Danny James - "Boogie in the Mud" (Goldband)

We now take you to the swamps of Louisiana with this guitar-strummin' piece of swamp-style boogie called, appropriately enough, "Boogie in the Mud." It comes from a man who was a little bit better known as a session guitarist for his label's other artists, but also recorded a sizable amount of material on his own. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Danny James.

Here's a little information on James that I quote from the always informative "Home of the Groove" blogsite:

"Between 1962 and 1970, Danny James played on numerous sessions at Goldband and for other local area studios, as well, including several classic swamp pop tunes: Little Eddy's "Linda Lu", Tommy McLain's "Sweet Dreams" and "Before I Grow Too Old" singles, and Charles Mann's "Red, Red Wine"........Long in poor health, Danny James Sonnier passed away in 1991 at the age of 46."

I take it that this is one of James' best known works, as it's the title of an Ace compilation of his work. (I believe it's out of print now, but I'm not sure). Whatever the case may be, this, to my ears, is a fairly low-down affair with James cooing for his baby to get down with him in the mud. In the midst of that, while an accoustic guitar strums away and a bass lays down a good thump, James plucks away tasty licks on his electric guitar. This continues all the way through, leaving James not too successful in the come-on department. "What you mean you're gone?" he says, "That's cold, baby!" as the record slowly fades out.

Me thinks this is a high-quality swamp rocker of the highest order. For some reason, it kind of reminds me of Tony Joe White's "Polk Salad Annie" because it has a lot of the same feel. That said, I hope you'll dig this record for the qualities it has on its own.