The Original Peacock Recordings (CD - 1990)

Personnel includes: Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (vocals, guitar, violin, harmonica); Nathaniel Douglas (guitar); Johnny Parker (alto saxophone); Bill Harvey (tenor saxophone); Fred Ford, Allen Clarke (baritone saxophone); Henry Boozier (trumpet); Jimmy McCracklin, Paul Monday, Carl Owens (piano); Joe Toussaint, Ray Johnson, Carl Lott (bass); San Frisco Jeff, Jual Curtis, Duke Barker, Emile Russell (drums).

Recorded in Houston, Texas between 1952 & 1959. Includes liner notes by Dick Shurman.

This 1984 Rounder reissue of Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown's 1950s Peacock sides is a classic dose of Brown in his prime, and a blueprint for the fiery guitar style that would influence such fellow Texas axe-slingers as Albert Collins and Johnny "Guitar" Watson. Even on these early dates, Brown's fluid, irrepressible six-string mastery and his penchant for genre blending--bridging rock & roll, jump blues, swing, and down-home gutbucket wailing--are in ample evidence.

Diverse session musicians provide the driving rhythm back-up, striding piano and punchy horns, but it's Brown's guitar work, throaty, bluesy singing and impressive multi-instrumentalism-he's also featured on harmonica on "Gate's Salty Blues" and violin on "Just Before Dawn"--that takes center stage. Whether on the steamy slow blues of "For Now So Long," the walking groove of "Ain't That Dandy," or the scintillating rock-swing rave-up of "Okie Dokie Stomp," where Brown's guitar weaves wild, intricate webs around a horn-punctuated rhythm, this is no-nonsense, get-up-and-dance good time music of the highest order. THE ORIGINAL PEACOCK RECORDINGS is among the essential discs in this Texas legend's extensive catalogue. minimize