|
Today, Acoustic Sounds announces Blues Masters Live, a new series of previously unreleased live recordings drawn from the Blues Masters at the Crossroads concert series at Blue Heaven Studios in Salina, Kansas. The series ran from 1998 through 2018, bringing generations of blues artists to Blue Heaven Studios. With Blues Masters Live, Acoustic Sounds begins making this extraordinary archive available to listeners for the first time.
Launching with performances by Tab Benoit and Tony Joe White, the series revisits a remarkable chapter of the Acoustic Sounds archives, bringing performances recorded more than two decades ago to vinyl for the first time.
Recorded live to two-track on half-inch tape at 15 inches per second, both performances were captured inside a restored Gothic-style church that serves as Acoustic Sounds’ renowned recording venue. The albums preserve not only the power of the performances themselves, but also serve as irreplaceable documents of artists and musical communities that cannot be recreated. “Almost all of them are gone now, and I want to share the magic that they left for us,” says Acoustic Sounds founder and CEO Chad Kassem.
The first two releases – Blues Masters Live: Tab Benoit, recorded October 19, 2002, and Blues Masters Live: Tony Joe White, recorded October 18, 2003 – offer two very different portraits of Louisiana blues at the turn of the century, with liner notes for Tab Benoit written by veteran New Orleans-based music journalist and author Keith Spera and Acoustic Sounds’ own Chad Kassem for Tony Joe White.
For Tab Benoit, the 2002 performance was a homecoming of sorts. At 34, the Louisiana guitarist was already an acclaimed performer, but found himself sharing the Blue Heaven stage with elder statesmen of the music he had grown up admiring. Recorded with bassist Carl Dufrene Jr. and drummer Darryl White, the performance captures Benoit moving through the blues, New Orleans R&B, swamp pop and zydeco traditions that shaped his sound.
The recording remained unreleased for more than two decades. When Acoustic Sounds’ Chad Kassem decided to begin releasing recordings from the Blues Masters at the Crossroads archive during Acoustic Sounds’ 40th anniversary year, Benoit’s performance was an obvious place to begin.
The double album moves from Benoit originals including “Muddy Bottom Blues,” “Nice and Warm,” “Let Love Take Control,” “Louisiana Style,” “Crawfishin’” and “Cherry Tree Blues” to deeply rooted Louisiana material, including Professor Longhair’s “Her Mind Is Gone,” Boozoo Chavis’ “Dog Hill,” and “I Got Loaded,” performed with its creator, Camille Bob, aka Lil’ Bob. The set closes with the aptly titled “Bayou Boogie,” Benoit delivering on his promise to “give it all I got.”
If Benoit’s album captures a rising Louisiana artist stepping into the company of his heroes, Blues Masters Live: Tony Joe White documents a performance that Kassem has privately treasured for years. “This recording in particular is one of the best things I’ve ever been a part of. I’ve been playing this for people for 23 years and it stops me cold every single time.”
White, one of Kassem’s all-time favorite artists and a fellow Louisiana native, arrived at Blue Heaven Studios in October 2003 with drummer Marc “Boom Boom” Cohen. Kassem immediately recognized something extraordinary in the performance and in the recording itself. For years, the recording became Kassem’s ultimate demonstration disc, something he would play for visitors whenever he wanted to show them what a great recording could sound like.
“Ever since the fall of 2003, when Tony Joe White walked into Blue Heaven Studios and played one of the most unbelievable sets I’ve ever witnessed in my life, I’ve had a secret weapon,” says Kassem. “That performance and the purity of that recording is as close to perfect as anything I’ve got in my collection.”
The recording captures White moving through five decades of his own music with no covers, from familiar songs including “Polk Salad Annie” to deeper cuts from his catalog, while also showcasing the unique character of Blue Heaven Studios itself. Built as a Gothic-style church before the age of microphones and amplification, the sanctuary was designed so a preacher could be heard throughout the room without reinforcement. Engineers David Baker and Katsu Naito captured that natural acoustic environment, allowing the room’s expansive ambience to become part of White’s performance.
Among the album’s highlights is “Willie and Laura Mae Jones,” a song Kassem has returned to countless times over the years. “I’m not gonna try to describe it for you. You just gotta listen for yourself,” Kassem says. “But I’ll warn you: grab some Kleenex.”
Both albums have been mastered by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings, presenting these long-unreleased performances with the sonic fidelity and craftsmanship for which Acoustic Sounds and Analogue Productions are known.
|
