Thank You, Mr. Reed: For the last 20 years, I have kicked off the night with a Jimmy Reed song. His wonderful shuffles are a great way to warm up the audience and myself. I used the titles of 27 of his songs to compose the lyrics.

When You Got a Good Friend: Elijah Wald, in his book Escaping the Delta (not only a fine read about Robert Johnson, but also an astute analysis of first-generation blues recording artists) postulates that Mr. Johnson, like many musicians born into poverty, may have started out playing a one, two, or three stringed homemade instrument - the classic wire on a couple of nails in the wall, or a cigar box guitar. I tried this song out on a cigar box guitar made by Darren Brown of Canning, Nova Scotia. It simplified my approach to the daunting guitarmanship of Po' Bob.

... liner notes continued on the CD.

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