Easy BABY and HIS HOUSEROCKERS - Sweet Home Chicago Blues 1997

Easy BABY and HIS HOUSEROCKERS - Sweet Home Chicago Blues 1997
Label: Barrelhouse. LP

Blues

Easy Baby lives in an apartment building located deep in Chicago's South Side.  "This is a Christian building," he explains.
"You can't just run in here with one of these prostitutes off the street -- they won't allow you past the door."  As we enter the carpeted vestibule, Easy Baby proudly introduces me to the doorman: "This is my producer, we're gonna make a record!" he exclaims.  The doorman doesn't miss a beat: "Hey!  I can sing too!  The thrill is gone... the thrill is gone awaaaay...  a-ha ha ha!  Make a record of me, too!
Upstairs, in Easy Baby's tiny apartment, religious icons rest beside old, framed photos of the bluesman in smoky West Side bars.  On one wall is a painting of five hunting dogs wearing plaid jackets, playing pool, and smoking English pipes.  "Your light is your attitude," he explains, offering me a seat.  "In church, when we sing This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, we're talking about your attitude.  You take it with you everywhere you go. If your light wasn't shining, I wouldn't be bothered with you."
Alex "Easy Baby" Randle was born in 1934 in Memphis, Tennessee.  For the first seven years of his life, he lived in Michigan City, Mississippi, with his grandmother and uncle, before moving back to Memphis to start school.  Both his grandmother and uncle were harmonica players, so it was natural for Easy Baby to pick up the harmonica himself.  In the early 1950's, when Easy Baby was still a teenager, he began playing professionally around Memphis while working a variety of odd jobs, including installing floors and shining shoes.  Playing in the juke joints and gambling houses in Memphis, he befriended Howlin' Wolf, James Cotton, and Joe Hill Louis, among others.  In 1956, Easy Baby moved to Chicago to make a change.  Throughout the 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's Easy Baby sang and played all over Chicago, while working as a mechanic.  These days, Easy Baby only performs occasionally, his most notable recent appearances were at the Chicago Blues Festival in both 1998 and 2000.  For more information on Easy Baby's life, check out Living Blues #144, which contains a lively interview.
Sweet Home Chicago Blues, on Barrelhouse Records.  That's pretty surprising given the strength of that LP, where Easy Baby delivered gutsy Chicago-style harp playing and solid, soulful vocalizing over some of the best Eddie Taylor guitar work ever recorded (not to mention a backbeat from drummer Kansas City Red that could knock an elephant on its ass).
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Born in Memphis in 1934, harpist-percussionist Alex "Easy Baby" Randle was among the myriad journeyman blues musicians who began working south- and west-side clubs during the postwar years. After being discovered in the mid-70s while leading a band at the Rat Trap on West Cermak, he recorded for Barrelhouse and appeared on several harmonica anthologies. In 2002 he launched something of a comeback with If It Ain't One Thing, It's Another (Wolf). His huff-and-puff harpwork shows the effects of age, but his gritty vocals still register as intense. Eddie Taylor Jr., one of the few younger African-American bluesmen dedicated to preserving the postwar Chicago style, joins him on guitar.
By D.W.
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Easy Baby (Alex Randle); Vocals, Harmonica
Eddie Taylor; Electric guitar
Mac Thompson; Bass Guitar
Kansas City Red; Drums.
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01.Madison Street Boogie   3.23
02.So Tired   3.49
03.You Gonna Miss Me   3.35
04.All My Life   5.36
05.Eyesight To The Blind   3.57
06.When My Left Eye Jumps   5.36
07.Sweet Home Chicago   3.44
08.Rock Me Baby   4.31
09.Last Night   5.06
10.If You Hear Me Howlin'   3.19
11.Walking Thru The Park   3.53
12.She's 19 Years Old   5.08
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