Brittany’s right, winter can be a good time for cozying up and cranking a few blue notes (though it doesn’t get that cold in the South – Muddy Waters was blue enough; who knows what he would’ve done if faced with Chicago winters and Cubs baseball). Still, the soulful singing and heavy rhythms of most blues tracks are fitting for a season that most people try to grind through, turning inward, rather than draw out with increased socializing (see: spring, summer, fall). And Mr. Hendrix knows a thing or two about grinding one out.
Though Jimi’s playing draws heavily from the blues, his more straightforward recordings in that genre have obviously been overshadowed by the trademark psychedelic rock. But the blues recordings that exist are no less remarkable. Over this past summer I happened upon the 1994 release Blues, a posthumous compilation of originals, covers, and previously unreleased material from Jimi. He pays homage to his blues idols, shows off his 12-string acumen, and juices these recordings with heady doses of shimmering, mind-blowing solos – delivering the blues as only ‘The Wild Man of Borneo’ can.
This "Catfish Blues" is no Hendrix original, but it is one grinding, guttural jam, the kind of hot, heavy blues that elicits leaden head bobbing and woeful sentiments from even the most well-off listeners. The embedded cut is apparently from the UK’s famous ‘Radio 1’ program(me) and has a slightly distant-sounding quality. Feeling slightly less connected with the recording only strengthens the piece’s against-the-world grit and, during Hendrix’s face-melting electric arias, utter other-worldliness. If only he was still living in this one.
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