Jimmy Dawkins - West Side Guitar Hero;Tell Me Baby - Fedora 5022; 5032

Dawkins was the last great Mississippi bluesman to emerge in Chicago in the late 1950s. He was mentored by Magic Sam and was ready by the late 1960s. By that time, however, there wasn’t much left of the Chicago blues recording industry. He recorded three great LPs for Delmark over the next seven or so years, then his work fell off and became pretty uninteresting, apparently until the 1990s.

In 2001 and 2003 he recorded for HighNote’s blues label, Fedora, and is clearly back on form. Tell Me Baby isn’t quite as good as West Side Guitar Hero, but the difference is pretty marginal. Both albums are blinders. For a guitar hero, you’d expect Dawkins to play blazing fast runs, following the title of his first LP, Fastfingers, but he doesn’t. Unlike most bluesmen, he tends to solo in the lower registers. This, and the ponderous lines he plays, gives him a grinding, grating sound which is unlike that of any other blues guitarist.

Oh yes, the titles of his songs must be spelt by his grandson, who dances on Tell Me Baby. Wess Cide Rock is my favourite spelling, but Shee Leff Me and So Wurrid and Kotten Field Jump (the latter two of which his grandson did actually write) are nice, too - AM