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Willie King & The Liberators
Living in a New World
Rooster Blues Records
By Jud Block
 From the first
time I ever heard the blues, I loved it. I wasn't black, I had
never worked in a cotton field, and my people -- more wrongly
than rightly -- were generally considered to be part of the oppressive
class responsible for the music's existence in the first place.
But none of that mattered because that music touched me in a
way more visceral than any other music I had ever been exposed
to. And that was quite a revelation for someone who was raised
on a steady diet of Motown and Stax, compliments of my mom's
great record collection. Hell, I didn't even know white people
made music until I hit my teen years, and with the advent of
most of today's prefabricated pop stars I sometimes find myself
yearning for those pre-teen Halcyon days of blissful ignorance.
But when I heard Son House sing "Death Letter Blues,"
the direction of music changed for me, and I began searching
out and learning everything I could about the history, the performers,
and the music. Being Southern, I could relate immediately to
the subject matter and settings of the songs; in many ways blues
music represented my attitudes and experiences more accurately
than the country music I would later come to appreciate and then
love. From the Delta, I discovered electric blues with Muddy
Waters and eventually my hero Luther Allison, and in the process
learned of all the different geographical varieties of the music
from North Mississippi hill country blues to Piedmont blues to
Texas blues, and found them all to be appealing in their own
unique way. That is why I am always astounded when someone tells
me they don't like the blues because it all sounds alike or is
a limited genre. To me, a comment like that makes about as much
sense as saying you don't really care for life because you find
carbon to be a limited element -- it shows a basic ignorance
of the subject.
Well, dullness and limitation are two things that Willie King
& The Liberators don't have to worry about. On their latest
CD, Living in a New World, Willie King and the boys offer
up ten original songs that combine Memphis soul and Mississippi
hill country influences with lyrics that address contemporary
as well as historical topics with an often improvised feel.
From the opening title track "Living in a New World"
and its Archie Bell and the Drells on a Sunday afternoon groove,
it's immediately obvious that this isn't your usual juke joint
variety blues music. First, there is the vocal interchange between
lead vocalist Willie King and second vocalist Willie Lee Halbert
in which certain words and phrases are repeated and, in some
instances, a call and response is set up. Second, the lyrics
address a man's changing himself and his life by choosing to
view the world with love rather than despair or hate. This is
an uplifting, philosophical song about redemption, perseverance
and hope rather than misery and heartache. If the blues is supposed
to make you feel good, then this song is damn near gospel.
Yeah, I want to tell ya something what happened to me
(Go on and tell it)
You know it took a long time
(It took a long time)
But it finally came home
(Oh yeah)
I said it took a long time
(It took a long time)
But it finally came home
(It finally came home, yeah)
I found love
(I found love, yeah)
I found peace
(I found peace)
I found happiness
(I found peace and happiness, yeah)
"The Stomper" is the kind of song we can imagine
rumbling from the inside of one of those tin roofed cypress wood
shacks that dot the landscape all through Alabama, Mississippi,
and Louisiana. With a serpentine Hooker-esque guitar riff weaving
its way through a rhythm section that's funky enough to get a
paraplegic up and dancing, it's the kind of song that can be
hard on tables and chairs. And if anyone happens to be looking
for Junior Kimbrough's ghost, they can find it right here.
Say you know they call him the stomper
(What?)
And every Sunday evenin'
Down at Betty Jean's, y'all
(Well, yeah)
He gonna come in
(They call me. . .)
Said they call me the stomper
(They call me. . .They call me the stomper, yeah)
But what really sets Willie King & The Liberators apart
from the rest of the blues world is their inclination toward
social protest songs. Their previous disc, Freedom Creek,
was an often disturbing look at the hardships of class and poverty
in the US, but it was also a diatribe against a society that
would allow such misery to take place. The closest Living
in a New World gets to that is on the song "Terrorized,"
and it is easily the most haunting track on the disc. At a little
over eight minutes long, it tells the story of a freed slave
and outlines his suffering at the whims of Lincoln's cruel generosity.
And if you don't know what I'm talking about, go back and re-read
your history.
Talk about terror
People I've been terrorized all my days . . .
Now you took my name
And left me in chains
They wouldn't let me go to school
You know I couldn't read or write . . .
You know they gave me the mule
Then they called me a fool
You know they laughed at me
And you know I didn't even make my cell . . .
You know they turned around and hung me
Hung me from the tallest oak tree
You talk about terror
Talk about terror
I've been terrorized all my days
Willie King & The Liberators make the kind of blues music
that can draw on the smoothest of soul one minute and then turn
on you with its bad intentions the next. It has a lot of heart,
but it also has a surprisingly cerebral punch that can leave
you reeling. If you're one of those who thinks all blues music
sounds the same, you probably didn't make it this far, but if
you did, then I dare you to pick up a copy of Living in a
New World -- it might just open your eyes to one.
* Take the long walk down that dusty, desolate virtual road,
and when you get to the crossroads, click onto www.roosterblues.com and pick up a copy of
Living in a New World, it might just save your soul.
Contact Jud Block at jud-at-rockzilla.net
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