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Delta Pickin's - Music Reviews by Leon McEntire
Welcome to Delta Pickin's. I have been collecting and studying music of all types ever since I got my first record player at age 8. Now after going to hundreds of concerts and listening to thousands of LPs, CDs, concert videos, and cassette tapes I have developed an understanding of music and musicians that I try to convey in my reviews. Having been a working musician for 24 years has made me aware of the musician's point of view. See the Leon McEntire page for more about my music experiences.
Leon McEntire
The reviews on Delta Pickin's will cover both new releases and older recordings in a wide variety of genres. I will also review concerts, videos, and CD-ROMS. I believe the music you find here will enrich your soul as it did mine.
The Blues had a baby and they named it Rock and Roll. Gospel and the Blues got together and they called it Soul. Anyone who agrees with these remarks will love the music that I review. If you do not, then I will try to guide you towards the music that matters to me and let you make up your own mind. Please e-mail me with suggestions of music that you would like to see reviewed. I will try to include it.
JOHN LEE HOOKER & CANNED HEAT - HOOKER'N'HEAT - EMI 97896
Here we have what has been a mainstay of my collection and has not withered with the last three decades. In 1970 the legendary John Lee Hooker teamed up with the infamous ex-Woodstock boogie band that he was the inspiration for, Canned Heat, to record an essential double live-in-the-studio album for us to enjoy and believe me, it stands up to repeated listening for several reasons which I will offer below.
It was becoming sort of a common practice during the late '60's and early '70's for the elder Blues statesmen to record LP's with the younger rock stars whom they were in a large part responsible for and who were in awe of them with some expectedly various results. With the exception of "The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions", most were found to be lacking due to fact that so little common ground was actually shared by the unusual pairings. Muddy Waters and Johnny Winter would be the other combination that I can think of that really made the most of the Blues explosion and they gave us 4 amazing LP's before Muddy's death.
Hooker'N'Heat was another rare notable exception to this rule. The team of Hooker and Canned Heat frequently played gigs together live and recorded together during what was a brief yeomanship for the boogie band. We get the best of both worlds on this release as well since the first CD is mostly Hooker playing and stomping out his mean and hypnotic solo style that got this all started in the first place. Canned Heat shines on the second CD and they do an admirable job of hanging in there with the King of Boogie.
This material has been in my collection ever since I began to become interested in more than just the usual music that was doled out on the radio back in the day and has been cememted in some form to whatever format of music playback device I owned since I saw Canned Heat when they played in Trumann, Arkansas in the early '80's. Ok, so I admit that there is a bit of an emotional attachment to this one.
Delta Pickin's Music Reviews
Albert Collins - LIVE (`92 - `93)
Bernard Allison - KEEPIN' THE BLUES ALIVE
BB King - HOW BLUE CAN YOU GET
The Beat Daddys - LIVE
Big Jack Johnson - DADDY, WHEN IS MOMMA COMIN' HOME?
Billy Gibson - BILLY GIBSON
Billy Lee Riley - HOT DAMN!
Buddy Guy - BUDDY AND THE JUNIORS
Carey Bell - DEEP DOWN
Earl Gaines - I BELIEVE IN YOUR LOVE
Eddie Shaw - IN THE LAND OF THE CROSSROADS
Frank Frost and Sam Carr - KEEP YOURSELF TOGETHER
Freddie King - LIVE AT THE ELECTRIC BALLROOM
Homesick James - WORDS OF WISDOM
The James Solberg Band - SEE THAT MY GRAVE IS KEPT CLEAN
The James Solberg Band - ONE OF THESE DAYS
James "Super Chikan" Johnson - BLUES COME HOME TO ROOST
Jimmy Dawkins - ME MY GITAR AND THE BLUES
Jimmy King - SOLDIER FOR THE BLUES
Jimmy Vivino - DO WHAT NOW
John Lee Hooker - ALTERNATIVE BOOGIE
Junior Wells - IT'S MY LIFE BABY
Kenny Brown - GOIN' BACK TO MISSISSIPPI
Kenny Wayne Shepherd- TROUBLE IS
Led Zeppelin - BBC SESSIONS
Lonnie Pitchford- ALL AROUND MAN
Luther Allison - HAND ME DOWN MY MOONSHINE
Luther Allison - RECKLESS
Mark Sallings and The Famous Unknowns - TALKIN' TO MYSELF
Melvin Taylor and The Slack Band - DIRTY POOL
Michael Hawkeye Herman - BLUES ALIVE!
Muddy Waters - LIVE AT MR. KELLYS
Mulgrew Miller - HAND IN HAND
Nicholas Payton - FROM THIS MOMENT
Percy Mayfield - LIVE
Peter Green - THE ROBERT JOHNSON SONGBOOK
RL Burnside - TOO BAD JIM
RL Burnside - MR WIZARD
Robben Ford and The Blue Line - THE AUTHORIZED BOOTLEG
Robert Nighthawk - LIVE ON MAXWELL STREET
Son House - DELTA BLUES AND SPIRITUALS
Stevie Ray Vaughan - LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL
Willie Cobbs - PAY OR DO 11 MONTHS & 29 DAYS
Willie Dixon - I AM THE BLUES
Delta Pickin's CD-ROM Reviews
BB King - On The Road With BB KING
More Leon Info
Hairy Larry - Introducing Leon McEntire
Leon McEntire's Home Page
