Showing posts with label Katie Webster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Katie Webster. Show all posts

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Katie Webster - The Flyright Years

Unkie Cliff offers up a follow-up to Poppachubby's recent Katie Webster post with her classic Flyright recordings from 1958-61.

Webster is at her full bayou-bred boogie-blues best here, when she was the queen of south Louisiana's swamp sessioneers. Webster's own late-'50s/early-'60s output for producer J.D. Miller was no less captivating; her self-named dance number "The Katie Lee" and "Mama Don't Allow" -- which uproots the Gary U.S. Bonds party vibe to New Orleans -- are two of the best items on the 20-track disc. There's also her blues-drenched "No Bread, No Meat" and a nice version of "Sea of Love" (Webster added the gently rolling piano to Phil Phillips' original hit). AMG

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Katie Webster - The Swamp Boogie Queen

Katie Webster (January 11, 1936 – September 5, 1999), born Kathryn Jewel Thorne, was an American boogie-woogie pianist. Webster was initially best known as a session musician behind Louisiana musicians on the Excello and Goldband record labels, such as Lightnin' Slim and Lonesome Sundown.  She also played piano with Otis Redding in the 1960s, but after his death went into semi-retirement.

In the 1980s she was repeatedly booked for European tours and recorded albums for the German record label, Ornament Records. She cut You Know That's Right with the band Hot Links, and the album that established her in the United States; The Swamp Boogie Queen with guest spots by Bonnie Raitt and Robert Cray.  She performed at both the San Francisco Blues Festival and Long Beach Blues Festival.  
Webster suffered a stroke in 1993 while touring Greece and returned to performing the following year.  She died from heart failure in League City, Texas, in September 1999. - Wikipedia

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Lovable Katie Webster had some high-profile help for this impressive comeback album -- Bonnie Raitt shares the vocal on "Somebody's on Your Case" and plays guitar on "On the Run"; Kim Wilson duets with Webster for a cover of Johnnie Taylor's "Who's Making Love" (a track that Robert Cray contributes crisp guitar to). Throughout, Webster's vocals are throatier than they used to be (she soulfully covers one-time mentor Otis Redding's "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa [Sad Song]" and "Try a Little Tenderness"), while her driving left hand still lays down some powerhouse boogie rhythms. - 4.0 / 5.0 ~ Bill Dahl / AMG

This was ripped from minty vinyl at 24/44.1 wav, and dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC...  enjoy!!!