Mick Clarke - Crazy Blues (2014)

Mick writes: When I set out to record this album I intended to make it mainly a rock album. The first three tracks I recorded were twelve bar blues. OK. The next thing I recorded was an odd reggae inspired instrumental. OK. So it's not a rock album. After a while I realised that it did indeed have a direction - rockabilly! it's bluesy and dancey and good time and I like it.
I'd recently started playing a version of the old Bill Haley song "See You Alligator" at some gigs and decided that it had to go down on tape. (Let's stick with tape).. I also started listening to a lot of old public domain blues and came across a great song by one Robert Wilkins from about 1922. I just had to record it.. I wonder if anyone else has covered it? Ah.. Eric Clapton on his last album. OK. Eric's version is excellent, of course, but I wanted to put my own stamp on the song and came up with a raucous rock blues arrangement. Hope you enjoy.
I also had a blues that I'd written but could not find a satisfactory lyric for -it had a deep blues feel and it needed lyrics of substance. I came across the Mamie Smith song "Crazy Blues" and hacked and meddled with the words until they fitted my song. Again, I like it.
In fact I like the whole album and once again it has been just too much fun to record. . So enjoy the music, keep rockin' and I hope to see you on a gig somewhere sometime. (Mick, March 2014, Rockfold)