Charlie Feathers

The record buyers responsible for making a Robert Johnson reissue outsell most new
releases last year delivered a strong message to the recording industry. Many music fans
are sick of the mechanistic fluff they've been fed and are turning to roots music in the
absence of a mainstream alternative. The industry has responded with a flood of reissues,
but Elektra's American Explorer Series is the first concerted attempt by a major l... More >

Like most of the losers who claim they taught Elvis his tricks, this 59-year-old Memphis crackpot has his claque--fools who think his stray cuts for Sun, King, and lesser, later indies put him on a par with Carl Perkins if not Jerry Lee. But though "One Hand Loose" and "Tongue-Tied Jill" are pretty great, only nuts need Kay Records' generically rockacountry Jungle Fever comp. So this is a shock. Although "Mean Woman Blues" rocks out like Robert Gordon and Billy Hancock wish, Feathers refuses to insult anyone's intelligence pretending he's horny as a teenager, putting his past behind him in the forlorn collection of old song titles "We Can't Seem To Remember To Forget." His resonant bullfrog undertone and hiccuping upper register evoking a less cocky George Jones, he explores rockabilly as a musical form--the white man's blues he's always saying it is. Funny, emotional, completely personal. Play at medium volume, late in the dark night. (Grade: A-)