Swinging From the Rafters
Named after one of this Texas singer-guitarist's favorite on- stage stunts,Swingingcaptures the flavor of a good roadhouse performance. Apt, since Long John Hunter's spent most of the last 40 years rocking taverns. The accent is on his crisp tenor voice and guitar--which work best on slow-to-mid-tempo blues like "Both Ends of the Road." Hunter crowns his vocal phrasing with high-stabbing punctuations, and worries over his six-string solos--letting each tortured note hang until it takes on the emotional weight of his lyrics. Then again, nothing's ever rushed about Hunter's delivery. So this 1997 CD comes off as a barroom blues Bible: a well-balanced text on how to grab a Hell-raising crowd without compromising the music or the fun.--Ted Drozdowski