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Downhome acoustic folk blues
Genre:
Blues: Acoustic Blues
Release Date:
2005
Albums you will love
Little Johnny Kantreed
Front Porch Blues
Blues: Acoustic Blues
Little Johnny Kantreed
Bring Me A Little Water
Blues: Acoustic Blues
Acoustic Alley Blues
© Copyright-ANJ Records - Little Johnny Kantreed
(634479114205)
Record Label: ANJ Records
SPECIAL: 10% discount if you buy more than one copy of it today!
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NOMINATED FOR THE MCBS BLUESEY AWARD FOR 2005 BLUES CD OF THE YEAR
Downhome acoustic folk blues. Little Johnny was born and raised in the Nashville, TN area. In the late '70's, solo artists were a dime a dozen in Nashville. So Little Johnny packed up his powder blue Vega and moved to the Daytona Beach area of Florida, playing happy hours and opening for beach bands. Deciding that a steady paycheck would be a good way of life, he entered the radio scene and DJ'd morning drive times in Greenville, KY and Winchester, VA. Realizing that he liked Tennessee better than the nomadic life of radio, he landed back in Nashville.
Back in his hometown, he hooked up with a couple of bands, playing drums for The Colour Flag and Horse Of A Different Color. But it was the blues that was in him. Since that time, playing at The Arkansas Blues & Heritage Festival (formerly the King Biscuit Festival), The Ground Zero Blues Club and the annual Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, MS, along with King's Palace on Beale Street in Memphis, The Slippery Noodle Inn in Indianapolis and the Blues Stage at The Beanblossom Blues Festival in Beanblossom, IN, and sharing the stage with Americana artists Annie Mosher and Cheley Tackett, blues artists Blue Mother Tupelo, Jimbo Mathus, Wichita's Moreland & Arbuckle, Patio Daddio of Delicious Blues Stew, Indianapolis based The D-Moans, The Blues Attic Ramblers and "The Southpaw from Arkansas", guitarist Michael Holloway, Little Johnny is quickly making a name for himself in the Southeast blues scene.
Acoustic Alley Blues, the follow-up CD to Little Johnny's debut release, Front Porch Blues, is a blend of downhome acoustic folk and blues. Recorded at Little Hollywood Studio in Nashville, Tennessee and produced by Danny Lee Ramsey, Acoustic Alley Blues features not only Little Johnny's originals, but also taps in to the songwriting skills of favorites Lloyd Thayer and Lisa Bastoni, and also includes some standard classic blues numbers. This solo effort also features additional vocals of the incredible Micol Davis of Blue Mother Tupelo fame on two tracks. With a mixture of the likes of down and dirty chicken-grease blues (Yonder Come The Blues) to the bluegrass-folk tinged If I Had My Way, there seems to be something for all tastes of American roots music.
All in all, we think you'll enjoy this downhome acoustic folk blues artist.
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Good CD
author: Billy
He knows the history, and he can belt them out with the best.
author: Indie-Music.com
With the very first track, out of the body of this skinny white man comes a grizzled, raspy black man’s voice. “Yonder Comes the Blues” is a slurring, staggering, authentic and whiskey-fueled ode to bad luck with deliberately sloppy chord changes and plenty of heart and soul. Little Johnny Kantreed doesn’t just sing the blues – he’s grown up with the sound, he knows the history, and he can belt them out with the best.
These songs paint dark watercolors and put me right into the frame. Old houses with decaying front porches. Walking barefoot on torn-up streets, drinking homemade red wine, seeking fame and fortune. Bad women and even worse decisions. But Kantreed knows that the purpose of the blues isn’t to wallow in misery. He delivers many of these songs with a sly, wicked grin, including my personal favorite, “Relatives.” He claims to be kin to a woman who spends her day smoking in bed and listening to the police scanner, a cousin who had a shotgun wedding to a carnie and was divorced by age fifteen, and a grandpa with a belt buckle as big as a serving tray. He sings that the scary thing for him is that all these people know where he lives. The scary thing for me is that I believe him.
A special tip of the battered pageboy cap goes to Micol Davis, who adds her lovely vocals to two of these tracks. She has a Dolly Parton quality that melts perfectly into this sound.
“I had the blues so bad one time, it put my face in a permanent frown,” Kantreed sings at one point. Maybe. But there’s too much spirited mischief in these songs to make me believe that he’s really down for the count.
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...wonderfully entertaining
author: Natalie Carter - Kentuckiana Blues Society BluesNews
I've been a fan of Johnny's since I heard "Front Porch Blues", so "Acoustic Alley Blues" is a real treat for me. Besides the captivating guitar work, which has soothed many a working hour for me this summer, the lyrics in this set are wonderfully entertaining. After I checked to make sure we weren't really cousins ("Relatives"), I slipped into a daydream during "Flat World", courtesy of Micol Davis' beautiful vocal harmony. And "You Could Do A Lot Worse"...well, you know who you are. And I hope you do.
I love acoustic guitar and clever lyrics, and I'm tempted to quote from every song, but instead I'll just say that this is a great CD and you really ought to check it out. I've heard it's a little John Prine, I thought maybe a little Arlo Guthrie, but it's definitely all Johnny, and when Johnny's a-pickin', I'm a grinnin'!
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One of my favorites this year!!
author: Jeannie
What else can I say? This cd is one of my favorites this year. I can't wait to hear more!
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