Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown Long Way Home CD

LONG WAY HOME was nominated for a 1997 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album.

On LONG WAY HOME, Texas roots music legend Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown augments his usual hard-driving studio ensemble with a star-studded roster of guests, several of whose songs appear on the album. On the butt-shaking opener, "Blues Power," song authors Eric Clapton and Leon Russell sit in on guitar and vocals/electric piano respectively, while Bobby Charles and Maria Muldaur swap singing duties with Brown on Charles's countrified ballad "Here I Go Again." In a spare, spooky acoustic reading, John D. Loudermilk performs his own "Tobacco Road," with six-string backing from Brown.

LONG WAY HOME proves Brown to be a masterful interpreter of other people's material. A deliriously jumping read of Clifford Brown's "The Blues Walk," complete with fat horn section and Leon Russell's surging boogie electric piano sends the energy meter into the red. Dylan's "Don't Think Twice," featuring Clapton on guitar and Brown and Muldaur sharing the mike, is cooked up with slow, gospel-tinged feeling. As always, the level of musicianship is top-notch, as is evidenced by Brown's two solo acoustic instrumentals, and the violin vs. mandolin face-off with Ry Cooder on "Dockside Boogie." Everyone involved sounds like they're having fun, and their energy and enthusiasm is infectious.

Recorded at Dockside Studios, Maurice, Louisiana from May 8-18 and August 19-22, 1995 and Sigma Sound, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 14, 1995.

Personnel: Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, violin, viola); John D. Loudermilk (vocals, acoustic guitar); Leon Russell (vocals, electric piano); Maria Muldaur (vocals, background vocals); Gene Gunulfsen, Bobby Charles (vocals); Eric Clapton, Amos Garrett (guitar, acoustic guitar); Ry Cooder (slide guitar, mandolin); Sonny Landreth (National guitar); Eric Demmer (alto saxophone); Grady Gaines (tenor saxophone); Bobby Campo (trumpet, cowbells, guiro); Peter McEachern (trombone); George Bitzer (piano); Willie Weeks (bass guitar); Jim Keltner (drums, maracas, tambourine).

Recording information: Dockside Studios, Maurice (05/08/1995-09/21/1995); Sigma Sound Studios, Philadelphia, PA (05/08/1995-09/21/1995).

Personnel: Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, violin, viola); John D. Loudermilk (vocals, acoustic guitar); Leon Russell (vocals, electric piano); Maria Muldaur, Bobby Charles (vocals); Eric Clapton, Amos Garrett (guitar); Sonny Landreth (National steel slide guitar, electric slide guitar); Ry Cooder (mandolin, slide guitar); Bobby Campo (trumpet, cabasa, guiro, cowbell); Eric Demmer (alto saxophone); Grady Gaines (tenor saxophone); Peter McEachern (trombone); George Bitzer (piano, Wurlitzer piano, Hammond B-3 organ); Willie Weeks (bass); Jim Keltner (drums, maracas, tambourine); Teddy Jack (gourd).

Entertainment Weekly (4/5/96, p.80) - "...the last of the great Texas bluesmen holds everything together with his multi-instrumental virtuosity and gruff vocals..." - Rating: A-