Search - Kokomo Arnold :: Complete Recorded 1

Easily the best cd devoted entirely to Kokomo's artistry.

Ding-Dong-Girl | Seattle, WA | 06/28/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Althouggh there is a great Yazoo cd called Bottleneck Trendsetters that features Kokomo Arnold on half the tracks and Casey Bill Weldon on the others, and taht disc does have some tunes taht are rare and not on thsi cd, this cd is the best disc devoted entirly to Kokmo's artistry. These are his earliest sides, and they are downright powerful. His gutsy vocals are similar to Robert Johnson's if not more powerful, and his slide playing is exellent, and hard driving(he obviously influenced a lot of the r'n'r greats of the 60's), this has his original hit Milk Cow Blues. Great cd, though piack up the Yazoo one too, because Casey Weldon, influenced all the western swing guys with his Hawiian sounding slide playing!"

Georgia guy with West Louisiana/East Texas musical attitude

Csaba Gal | Budapest, Hungary | 06/17/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Kokomo Arnold is one of my pre-WWII fave. It's interesting that his guitar work hasn't got much to do, or, nothing at all, with his native Georgian homeland. He was a Chicago-based blues player but it's not a Chicago style either. It mostly reminds me, besides Hawaiian players, of Oscar Buddy Woods and Black Ace B. K. Turner who played a very similar guitar style with a slide on their National steel-bodied guitars and they hailed from the area of Shreveport, Louisiana and Forth Worth, Texas. Kokomo Arnold's recorded output was quite limited, his song were quite similar to each other but anyway, it's not so rare among blues people. However when playing for his sometime pianist partner, Peetie Wheatstraw he played somewhat different licks than by himself. At the same time, he was mighty acomplished and he really could hold the beat laying down some nice grooves. His voice was a little nasal and it really fits his repertoire. His singing and playing represent enough roughness but also has a smooth attitude. I really like his falsetto, see in, say, "Sagefield Woman Blues" or "Old Original Kokomo Blues"."