Leroy Jodie Pierson - Leroy Jodie Pierson Direct-To-Disc

"This is one of my top three blues albums of all time. And that's saying a lot. I have been a blues lover for decades and a blues reviewer for years. If I ever wind up on that proverbial desert island, this is one disc that I want to have on hand (assuming that there's more than a wind-up 78 rpm Victrola to play it on!)...This LP captures Leroy Jodie Pierson's performance perfectly in terms of immediacy, dynamics, transparency, and purity. While sitting in my dedicated listening room, I can close my eyes and easily imagine that I am back in that church in Salina watching a consummate master at work. When you put this record on your own turntable and close your eyes, you can easily imagine yourself being transported to the vicinity of a back porch in the late thirties, listening to a spirited, heartfelt, and expressive performance by one of the top bluesmen of the era. Except you're not. You're listening to a spirited, heartfelt and expressive performance by one of the top bluesmen of our era, who simply sounds like he's been transported directly from ages past...I can't recommend this release from Analogue Productions Original highly enough. Please buy this record and help to support Chad Kassem and his efforts to make lesser recognized but eminently worthy blues artists known to the world." Sound = 10/10; Performance = 10/10; Music = 10/10 - Dave Glackin, Positive Feedback Online, Issue 20 Read Dave Glackin's complete Positive Feedback review



"Leroy is absolutely incredible." - Bob Hall, Acoustic Sounds customer

"Leroy is really one of the very best bluesmen I’ve ever played with, and I’ve played with most of the greats, guys like Walter Davis, Robert Nighthawk, Sonny Boy Williamson, Robert Johnson and Roosevelt Sykes. Leroy is up there with those greats." – Henry Townsend

With an endorsement like that from one of blues’ most historic figures, it’s a major wonder that Leroy Jodie Pierson isn’t a star himself. Instead, he rarely takes his craft far from his St. Louis home. Once you hear this direct-to-disc you might be inspired to join a crusade to change that. Leroy Jodie Pierson is that good, and this recording is as close as you can possibly get to having him over for a visit.

There was magic in the sanctuary of Blue Heaven Studios that October 2004 Saturday afternoon. On the altar sat Leroy, cross-legged and cradling his National ResoLectric steel guitar with a glass slide encasing his left pinky finger and caressing the strings, while his right fingers aggressively plucked and strummed. The result is a dramatic yet buttery-smooth take of five killer blues numbers and one gospel tune.

"This one, by St. Louis based National ResoLectric steel guitar slide wiz Leroy Jodie Pierson will bowl you over more for the musical performance than the sound, but that's how it should be. Not that the sound is bad. In fact it is very good: immediate, direct and pure...there is still that immediacy and purity only D2D can provide and Mr. Pierson's playing and to a lesser degree his vocalizing make up for whatever sonic magic may be lacking in the actual recording." - Michael Fremer, musicangle.com

"Though once a staple of audiophile labels, no one really bothers with direct-to-disc anymore, except for Chad Kassem, the iconoclastic head of Acoustic Sounds. His Analogue Productions Originals label has just released two direct-to-disc blues recordings...Both records are excellent sounding, the Williams/Hoggard particularly so. Direct-to-disc yields intensely silent and immediate-sounding LPs. The clarity and natural tonal balance on both is super, and guitarists will love the details - slides, pull-offs, bends, and double-stops - that both records reveal." - Wayne Garcia, The Absolute Sound, June/July 2005, Issue 154

"On Saturday afternoon Kevin captured the great Leroy Jodie Pierson in a 'studio' session direct-to-disc, followed later that day by Arthur Williams and Jesse Hoggard...They captured the excitement and unique atmosphere of this very special event perfectly and you'll be in for an aural treat when you buy them." - Richard Foster, Hi-Fi+, Issue 38

Side One

1. Guitar Rag

2. Highway 61

3. Closer Walk With Thee

Side Two

1. Love In Vain

2. Drunkin’ Spree

3. No Feelings For Other Folks

Customer Reviews (4.00 Stars) 2 person(s) rated this product.

just like being there posted on 10/20/2008 5 Stars Reviewer: BRANDONH

Good sound. Poor quality. posted on 12/31/2006 3 Stars Mine came warped.

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