Mississippi Heat - 2 albums: Glad You're Mine / Delta Bound

The late guitarist Honeyboy Edwards wrote in his autobiography, The World Don't Owe Me Nothing, that the blues is "something that leads you," a restlessness born of both discontent and hope. The archetypical blues traveler seeks sanctuary as well as freedom, a safe haven "further on down the line." Pierre Lacocque, founder of Mississippi Heat, still remembers the day when this realization came alive for him.

In 1970, he moved to Montreal to pursue his education; when he wasn't studying, he continued to hone his chops. He eventually hooked up with a local band called Oven and got a further taste of the blues life when he and his bandmates were burned by a shyster promoter. He returned to Chicago in 1976, but rather than leaping back into the city's blues scene, he took time off to earn a doctorate in psychology and embark on a career as a clinician and researcher. By the late ‘80s, though, he was again feeling restless, and he decided it was time to take the plunge into music once more.

Now a proficient harpist, Pierre worked with various blues aggregations around town. But he craved the opportunity to express himself more fully. "I felt the cry in blues," he explains, "but also the truth about the music. (Guitarist) Jon McDonald, who was a friend of mine, invited me to one of his gigs; it just happened that (bassist) Bob Stroger and (drummer/vocalist) Robert Covington were part of his band. We had such a great time that his brother Michel said, ‘Let's form a band! I'll be your manager."

The result was Mississippi Heat. "Jon McDonald was the first guitarist, and Bob Stroger, and Covington was on drums in the beginning. Then Bob Carter took over [on drums] because Covington wanted to be a front man. ‘The Golden Voice,' man! He had such an impressive stage presence, and his voice, it was just amazing." That voice (as well as Covington's drumming) was featured on the band's debut CD, 1992's Straight From The Heart. But Covington was suffering from health problems. On Stroger's recommendation, Pierre recruited vocalist Deitra Farr. With Deitra at the helm, a reconstituted Mississippi Heat recorded Learned The Hard Way in 1994 and Thunder In My Heart the following year.

By that time, Mississippi Heat's ‘traditional blues with a unique sound,' as their slogan puts it, had been codified, and it's remained intact ever since. Through myriad personnel changes, which have included stints by some of Chicago's most esteemed musicians and vocalists (Katherine Davis, who appears on 1999's Handyman, took over after Deitra struck out on her own in the mid-'90s; the incendiary Inetta Visor stepped in in 2001 and has held the mic ever since), Pierre's beloved dream band has become both a Chicago mainstay and an international ambassador of the living blues tradition.

Album: Glad You're Mine
Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 54:07
Size: 123.9 MB
Styles: Electric blues
Year: 2005
Art: Front

[4:28] 1. Dirty Deal
[5:12] 2. Heartless Fool
[5:43] 3. She Ain't Your Toy
[3:15] 4. Glad You're Mine
[3:22] 5. Give Me Yo' Strongest Whiskey
[4:18] 6. Cool Twist
[6:38] 7. I'm A Woman
[3:30] 8. Take My Hand
[5:02] 9. Love Will Play Tricks
[4:12] 10. Where Were You (Ode To Magic Sam)
[3:59] 11. Jamaican Night
[4:22] 12. Real Sad Strory

Glad You're Mine

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Album: Delta Bound
Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 61:13
Size: 140.2 MB
Styles: Electric blues
Year: 2012
Art: Front

[4:03] 1. Granny Mae
[4:10] 2. Look-A-Here, Baby
[5:55] 3. New Orleans Man
[5:27] 4. My Mother's Plea
[4:10] 5. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
[3:09] 6. Padlock Blues
[4:08] 7. What's Happening To Me
[4:25] 8. The Blues Matrix
[4:05] 9. Goin' To St. Louis
[4:38] 10. Trouble In His Trail
[3:40] 11. Mr. Mistreater
[4:26] 12. Lemon Twist
[4:01] 13. Sweet Ol' Blues
[4:50] 14. Easy To Please

Delta Bound

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