Sleepy LaBeef Tomorrow Never Comes CD

Sleepy LaBeef was 65 when he recorded this album in early 2000; his rich baritone seems to grow deeper with the passing years. He can resonate in the lowest reaches, rise up for a mid-range growl, and head back down again (on "I Want To Be Loved" he does it all). His regular trio of piano, bass, and drums joins him here in a set similar to what he's been playing in roadhouses for decades. Maria Muldaur joins him on "Raining in My Heart" and "Will the Circle Be Unbroken"; her feisty singing playfully dances around the big man's.

The selections draw from what have become 20th century classics: Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business," Earl Flatt and Lester Scruggs's "Rolling in My Sweet Baby's Arms," and Tony Joe White's "Polk Salad Annie" among them. LaBeef's guitar is the stringed equivalent of his expressive low-register voice. With recordings dating back to the '50s, Sleepy LaBeef has simply never stopped celebrating the music he loves.

Personnel includes: Sleepy LaBeef (vocals, guitar); David Hughes (guitar, piano, background vocals); Jerry Cavanagh (harmonica, drums, background vocals); Maria Muldaur (vocals); Jim Davis (saxophone); Dave Pomeroy (bass); Jeff "Gator" McKinley (upright bass); Jerry Rogers (background vocals).

Engineers: Graham Lewis, George Clinton, Fred Guarino.

No Depression (1-2/01, p.88) - "...The performances are uniformly excellent and the accompanying musicians sympathetic....there is a whole lot of love on this record....a fine introduction to this underappreciated icon."