Album Review: Jerry McCain – Jerry McCain’s Blues Party

Born in rural Alabama in 1930, blues singer and harpist Jerry McCain developed the skills and fortitude to hold his own alongside artists like Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson. Through the course of his career, McCain would record for a number of labels including Excello and Okeh.

McCain was a colorful character; as vividly recounted in an entertaining and fascinating liner note essay by guitarist Rob Baskerville and bassist Penny “Queen Bee” Zamagni of the King Bees, he never went anywhere without his trusty 9mm pistol “Miss 9.”

Those liner notes paint a helpful picture of Jerry McCain, and establish the longtime personal and professional links between him and the King Bees. What they fortunately do not do – nor does any of the other information printed on or included with the CD – is tell listeners much of anything about the recordings featured therein.

What can be gleaned from the package is that the 17 songs are a mixture of McCain originals, King Bees tunes, and a handful of well-chosen blues classics/standards. All tracks date from 1991 to 1993. The package notes – after a fashion – the personnel involved on each track, but at least some of the information is a bit suspect. The ballad “Mama’s Pride,” for example, is credited to “Jerry McCain with strings.” That said, there’s a guitar and rhythm section accompanying McCain’s vocal, and the “strings” are clearly an electronic keyboard. No word on who’s responsible for the brief flute (or keyboard flute) solo.

Some tracks don’t feature McCain at all. Lightnin’ Hopkins’ “Hello Central” is a live recording credited to Chick Willis and the King Bees. It’s essentially a bootleg, albeit one of passable fidelity. As such, it has little to the purported theme of the set, but it’s an appealing reading of the song nonetheless. Nappy Brown is accompanied by the King Bees on two live tracks, and the fidelity of those cuts is excellent.

The most thrilling and upbeat moments on Jerry McCain’s Blues Party, however, do indeed feature the man himself. The saucy instrumental “Boogie Buzz” features some top-notch soloing by Baskerville and McCain, sometimes alternating, sometimes playing all at once, gleefully tearing through sharp licks. An album full of tunes like this would have been a real treat.

But viewed more as an historical artifact, a document of an artist whose work deserves to be remembered, listened to and admired, Jerry McCain’s Blues Party is fine enough on its own merits. To that end, the four most notable cuts on the set are originals, and feature nothing but McCain’s voice and harmonica. Strikingly spare, those recordings capture and preserve what made McCain special. And those four songs, highlighted by “Hotrod Ford,” more than justify the existence of this collection.

If you’re going to have a party, someone’s got to bring the excitement. And at key points on this archival collection of recordings – part of Wolf’s Greatest Blues Songs series – Jerry McCain does just that.