ON THE JIMMY REED HIGHWAY

Description

Jimmy Reed Highway is a busy artery of the southern United States, as rich in legends and stories as Robert Johnson’s mythical Crossroads. It resonates in the minds of men and women of a certain age, a certain skin color, and a certain background, who grew up in the era of segregation and who defied their parents, the law, and all propriety by answering a bluesman’s invitation to cross the racial boundary and join him in indulging in excesses and sordid hymns, while he serenaded an entire generation from the bandstand, on jukeboxes, and on the radio. For them, the guttural, gravelly sound of a wise man singing “Hush, Hush,” smothering “Big Boss Man,” or advising the listener to “take out insurance” before catching sight of “Bright Lights, Big City” was a siren call they had no choice but to answer. Even if they tried, they could not resist the steady, rough rhythm, punctuated by the shrill, piercing sound of an electric guitar and the sweet moan of a harmonica. And if they leaned in, they could even hear the barely perceptible sound of a woman’s voice whispering forgotten words in their ear. No one can do Jimmy Reed like Jimmy Reed. But this ride down Jimmy Reed Highway with fellow Mississippian Kent “Omar” Dykes at the wheel, Jimmie Vaughan (older brother of the legendary Stevie Ray Vaughan) alongside Kim Wilson, Miss Lou Ann Barton, James Cotton, Delbert McClinton and Gary Clark Jr. joining the duo, comes very close. As Omar revs the engine and burns rubber on the two-lane road lined with unscrupulous women, empty whiskey bottles, too many cigarette butts, and bad intentions, he leaves John Law trailing behind, eating his dust. Hop on board and turn it up. The electric bluesman who shaped the spirit and movements of a musical generation is alive and well. (by Joe Nick Patoski).