Artist: Mem Shannon
Title Of Album: A Cab Driver's Blues
Year Of Release: 1996
Label: Hannibal
Genre: Blues
Quality: ape
Art: scans
No.
Notes:
Shannon really was a New Orleans cabbie when this CD was made, and his concept of interspersing conversational snippets from some of his fares between his autobiographical blues vignettes is inspired. Fortunately, he also has the talent to take it beyond novelty status. Combining unhurried guitar picking with a burly, dialectically southern voice that's just right for his beleaguered everyman persona, Shannon's abiding strength is his funny, incisive compositions. His lyrics carry the gift of gab, from the woman who "bought Cadillac hubcaps for earrings/and a dress lit up like a Christmas tree" on "My Baby's Been Watching TV," to the conversational father-son rapport that resonates through "Play the Guitar Son." Shannon's offhand poetry deepens what would otherwise be a competent arsenal of blues skills. He's the sort of character who drives around with the weight of the world on his shoulders that he can temporarily get rid of with a single shrug. --Britt Robson
Tracklist:
1. 5th Ward Horseman
2. Play the Guitar Son
3. $17.00 Brunette
4. You Ain't Nothin' Nice
5. My Baby's Been Watching TV
6. Me and My Bed
7. Ode to Benny Hill
8. Taxicab Driver
9. The Miserable Bastard
10. One Hot Night
11. Dick Tie Commandos
12. The Boogie Man
13. Maxine
14. The Older Broad
15. Got to Go
16. Chantelle
17. If This Ain't the Blues
18. Food Drink and Music
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