Search - Jerry Lee Lewis :: Southern Roots: Boogie Woogie Country Man

Wow, how can you live without these recordings????

Tony Thomas | SUNNY ISLES BEACH, FL USA | 05/04/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I could not understand my life without having these recordings in my heart and my mind. JLL did some of his greatest rock and roll in the mid 1970s when, by and large, no one was looking for rock and roll from middle-aged white Southerners. There is not a nostalgic cut on the two albums that combined here on one precious CD. Jerry is simply rocking out here in a way no one else ever has or ever will, bar none. Just the first cut, the meat man--with a MayTag (C) tongue--is worth the price. Jerry even gets into the spirit of the antiwar, antisystem radicalization of the day by proclaiming himself a "Revolutionary Man." And there are few tunes that rock the way Jerry's just a little bit does. Oh my goodness, I may leave work early today just to hear this stuff. The later cuts are from another album where Jerry is beginning to head in the direction of going country where he would make some of his or anyone else's best recordings in the mid 1970s. Who else could do a song like "I can still hear the music in the restroom" with class, taste, believablity, and take your right there, and still swing solid. Again, you need this CD. I need it. The world needs it!!!"

Roots, Indeed

J. Kerr | 08/23/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Southern Roots is definitely a desert island record. It's not just a collection of tunes but a statement. Dissolution, lust, forgiveness are on these recordings produced by the GREAT Huey Meaux with a supporting cast including Carl Perkins, most of the MGS and others. What they shoulda done is released this with the outtakes like Bear Family did with the box set back in the day. You get all the drunken chatter and insults, proclamations, threats and some interesting tunage as well."

Fused soul and country

Laurence Upton | Wilts, UK | 02/18/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Two albums recorded in 1973 and 1974 are collected on this CD from the reliable Raven label, and augmented with six further tracks from both sets of sessions.



For Southern Roots Jerry Lee returned to Memphis, but to Steve Cropper's Trans-Maximus studio, rather than to his old home at the Sun Studios in Union Street, to make an album which fused soul and country much as Ray Charles had done almost a decade earlier. In this case though, the soul is of the Southern variety, with the MG's on tap to revisit standards like Hold On, I'm Coming and When A Man Loves A Woman. In the hands of Jerry Lee these become transformed into soulful country standards. Other standards include a salacious version of Just A Little Bit, Blueberry Hill, Gene Simmons' Haunted House and the unlikely choice of Sir Douglas Quintet's Revolutionary Ways with Augie Meyer in the house to add the familiar organ fills. Producer Huey P Meaux added a number of stellar guests including guitarists Carl Perkins and Tony Joe White, but I was unable to tell from listening on which tracks they appeared. Still, as Jerry Lee once replied when asked who was playing on an album, "Jerry Lee Lewis played on them - what else do you need to know?"



Two covers from these sessions were not used and appear as bonus tracks: Fats Domino's Margie and Johnny Ray's Cry. Both are as good or better than tracks that made it to the final cut.



The 1975 sequel, Boogie Woogie Country Man, sees Jerry Lee back in Nashville with cruise control switched on. Even on auto-pilot, with lack-lustre material, Jerry Lee's fantastic piano playing and inimitable asides make this still more listenable than most country albums of the time and contains some memorable moments, notably his gospel-filled rendition of the standard Jesus Is On The Mainline, backed up by Millie Kirkham, Trish Williams and the Jordanaires. It may surprise some Aerosmith fans.



Four of the best other tracks were held over for his next album, Odd Man In, and these complete this tracklist.



Jerry Lee Lewis was in commercial decline during this period, but these albums show that, although he rarely was, given the right song and an appropriate creative environment he could still be untouchable."