Album Notes

John Long is a national treasure.

More than 20 years ago Muddy Waters is quoted saying “John Long is the best young country blues artist playing today.”

Last year upon hearing John’s music for the first time, Los Angeles based guitarist Zac Zunis remarked, “If you wanted to make an argument for reincarnation, John Long is it.”

No one has come along in the last 20 years or so who can fill John’s shoes. He is still, hands down, the best post-modern old school bluesman working today. He is the complete package. A master of the art.

So why has he fallen through the proverbial cracks? Well, what about Skip James, and Robert Johnson, and what about Willie Walker (a blind singer and guitarist from the Carolinas who Reverend Gary Davis said was the best he’d ever heard, bar none; listening to Walker’s only two brilliant recordings, it’s easy to see why the Reverend Davis said what he did). All these masters fell through the cracks. It has happened all too often, for blues artists especially.

How many times have I heard the know-it-alls, the critics, the so-called progressive blues musicians say it can’t be done like it was? Enter John Long, in my rarely humble opinion, the end all, be all of the post modern old school country blues musicians. God bless Johnny Long. It can be done, and oh-so-naturally with total authority and originality. Long live the blues.
- Al Blake