Album Notes

In the 1970s and 80s, Oakland California was the ground zero of west coast blues, and Monica Dupont was the singing, songwriting, guitar playing, bandleading blueswoman in the center of it. From the great venues to the late-night juke joints, Monica played them all, both with her own band and as a sideman with the top blues musicians in the area.
The songs presented here, recorded with some of the best musicians in the Bay Area, were originally demos (except for “Try To Find Another Man” which was released as a 45 rpm single). For various reasons, some circumstantial, some legal, they were hidden away until 2004 when they were finally released on CD as “Early Eighties”. The worldwide attention and response from Monica’s fans, old and new, brought her out of retirement to record the album “Life Goes On”.

Monica has never felt these recordings were quite complete… so now after almost thirty years, we have revisited them both musically and technologically. The original tracks have been digitally cleaned up and new instruments and vocals added.

The “Deluxe Inn”, a real after-hours club in old Oakland, is given it’s due.
“Try To Find Another Man”, the song responsible for the notorious “Sounds like Muddy Waters, looks like Mary Tyler-Moore” quote by Ralph Gleason, has never sounded better.
“Walkin’ Around Frisco” finally has an entire band on the recording and is guaranteed to make one smile.
Patsy Cline and Floyd Cramer would have loved the simply beautiful country blues of “When I Woke Up I Was Over You”.
The early Rolling Stones were the inspiration for the rocker “Checkin Out”.
Monica takes us to church with “The Lord Is Recalling Sinners”, the blueswoman coming home to sing the gospel.
Monica’s new, definitive Christmas song “Peace In The World” is here as a “bonus” track.

ModernBlues Records is proud to once again present these outstanding early works of the unique, wonderfully talented, Monica Dupont.