Roy Gaines

Roy Gaines - The First TB Album - 2003 - Delta Groove

Roy Gaines plays driving, achin' electric Chicago blues, the way they were always meant to be played. The "TB" stands for "Total Blues" and the album lives up to that name. It's a good basic no frills blues record with some great tracks like "Chicken Shack Boogie", "Every Saturday Night" & "Switcheroo". Roy also covers some of the great blues standards like "Boom Boom", "C.C. Rider" and "Baby Please Don't Go" . Some blues critics often berate blues artists for repeatedly covering these old blues songs, and "The First TB Album" has received this criticism, but who really cares if these old songs are covered well, as they are here. Buy his terrific "New Frontier Lover" album. It's arguably Roy Gaines' best album. For more of this type of blues music, check out the albums of Son Seals, Bernard Allison, Elvin Bishop, and Mavis Staples.

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 Chicken Shack Boogie - Amos Milburn and Cullum
2 Every Saturday Night - Roy Gaines
3 You-Re Still My Baby - Chuck Willis
4 C C Rider - Public Domain
5 Baby, Please Don't Go - M.Morganfield
6 Dangerous - Randy Chortkoff
7 Switcheroo - Roy Gaines
8 Lizzie - Roy Gaines
9 Boom Boom - John Lee Hooker
10 Open House at My House - Patterson and Strickland
11 Running Around Balling - Roy Gaines
12 Big Legs, Tight Skirt - John Lee Hooker

MUSICIANS

Roy Gaines - Guitar, Vocals
John "Marx" Markowski - Guitar, Lap Steel
Leon Blue - Piano
Tom Fillman - Drums
Rick Reed - Bass
Mitch - Kashmar - Harmonica

SHORT BIO

A protege of the legendary T-Bone Walker, electric bluesman Roy Gaines was born in Houston in 1934; the product of a musical family -- his older brother Grady later went on to play saxophone in Little Richard's famed backing band the Upsetters -- he initially played the piano in emulation of Nat King Cole, but as a teen moved to the guitar. A huge admirer of Walker's work, at 14 Gaines met his hero at a local performance, and was even invited to back Walker onstage; dubbed "T-Bone Jr." thereafter, he regularly played clubs throughout the Houston area before relocating to Los Angeles two years later. There Gaines was tapped to join Roy Milton's band, followed by a stint in support of Chuck Willis; additionally, he and Walker occasionally joined forces in the years leading to the latter's 1975 death. Long a sought-after sideman, Gaines recorded infrequently as a headliner, finally releasing an LP, Gaineling, in 1982; other albums include 1996's Lucille Work for Me, 1999's I Got the T-Bone Walker Blues and 2000's New Frontier Lover. © Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide



MORE ABOUT ROY GAINES

Roy Gaines was born August 12, 1937 in Waskom, Texas. His family moved to Houston when he was six. He is the brother of sax player Grady Gaines At an early age Roy Gaines first began playing piano in the style of Nat King Cole. He became friendly with other local musicians such as Clarence Hollimon and Johnny Copeland. In his teens he switched to the guitar and began playing clubs throughout the Houston area. He met his hero T-Bone Walker in 1951, and even backed T-Bone on stage when he was fourteen. He then moved to Los Angeles and joined Roy Milton's band. But by the time he was sixteen he moved to Houston and made his solo debut with an obscure release on Chart Records out of Miami. But when he came to the attention of Bill Harvey, leader of Duke and Peacock Record's house band things started to happen. With that band Gaines was featured on various releases by Big Mama Thorton, Jr. Parker ("Driving Me Mad") and Bobby "Blue" Bland ("It's My Life Baby" & "Woke Up Screaming") in 1955. Following this gig Roy began working with Chuck Willis in New York City and recorded with Willis for Atlantic Records. During this time he signed, under his own name, with RCA Victor's Groove subsidiary label. Gaines released two albums in 1956. In 1957 it was Deluxe Records. Back to RCA in 1958. And the sixties saw only two releases on the small Del-Fi and Uni labels. Chuck Willis died in 1958 and Roy continued his session work. Other early sessions included "Essential Jimmy Rushing" in 1954. And 1957's "Blues Wail: Coleman Hawkins Plays the Blues". He also worked with the Jazz Crusaders (later known simply as the Crusaders) appearing on two LPs in 1961. In 1966 Gaines returned to Los Angeles and joined the Ray Charles big band. While with the band he wrote "No Use Cryin'" for Ray's hit album "Crying Time". By the seventies Gaines was again in demand, making many public appearances either solo or with the Crusaders (1978). He continued as session musician working with artists like Aretha Franklin, Della Reese, the Supremes. He was featured on Stevie Wonder's landmark album album "My Cherie Amour", Milt Buckner's "Green Onions" (1975) and Albert King's "Albert" (1976). He also continued to work with T-Bone Walker until Walker's death in 1975. Roy was part of Harry Belafonte's Las Vegas show in 1976. He toured Central and South America with the Supremes in 1976, and the U.S. with Diana Ross in 1977. When Gaines returned to L.A. he was once more in constant demand. This included movie and television work with Quincy Jones. In 1982 he released the classic "Gainelining". Roy wrote "Don't Make Me No Never Mind" for the movie "The Color Purple" (1985), played on the session, and had a cameo role in the film itself but it wasn't until 1996 that he released another solo album, which was the independent "Lucile Works For Me". He followed this with a disc on JSP, a T-Bone Walker tribute album for Groove Note, one for Severn. © 2007 by Blues Critic Media