Recorded live on KAL radio in Berkeley, CA on April 15, 1966, this presents roughly equal shares of material from
Mance Lipscomb,
Clifton Chenier, and
Lightnin' Hopkins, performing at the 1966
Berkeley Blues Festival. The sound is not state-of-the-art, but decent considering the vintage. The material is not going to surprise anyone familiar with the artists, which is good news if you're in love with their music and want typical excerpts of their sets, but bad news if you think you might have enough of them and you're considering whether to investigate further.
Lipscomb does good-natured, rhythmic country blues, both of his own composition and otherwise, covering
"When the Saints Go Marching In," "I Ain't Got Nobody," and
"The Sinking of the Titanic," which has slide guitar and is perhaps the most interesting of his songs on the CD.
Chenier's performance might be of the greatest historical interest of the three artists on this disc, since it was his first appearance before a "a mostly young, white, relatively sophisticated concert audience," as
Chris Strachwitz writes in the liner notes. It's just him, his accordion, and drummer
Francis Clay, mostly on original tunes, as well as zydeco arrangements of
Slim Harpo's
"Baby Scratch My Back" and
Ray Charles'
"What'd I Say?." Clay also plays drums as the sole other musician on
Lightnin' Hopkins' portion which, with its electric guitar, has a nice, mild electric R&B-rock feel. Should you already have
Lipscomb,
Chenier, and/or
Hopkins albums, this couldn't be considered an essential addition to your library. For the casual listener, though, it might not be a bad pickup. There's variety in the sets (especially as
Lipscomb and
Hopkins' blues sections are broken up by
Chenier's zydeco one), none of the three go on so long that you get tired of any individual performer, and there are 74 minutes of music. Half of this was previously available on
Arhoolie LP 1030, but 11 of the 23 songs on the CD were previously unreleased. ~ Richie Unterberger
![O Brother, Where Art Thou? [Original Soundtrack]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0008817006925_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "O Brother, Where Art Thou? [Original Soundtrack]")
