Shawn Pittman - Stompin' Solo (2021)

As most of you already know, I am predominantly an electric guitar player. Over the years of my playing, I have also grown to greatly admire musicians like Lightnin' Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb, Lil' Son Jackson, Bukka White, JB Lenoir and 'Mississippi' John Hurt. These guys are not only great acoustic guitar players and singers, but also incredible story tellers! They are part of our oral history as significant as any document you can find. They inspired me to follow in their footsteps and work on the craft of a story, a song, and an acoustic guitar. With 2020 coming to a close, a year none of us will ever forget (a pandemic of historic and catastrophic proportions had many of us confined to our home), I figured maybe now was a good time to strengthen my skills as a solo artist, out of necessity, if it made it easier for me to travel and play. So I put together this collection of songs: both original and covers, some of them I have been playing for years. Instrumentals like 'Lightnin's stomp'... "Mance's Rock'...and something I heard from Lipscomb called 'Spanish Flang Dang', but also songs I penned: "Take a Real Good Look,' which is about the 'bait and switch' selling method, with some entertainment industry parallels and my mafioso inspired 'You're Pressing Your Luck.' And then a few from my everyday life like 'Fly Swattin' Woman,' the Bukka White inspired 'Early in the Mornin' and 'Ode to Texas.' I also wanted to see what some of my electric covers would sound like by playing Johnny 'Guitar' Watson's 'Sweet Lovin' Mama and I added some songs from my writing partners Lewis Dickson and Bracken Hale. I love musical challenges that take me out of my comfort zone. This particular endeavor certainly did that and I feel like it helped me get back to my roots. Born in Oklahoma, played music in Texas for over 20 years, it is fitting that maybe this acoustic record is a combination of both sounds. Shawn Pittman