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Blues Come Home to Roost
Super Chikan
Blues Come Home to Roost
Genres: Blues, Pop
 
  •  Track Listings (14) - Disc #1

As a youth sprouting in Mississippi cotton country, James Louis Johnson wanted to know what the chickens in his yard were saying. Once he had learned to play music, he made his guitar cackle like one. Known thereafter as S...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Super Chikan
Title: Blues Come Home to Roost
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Rooster Blues
Original Release Date: 3/11/1997
Release Date: 3/11/1997
Album Type: Original recording reissued
Genres: Blues, Pop
Styles: Electric Blues, Modern Blues
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 049998263424, 691874263426

Synopsis

Amazon.com
As a youth sprouting in Mississippi cotton country, James Louis Johnson wanted to know what the chickens in his yard were saying. Once he had learned to play music, he made his guitar cackle like one. Known thereafter as Super Chikan, Johnson began playing bass in jook joints with his uncle Big Jack Johnson, then on guitar backed up Frank Frost, Sam Carr, and Ernest Roy Jr. and Sr. When he started driving trucks, Super Chikan's songwriting skills flowered as his rigs rolled down the highway. He soon recorded 30 songs for Johnny Rawls and L.C. Luckett in a Clarksdale studio, several of which grace this exceptionally entertaining collection. Starting with the smooth, sardonic boogie "Down in the Delta," Chikan takes us on a backwoods tour of his funny, fertile mind, visiting the likes of "Captain Love Juice" and a lover named "Camel Toe" while serving up tasty vocals and guitarmanship. --Alan Greenberg

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CD Reviews

Super Chikan at his very best.
Bryan E. Newbury | Madison, Georgia United States | 07/28/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)

""Blues Come Home to Roost," James "Super Chikan" Johnson's Rooster debut, is a worthy reissue for many reasons. First, you will have to listen to A LOT of contemporary blues albums to come across writing this original, heartfelt, and humorous. Through the first five tracks, one will find himself grooving to Chikan's Mississippi-meets-Western Swing guitar style, one of the many hats he wore on this album. Chikan composed many of these songs while in the employ of a trucking company. Once he got home from his runs he would lay down all of the instruments to accompany the songs. As a result, the listener is treated to a work of uncompromising originality and personal history. Unlike many other performers nowadays, Chikan has his own sense of lyricism, avoiding the attractive yet overused AAB verse pattern. The best example of this is "Down in the Delta," a lyrical portrait of country life in the Mississippi that hits home with a combination of despair ("I've got a '71 Chevy & the dealer wants to take it from me") and optimism ("Everyting is fine/ Peachtrees are blooming, clothes hanging out on the line") so native not only to Mississippi, but all of the Deep South. Lyrical inventiveness and musical ability aren't the sole reasons Super Chikan stands out, though. Tracks 7 and 8 are musical humor worthy of Bobby Rush, with a freshness many can't touch. If you're a fan of smooth blues music, intelligent and occasionally whimsical lyrics and Southern culture, this album is not to be missed."