The Jelly Roll Kings – Rockin’ The Juke Joint Down – Earwig Records 4901CD 

In late June, 1988, I was tired of summer classes at university, and mowing yards every spare minute I had to just eke-out a modest living, and knew that I needed an evening of blues in Chicago to get my head and heart right.  I read the blues music listing section of The Chicago Reader and decided that I’d head to Wise Fools Pub on No. Lincoln Ave. to see Son Seals.  By that time, Seals had established himself as a go-to club attraction, having already released two superb albums on Alligator Records (The Son Seals Blues Band and Midnight Son – I know that Live And Burning was released in 1978; I’m not sure if was available at the time I decided to head to Wise Fools Pub). 

I almost worked myself into a condition of complete physical and mental exhaustion by the Friday before the Saturday I was heading to Chicago to see Seals.  When Saturday morning arrived, I found that my excitement of heading into the city to hear live blues had rejuvenated both my body and mind.  I had amassed enough cash throughout the week from cutting yards for my regular stingy elderly clientele to feel assured about having enough available for gas, a modest dinner, parking, and the cover charge and drink outlays at the club.  Nothing was ever certain in my mind when I turned to my faithful Chrysler Cordoba for a trip down the highway, but as always, I put any reservations aside and continued forward with my plans.

Arriving in Chicago, I surprisingly acquired on-street parking in the vicinity of Wise Fools Pub and soon found myself at the club’s door.  However, I overheard the doorman advising some patrons in front of me that the club would be clearing the music room between sets to allow in a new audience to hear Seals’ music (and obviously collect a new round of cover charges).  This was not going to work for me; I was all-in on Seals, and though I really wanted to hear him, I backed out of line and considered alternative plans. 

I tried to reflect upon The Chicago Reader’s blues music listings from memory, but I was drawing a blank.  Where was I going to go?  Who was I going to hear?  Would whatever I found elsewhere be a let-down, given the exalted status upon which I placed Seals?  In the moment, I made the decision to head over to B.L.U.E.S. etcetera on W. Belmont not remembering who was there.  To this day, am I glad I made that decision.

To my great delight, and without much effort, I again found on-street parking in Chicago in a Saturday night (no small fete), and arrived at the club’s door.  I paid my cover charge, and as I stepped in, in front of the elevated stage, a noisy enthusiastic mass of blues-loving patrons was in a circle on the floor in front of the stage.  They were boisterously encouraging a hunched-over thin man in a brown suit with a cream-colored fedora as he blew some of the most funky, soulful, and authentic sounding blues harmonica I had ever heard.  It was a sight I still cannot dispel from memory, nor do I ever want to do so.  Who was this shadowy figure?  I looked at the stage, and the drummer was both playing his drums and the wall next to his drum kit, all the while displaying an impish grin under the ballcap he wore.  A large, imposing man was handling the guitar chores behind the comfort of dark-lensed sunglasses.  The ruckus these three men were making!  While my mind swirled, I made the most amazing summation of this musical aggregation unfolding before me; I was in the presence of a blues party being made available by the illustrious Clarksdale, Mississippi Delta band, The Jelly Roll Kings.

The whole of the experience that drummer Sam Carr (son of the great blues guitarist Robert Nighthawk), harmonicist, organist, and vocalist Frank Frost, and guitarist, bassist, and vocalist Big Jack Johnson imparted remains fresh in my mind these 34 years later.

I know that’s a lot of set-up for a CD review, but the reminiscences remain absolutely pleasing to me after all these years.

The Jelly Roll Kings first made their way into the public’s prominence, I believe, in 1963 when they broadcast their brand of Delta blues on the fabled King Biscuit Flour radio show originating out of KFFA in Helena, Arkansas. 

This collection is a meld of so many musical elements it almost becomes difficult to pin-down which influence plays the most prominent role.  But maybe there’s the beauty of this collection, in that it is beholden to no particular genre of music (except blues, which is, of course, at its core).  There’s blues, rock-n-roll, a certain element of funk, surely country, and even components of period pop music.  But make no mistake, when this varied selection of inputs parboils, it presents itself as a distinct dish of pure Delta music, not just blues.  Whether it’s a traditionally delivered cut complete with vocals, or one of the group’s red-hot instrumental outings, nothing else compares to the sounds achieved by Carr, Frost, and Johnson.  It’s their unique stamp on the Delta musical tradition. 

Frost, having been taught by two of the titans of the blues, Howlin’ Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson II, uses his lessons here, honed over so many years, into a pleasing mix of prime harmonica excursions, keyboard outings that flow and drive, and a primal and sharp vocal style.  Carr is no Buddy Rich in all the very right ways, offering essential rhythmic patterns to insistently urge the music forward, while Johnson doesn’t so much play the guitar as attacks it, repeatedly triggering forceful clipped passages, but is yet, capable of more tact and tuneful turns when necessary. 

There is not a throw away track on this broad-based stylistic jaunt, and songs most associated with the group like “Catfish Blues”, “Jelly Roll King”, “I Didn’t Know”, and “Slop Jar Blues” (one of the most unique tunes you’ll ever enjoy) reside amongst readings of “Something On Your Mind”, “Sunshine Twist (You Are My Sunshine”, and “Burnt Biscuits”.  Front-to-back, this collection is 100% enjoyable.

If you like your blues and music, in general, raw, rough-edged, and with more than a cursory amount of authenticity, this CD is vital to your collection.  This is the CD that got Michael Frank, the owner of Earwig Records, into the recording business.  Thank goodness for that, as Earwig’s catalog is superb, and that the legacy of The Jelly Roll Kings lives on through these songs! 

Highly-recommended!