About Them Shoes
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| About Them Shoes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 2005 | |||
| Genre | Blues | |||
| Label | Tone-Cool | |||
| Producer | Rob Fraboni, Ben Elliott | |||
| Hubert Sumlin chronology | ||||
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About Them Shoes is an album by the American musician Hubert Sumlin, released in 2005.[1][2] It was delayed for four years due to litigation.[3] According to Sumlin, the album title was inspired by something Levon Helm said in the studio; on other occasions, he attributed the saying to his father.[4][5]
The album peaked at No. 7 on Billboard's Top Blues Albums chart.[6] Sumlin supported it with a North American tour.[7] About Them Shoes was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Traditional Blues Album".[8] It won a Blues Music Award for best "Traditional Blues Album".[9]
About Them Shoes was produced by Rob Fraboni and Ben Elliott.[10] Seven of the album's songs are associated with Muddy Waters, four with Howlin' Wolf; Sumlin was taught a few of the Waters songs by Otis Spann.[11][12] Sumlin played lead guitar on all of the tracks.[13] David Johansen sang on the cover of Willie Dixon's "The Same Thing".[14] Blondie Chaplin sang on "Look What You've Done".[15] Helm played drums on eight tracks.[15] Keith Richards, who helped plan the album and chose to lean on the Waters songbook, sang on "Still a Fool".[16] Eric Clapton sang and played guitar on "I'm Ready".[17] Sumlin sang on the closing track, the acoustic "This Is the End, Little Girl"; Richards played bass.[18] Michael "Mudcat" Ward played bass on most of the tracks.[19] Paul Oscher played harmonica.[20] Waters band alumni James Cotton and Bob Margolin also contributed.[12]
Critical reception
The Lincoln Journal Star praised "Sumlin's spare but emotional guitar work," writing that he goes "for a laid-back groove rather than overheated flash."[27] The Detroit Free Press determined that, "though an obvious labor of love for all involved, it remains Sumlin's show throughout."[7] The Washington Post said that, "playing finger-style electric guitar, [Sumlin] laces these tracks with a peculiar assortment of rubbery note bends, skittish triplets, stinging slides and vibrato-ringing tones."[20] The Chicago Tribune wrote that "the result is surprisingly unflashy and elegantly simple, as everybody plays his role and defers to Sumlin."[28]
The Christian Science Monitor noted that Sumlin "seems to be having the rollicking good time of his long and prolific career on this disc."[29] The Independent concluded that About Them Shoes will "put you in mind of Johnny Winter's last-gasp repointing of Muddy in the late '70s... No bad thing."[30] The Post and Courier stated that, "even in his later years, Sumlin can still make his guitar scream and growl."[25] The Boston Globe opined that "the overall results are more archival than incendiary, but if you like old-school electric blues, this will be a familiar tonic."[17]
AllMusic wrote: "About Them Shoes could have taken the marquee talent and gone for a glitzy platform to bring Hubert Sumlin into the mainstream. Instead, they dive headfirst into what this music is all about, and in doing so have come up with a mini-masterpiece."[15]