Ridin' the Blinds
Artist: Hudspeth & Taylor
Label: Hudtone Records
Released: 2023
Number of Tracks: 12
Duration: 38:00
Website: https://www.facebook.com/HudspethandTaylor/
Review by Charles "Dutch" Metzker
Brandon Hudspeth and Jaisson Taylor rework Mississippi Delta Blues in a way that pays homage and reinvents them at the same time. “Riding the blinds” refers to the dangerous hobo practice of riding between cars on a moving freight train, so as to be out of sight of the train crew or police. On a passenger train, this spot was the walkway between the cars. It was typically covered with canvas or leather folded like an accordion’s bellows or window blinds.
Ridin’ the Blinds was nominated for a Blues Music Award for Acoustic Blues Album of the Year in 2024. You can catch them often around town, and every other Wednesday at BB’s Lawnside Blues & BBQ. If you love country blues, they are really a do-not-miss act.
Track 1. “Poor Boy Blues“, or “Poor Boy, Long Ways From Home” is a traditional blues song that’s been cited as one of the oldest in the genre. It’s probably an old piece that’s been revised.
Track 2. Blues in the Bottle – though somewhat amended, the source, Prince Albert Hunt, a Texas guitarist and hell-raiser recorded it in 1928. A traditional song. Also recorded by Lightnin’ Hopkins.
Track 3. Little Girl in Rome – (Georgia not Italy) from 1935, lyrics by Otto Virgial.This was the first single and video released from the album and laments her leaving.
Track 4. Write me a few of your lines-by Mississippi Fred McDowell recorded 2/13/64.Title is a casual way of asking for a response after she says goodbye.
Track 5. Hard Time Killin’ Floor Blues. Nehemiah Curtis James. Refers to a song written by Skip James in 1934 and is a metaphor for the intense emotional pain and despair of poverty and hardship (sound familiar in 2025?).
Track 6. You Gotta Walk that Lonesome Valley. Traditional. Mississippi John Hurt typically refers to slaves daring to self-emancipate. This song was also covered by many folk artists during the 1960s.
Track 7. Lonesome Home Blues. Willie Borum. 1928 by Tommy Johnson. He’s looking for a woman to keep house and wash his clothes.
Track 8. Police Dog Blues by Blind Blake. She passed him up,didn’t like his kind and she has Rambler guarding her house and he bites! Apparently this song is one of the most difficult to play on guitar, ever, and Hudspeth handles it masterfully.
Track 9. Parchman Farm Blues. Booker t. White. Bukka White recorded this in 1940, the Farm was the main hub for the notoriously inhumane Mississippi penal system and Vernon Presley was incarcerated there in 1938 for check forgery.
Track 10. Run Sinner Run. An African American spiritual by composer Margaret Bonds for soprano Leontyne Price.
Track 11. I Can’t be Satisfied by McKinley Morganfield (Muddy Waters). He’s leaving to go down South — after threatening her with death by snapping a pistol in her face (ouch)!
Track 12. Hey Hey. William (Big Bill) Broonzy. Original song and lyrics by John Lee Hooker. He walked her way and should have known to stay away.
A lot of history on this album by two of Kansas City’s premiere artists. I’m a 9/10 on this one.
Learn more about Hudspeth & Taylor here.
Support local music! Buy the album here.
Listen to Little Girl in Rome on Youtube.
