Pinetop Perkins

Pinetop Perkins was 83-years-old when he recorded Born in the Delta in 1996. As a singer, he still had plenty of soul and spirit and got his points across convincingly. And as a pianist, he still had sizable chops. In terms of material, he tends to favor blues standards that have been done to death, including Jimmy Reed's "Baby, What You Want Me to Do?," Peter Chatman's "Everyday I Have the Blues," Leroy Carr's "How Long, How Long Blues" and Paul Gayten's "For You My Love." One could nitpick about the onetime Muddy Waters sideman so often choosing the obvious, but given how much fun he's clearly having at this session, it's hard to complain. Thankfully, Perkins gives himself sufficient solo space, and he has competent support in harmonica player Jerry Portnoy and electric guitarist Tony O. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide