Bucket Full of Blues, Liner Notes By David Ritz David Ritz has written biographies of, among others, Ray Charles, B.B. King, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and Etta James. He co-composed "Sexual Healing." http://ritzwrites.com
Thirty years ago, still in the full bloom innocence, I walked into a little club in Dallas, Texas, and had the top of my head blown off by a bluesman with firepower to burn.
The kid's name was John Lee Sanders, and now the kid's a man, and the man, steeped in the towering tradition of deep-fried funk, is offering up his Bucket Full of Blues.
The bucket is overflowing with creative gifts
The bluesman has reached full maturity, and that promise of youth, heard so long ago, has been realized.
I'm grateful for this chance to celebrate John's most recent achievement and offer my testimony.
Here's what I feel about John Lee Sanders:
He's a truth-teller, an artist who can't help but give it to you straight.
Here's what I love about John Lee Sanders: The World Blue Band
His voice. Raw. Real. Sweet. Tart. An instrument of tremendous emotional and spiritual range.
His writing. His hooks. His stories. His sense, as he puts it, of "The World As I Know It."
His deep Louisiana roots. His powerful connection to the fertile soil.
His grit, his grooves.
His honesty.
His haunting cry, his courageous assault on anything false.
"I've never claimed to be something I'm not," he writes in "Handful. "I've got my flaws, but my heart is good."
His music, his singing, his aesthetic vision are more than good; they're flat-out great.
At this troubling moment in the history of the Music Nation, John Lee Sanders stands tall. He's major. In his own words, he's hitched a ride from Memphis, dealing with the ghosts of Highway 61, arriving in New Orleans in order to comfort us with the good news: that true music is truer than ever. His songs, full-bodied and blood-washed, are rooted in reality. He reminds us that blues are concerned with neither nostalgia nor self-pity. John Lee Sanders' blues are about nothing less a renewal of strength, a resurrection of the human spirit, a projection of hard-earned hope and a declaration of extravagant love.
David Ritz (www.ritzwrites.com)
David Ritz has written biographies of, among others, Ray Charles, B.B. King, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and Etta James. He co-composed "Sexual Healing."
