Search - Sleepy John Estes :: Broke and Hungry

Not the Sleep You'll Want

01/25/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Sleepy John Estes was a blues performer who could really sceam out a tune. His voice was high, a bit slurred, and seemed to be ful of pain. Those who met him suggested that he was living a pretty hard life. Certainly, by the middle 1960s, when this album and a few others were recorded by Bob Koester of Delmark Records, Estes was not teh same performer he'd been back in the 30s and 40s (and this does not go without saying -- many elderly bluesmen were still astonishing performers in their 60s adn 70s). Estes is still very good, but something of the energy was gone, perhaps, though a tune such as "Broke and Hungry" should play right to his strengths, I found that the album was more interesting as a documetn concerning Estes than it was as great mucis. For that, you've got to go back to his great stuff in his prime. This is good stuff, but not great."