Album Notes

Thom "Champagne Charlie" Roberts and Carlos del Junco. Thom Roberts a.k.a. "Champagne Charlie" delivers intricate, surefooted acoustic guitar work here. His sincere, punctual vocals are complimented by Carlos' mostly acoustic harmonica playing. This collection of 1920's and 30's delta blues songs is given a contemporary edge due to del Junco's jazzy lyrical counterpoint playing and harmonized lines.

Tributes were flowing on the maplepost and mapleblue-l listserves following news of the passing of Thom Roberts, aka Champagne Charlie, who passed away on April 4th 2008. Nonie Crete wrote: "(he was) the real deal when it came to the blues. He once told me that he’d met Rev Gary Davis as a boy and learned a great deal from him. Just before a planned tour with Carlos Del Junco he fell ill and went to the hospital where he was put on blood thinners which caused a major stroke that should have left him unable to do very much because of the side of the brain it affected. He amazed doctors by walking, talking and regaining the use of his hand. He said it was because he played guitar that the other side of his brain responded for the one that was affected. Jay Linden wrote: “Colin and I (and the rest of the family) go back a *very* long time with Thom, sitting around our family home, joking and playing songs until late at night back when Colin was a young teen, I was a college kid and Thom was somewhere in his upper mid-20s, I guess. I figure he and Colin both learned a lot from each other, but mostly, Thom was a friend.”