After the success of last year’s Baby Please Come Home Jimmie’s new label decided to re-release two earlier albums in the same style. 2020 marks the tenth anniversary of Plays Blues, Ballads and Favorites (CD1), the sequel Plays More Blues, Ballads and Favorites (CD2) coming a year later, but both albums are out of print and difficult to find, so this double CD package is most welcome. The personnel across the two discs is fairly consistent: the rhythm section throughout is George Rains on drums and Ronnie James on bass, Billy Pitman adds rhythm guitar to several tracks; Greg Piccolo is on tenor sax throughout, supported by Kaz Kazanoff on baritone and Ephrahim Owens on trumpet on CD1, Doug James taking over on baritone on CD2. Long-time keyboard player Bill Willis passed away before the first album was released but is heard on B3 on a few tracks and handles vocals on one song; there are no keyboards at all on CD2. Jimmie is on lead guitar and vocals throughout, Lou Ann Barton adding vocals to six cuts on CD1 and four on CD2.
A founding member of The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Jimmie had recorded a few solo albums but none had the impact of Plays Blues, Ballads and Favorites which was nominated for a Grammy in the Traditional Blues category. As the original sleeve-notes make clear, Jimmie’s intention was to blend songs from country and blues, pointing out that country artists used to cover Jimmy Reed and that Ray Charles and others played country songs. So, across this collection we get songs from Jimmy, Ray, Roscoe Gordon and Amos Millburn sitting alongside Charlie Rich, Willie Nelson and Gene Autry, plus a smattering of Little Richard, Doug Sahm and Jimmy Liggins. Whatever the source, this is terrific music, played with a smile and impossible to stay still to! These songs have formed the basis of Jimmie’s set lists with his Tilt-A Whirl Band for many years.
