Dr. Ross – Boogie Disease – Arhoolie Records CD 371

Dr. Ross was certainly from a former earlier time when itinerant country bluesmen of the early part of the 20^th century waged their skills at the celebratory rural frolics, fish fries, picnics, and juke joints.  Ross was an absolute one-man musical mechanism who uniformly played high-level guitar, harmonica, hi-hat cymbal, and bass drum, all the while adeptly singing.  He was quite proficient of immense feats of very brilliant blues, breakdowns, and instrumentals depicting, among other things, a song built around the ether of a fox chase.  It has to be heard by the attentive blues enthusiast to truly value its impressiveness.

Here we find Ross in a front-to-back top-shelf collection of tunes from Memphis, Tennessee studio sessions laid down between the period 1952-1954.  Of course, front-and-center is that infectious Ross sound created by his unique method of playing guitar left-handed, while also staging his harmonica in his customary manner of having the bass end of the humble instrument on the right side.  As an aside, Ross was referred to as “Dr.” due to his practice of keeping his various harmonicas in a physician’s medical bag.

But what sets this generous 22-cut compilation off from much of his other work is that here, on his first ever recordings, Ross brought in Barber Parker to play drums on five selections, Henry Hill on piano on one song, Reubin Martin on washboard on seven cuts, and Wiley Gatlin playing guitar on eight tunes. 

But make no mistake, Ross displays a high level of proficiency on the harmonica a la John Lee Williamson (Sonny Boy Williamson I), and on his roiling and cadenced guitar, an instrument he also uses to great effect when offering superb treble runs.

The overall percussive backbones of Ross’ tunes will get the listeners’ feet metrically tapping and heads nodding within seconds of any of his works.

Ross sings in a weighty manner, no doubt one mandated to be heard above the ruckus of his multi-instrumental assault and vibrant rhythm sections.  Each work brings high expectation to the listener of Ross’ infectious musical harvest, and he never dissatisfies. 

If as a blues fan you have not fully delved into the one-man band structure, there is no better place to start than any Ross outing.  Here, one gets the best of both worlds.  Ross is found plying his formidable musical talents across a landscape of instruments, and is also accompanied by astounding rhythm sections.  Dr. Ross has just the prescription you want and need! 

This is a highly essential blues document; one you need in your collection!