa George Lightfoot :: Goin' Back to the Natchez Trace

A Trace of Blues from the Natchez Trace

Benjamin Brenner | Davis, CA United States | 09/07/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Papa George Lightfoot holds the distinction of being one of the few bluesmen to hail from Natchez, Mississippi. While most know Mississippi as the "birth place of the blues", the vast majority of those musicians came from the delta, which is a four hour shot on highway 61 north of Natchez. Natchez, by comparison, is much closer to Lousiana (just across the 'sippi river), and this proximity is forefront in Lightfoot's music. Thus, instead of the country-hard luck blues of the delta (a-la Muddy Waters, Son House, Pat Hare, etc.), Lightfoot's music embraces an r & b based flat-top beer joint good timeyness. Lightfoot's harmonica playing is rhythmic and distinctive. He tends to find a good riff and hang on, and he knows the value of not playing too many notes. He also doesn't do much wailing, a-la Little Walter or Sonnyboy Williamson. All in all, this is good, down-home, backyard BBQ party music, and should give the listener a feel for the electric blues popular in Natchez in 1969, and generally performed (and recorded, if at all) by regional, non-famous working class guys. Four stars on this one because it's not Lightfoot's best recording -- for that, check out the frenzied and primal rendering of "When The Saint's Go Marching On" found on the Imperial Records collection Rural Blues, Vol. 2. (Whether or not this is available on CD, I do not know).
One last note -- the City of Natchez trash barrel featured on the cover of this album is still in use, just north of Natchez at a rest stop on the Natchez Trace."