Blues Bytes
June/July 2010

The full title of Grady Champion’s 2008 Earwig Records CD is Back In Mississippi Live At The 930 Blues Café, and it features guest artist Eddie Cotton Jr. This is the first Grady Champion album that I’ve heard, and it makes me wonder what I’ve been missing! Champion, the youngest of 28 children, started his musical career as a rapper, but quickly realized that his musical love lay in a different direction.

His debut album, Goin’ Back Home, came out in 1998, and he was picked up by Shanachie Records before transferring to Earwig Records. In January 2010 he won the 26th International Blues Challenge in Memphis. So it’s pretty certain that he knows his stuff from that background – what about the CD?

I’m a bit of a sucker for live recordings, especially when they are well recorded and catch the flavour of the performance – this recording fits both categories. The album contains five covers and eight original tracks, written or co-written by Champion, and they are all good – although some are better than others.

The CD opens with Willie Dixon’s “I’m Ready,” before launching into a mix of Jimmy Reed’s “Baby What You Want Me To Do” and “Bright Lights, Big City.” The first original track, “You Got Some Explaining To Do,” follows, written by Grady Champion and Dennis Walker, and it’s equally as good as the previous tracks. It’s also slightly better than the next track, “1-800-Blu-Love begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              1-800-Blu-Love      end_of_the_skype_highlighting,” a Champion original. Next up is “Policeman Blues,” to my ears more soul than blues but a good song nonetheless slightly marred by a bit of rap near the end.

Then it’s back to the covers with Howlin’ Wolf’s “Spoonful.” Champion makes a good job of covering this old standard, with some very tasteful harmonica playing thrown in for good measure. From then on it’s a mixture of a couple of covers, an excellent version of “Lonesome Bedroom Blues” and B.B.King’s “Why I Sing The Blues,” both very well performed, and five more original tracks, the best of which has to be “Wine and Women,” a bouncy up-tempo number with lovely guitar work, backed up with feeling by piano and keyboards.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the CD, and I’m looking for Grady Champion’s earlier albums right now!



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