Album Notes

Bob’s love of the blues started in the 1960s, listening to The Rolling Stones who were then playing numbers from Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf and Jimmy Reed. He bought the records of these old bluesmen and began a musical odyssey back in time through the 50s, 40s and 30s to the early blues and jug band recordings of the 20s.

As a student in Leeds in the early 70s he saw some of the big names as they toured or settled in Europe….Son House, Memphis Slim, Muddy Waters, Champion Jack Dupree and others.

During the 70s and early 80s, Bob appeared at folk clubs and pubs, sometimes solo, more often with a harmonica player – notably his schoolfriend, Keith Miller. His musical pursuits were then pushed aside due to the pressures of running his own business from the mid-80s until 1999 when he returned to playing blues with recording an album, Cow Pie – The First Thirty Years, with old friends

These days Bob is able to spend more time enjoying the blues; both listening and playing. He is now a frequent visitor to the Mississippi Delta and the surrounding area, enjoying the blues heritage, the southern hospitality and the present day mucic scene. During recent trips, Bob has played at The Ground Zero Blues Club, at Hopsons,The Delta Amusement Cafe and Red's in Clarksdale, at Po Monkey’s in Merigold,at The Walnut Street Blues Bar in Greenville and on the KFFA Radio Station in Helena on Sonny Payne’s legendary King Biscuit Time show. He was also one of many blues musicians playing open – air during Clarksdale’s 2005 and 2006 Juke Joint Festivals.

Bob plays guitar in both standard and open tunings – sometimes bottleneck style. He specialises in acoustic country blues,ragtime and jug band songs from the 1920s to the 1940s..."the old stuff"…

This album was recorded in the second half of 2005, mostly in Hampshire, United Kingdom by Bob Lowndes but also includes one track, “They’re Red Hot” which was recorded in Clarksdale, Mississippi in July 2005.

Bob Long has recorded some of his favourite blues as solo performances, in which he plays several different guitars, sings, stamps his foot and adds harmonica in places. Hence the title of this album; “All By Myself”. The album embraces several distinct styles, ranging from his acoustic slide interpretations of Charley Patton, Robert Johnson and Fred McDowell to the distorted, raw sounds reminiscent of the early John Lee Hooker solo recordings.

This collection of songs is a tribute to the blues singers who have departed this world but remain with us through a rich legacy of music which continues to delight and inspire listeners today