The thing about Gatemouth Brown is this: no matter what it
is he comes up with, you know it's going to be interesting at the very
least. The style-spanning, genre-bending multi-instrumentalist could
certainly teach a thing or two to the upstarts who think that tossing
everything into the pot and stirring briskly, musically speaking, is the
last word in innovation. "Sure," he might say, "but only if you do it
right." Lately, he's taken to confining-if that's the right word-himself
to particular regions or styles, as he did with 1999's American Music,
Texas Style, and for Back to Bogalusa he focuses on Louisiana.
There's ample material there to be mined, of course; we're talking about
one of the musically richest areas of the country. There's certainly a lot
of variety here: things kick off with a very southern-rock rendition of
"Folks Back Home," with a solo so unhurried it would take it fifteen
minutes to cross the street. But then you get a bit of New Orleans-style
piano on "Same Old Blues," just before such an upbeat "Going Back to
Louisiana" that it's liable to fill a dance floor. The closing track, an
original number, particularly showcases Brown's slightly crooked sense of
humor, as he details an uncomfortably close encounter with an alligator in
"Dangerous Critter." Throughout, Gatemouth delivers an easygoing, yet
energetic performance that never runs out of steam-not bad at all for a
guy who's pushing 80. And all through Back to Bogalusa, Brown makes
sure to give everything his own distinctive spin, whether he's riffing
hard on "Lie No Better" or delivering a standout fiddle solo on "Breaux
Bridge Rag." That's the other thing about Gatemouth Brown: you always know
it's him.
-- Originally appeared in Bluesletter Vol.
13 No. 7, July 2001, p. 16