Time: 54:27
File: MP3 @ 320K/s (cassette)
Released: 1991
Styles: Electric blues, harmonica blues
Art: Front, inside (small)
1. The Hard Way (2:40)
2. Jackpot Junior's Last Joyride (4:54)
3. Ramblin' On My Mind (3:24)
4. Working With My Baby (3:45)
5. Checkerboard Jump (2:57)
6. Paulie's Little Nitemare (5:17)
7. Open Up The Back Door (4:32)
8. Stay Awhile (2:44)
9. Double Dealing Joker (8:10)
10. Never Can Tell (3:17)
11. Drop Of A Hat (3:05)
12. She's Alright (4:14)
13. Ruffled Up Wardrobe (3:27)
14. Tumbleweeds (1:53)
Paul Black was never a cuddly performer. Years ago, talking about his approach to live performances, the Madison-based blues man explained to me, "I'm not there to get the audience excited and sweaty and get 'em to drink a lot of beer." For 30 years, he refined his sets with his regular band, the Flip Kings, to the point where their takes on a connoisseur's selection of Delta blues, Chicago-shaded scuffling, inventively reworked rock covers and sly originals seemed to bore directly into the floorboards of local rooms like the old Church Key, the Crystal Corner and the Harmony Bar. These were serious blues sessions played with seriously talented sidemen like Jerry Alexander, West Side Andy Linderman and Joel Paterson. And the focus was almost always on Black's deft ululations on slide guitar - long, at times otherworldly peregrinations that could be unrelentingly doleful one minute and transcendently witty the next.
Black hadn't come to his magic easily. He'd knocked around in various contexts before settling in Madison in the mid-'70s. A stint playing around the South with Sonny Landreth (who'd go on to play with John Hiatt and do respected solo work) netted a lot of drunken nights and very little money. Later he played guitar with Texas-bred, San Francisco-based singer Jeannie Stout, who seemed destined for big things until she negotiated her way out of a contract with Arista Records. Once he settled in Madison, Black became a reliable draw at local watering holes, and the Flip Kings established themselves as one of the area's best blues acts. /Tom Laskin
(For personnel details, see artwork included.)
Black hadn't come to his magic easily. He'd knocked around in various contexts before settling in Madison in the mid-'70s. A stint playing around the South with Sonny Landreth (who'd go on to play with John Hiatt and do respected solo work) netted a lot of drunken nights and very little money. Later he played guitar with Texas-bred, San Francisco-based singer Jeannie Stout, who seemed destined for big things until she negotiated her way out of a contract with Arista Records. Once he settled in Madison, Black became a reliable draw at local watering holes, and the Flip Kings established themselves as one of the area's best blues acts. /Tom Laskin
(For personnel details, see artwork included.)
Don't Make Me Get Up! mc
Don't Make Me Get Up! zippy
