VA - Bayou Blues Blasters: Goldband Blues (1993)

The Goldband label is most known for the Cajun artists it recorded, such as Iry LeJeune and Cleveland Crochet, but it also put out releases by numerous blues musicians. These included some pretty respected, if secondary, blues notables like Lazy Lester, Lonesome Sundown, Juke Boy Bonner, Hop Wilson, and Katie Webster. They, and several much less familiar names, can be heard on this 26-song compilation of Goldband blues sides, mostly done in the 1950s and 1960s. The blues records done during this era at Jay Miller's studio in Crowley, LA. (by Slim Harpo especially) are justly more famous than the Goldband blues sides as far as Louisiana blues goes. But there was a different sound to the Goldband blues stable, although its studios were located just 50 miles to the west, particularly in the overlap with Texas blues, as Goldband's Lake Charles headquarters were close to the Texas border. There was also some spillover from zydeco and Cajun music, as Clarence Garlow, Thaddus Declouet, and Rockin' Sidney -- all represented on this anthology -- did some R&B and blues sides for Goldband, although they are principally zydeco artists. Cookie & the Cupcakes, who also have a track, are thought of more as a swamp-pop group than as a blues one. Most of this, however, is neither swamp pop nor zydeco-influenced, but fair though not wondrous electric blues/R&B of various shades, not too refined but not always that swampy either. Jimmy Wilson's "Trouble in My Home," for instance, sounds a little like the minor-keyed anguished blues of early Otis Rush, though he lacks Rush's superb guitar and vocal skills. The CD is worth investigating for those who are heavily into Louisiana R&B of the 1950s and 1960s, and on the lookout for some variations from the usual regional stew that aren't so well known. ~Richie Unterberger