What do you get when you put together such blues luminaries as B.B King, Charlie Musselwhite, Honeyboy Edwards, Ruthie Foster, Cedric Burnside and Hubert Sumlin (plus a whole lot of others)? You get the upcoming release 100 Years of Robert Johnson, to be released on February 1 by Ryko/Big Records.
The album and accompanying tour is the brainchild of the members of Big Head Todd and the Monsters who have rechristened themselves the Big Head Blues Club (Todd Park Mohr (guitar, vocals), Rob Squires (bass), Brian Nevins (drums), Jeremy Lawton (keyboards). They teamed up with Grammy winning producer Chris Goldsmith to try and not only salute Johnson's music but also give it a different spin. Mohr recently said "In so many of the takes on Robert’s stuff, you don’t get the depth of emotion that’s in the lyrics and in Robert’s voice. That’s one thing that Chris and the band and my voice were able to bring to it. Chris had great ideas about how to represent the stuff, and all the musicians were just so good at what they did, the unique arrangements just came naturally."
The track list for the album covers ten of Johnson's classics:
Come On In My Kitchen (with Charlie Musselwhite)
Ramblin' On My Mind (with Cedric Burnside on acoustic guitar and Lightnin' Malcolm on electric guitar)
When You Got A Good Friend (with Hubert Sumlin on guitar, Lightnin' Malcolm on electric guitar and Ruthie Foster)
Cross Road Blues (with B.B. King)
Preachin' Blues (with Cedric Burnside on drums and Lightnin' Malcolm on acoustic guitar)
Kind Hearted Woman (with Ruthie Foster and Lightnin' Malcolm on acoustic guitar)
If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day (with Cedric Burnside on drums and Lightnin' Malcolm on electric guitar)
Last Fair Deal Gone Done (with Charlie Musselwhite)
All My Love Is Love In Vain (Todd Park Mohr solo vocal and acoustic guitar)
Sweet Home Chicago (just Honeyboy Edwards and Charlie Musselwhite)
The Big Head Blues Club, Edwards, Sumlin, Burnside and Malcolm will tour together in Blues at the Crossroads: The Robert Johnson Centennial
Concerts from late-January to early-March.
01/28 - San Francisco, CA - Regency Ballroom
01/29 - Costa Mesa, CA - Orange County Performing Arts Center
01/30 - San Diego, CA - Anthology (2 shows)
01/31 - Santa Barbara, CA - Campbell Hall / UCSB
02/04 - Austin, TX - Paramount Theatre
02/05 - Dallas, TX - Lakewood Theatre
02/10 - Ann Arbor, MI - Hill Auditorium / U of M
02/11 - Chicago, IL - Orchestra Hall
02/12 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre
02/13 - Meridian, MS - Riley Center / MSU
02/16 - Chapel Hill, NC - Memorial Hall / UNC Chapel Hill
02/17 - New Bethesda, MD - The Music Center at Strathmore
02/18 - Boston, MA - Berklee School of Music
02/24 - Ridgefield, CT - Ridgefield Playhouse
02/25 - Princeton, NJ - McCarter Theatre
02/26 - Blue Bell, PA - Montgomery County Community College
02/27 - New Bedford, MA - Zeiterion Theater
03/04 - Milwaukee, WI - Potowatomi Casino
03/05 - Omaha, NE - Holland Performing Arts Center
03/06 - Minneapolis, MN - Orchestra Hall
03/08 - Urbana, IL Krannert Center - Tyrone Festival Theatre
VIDEO: Check out the blues performed by Charlie Parr for Undercover uSessions below:
