TAIL DRAGGER

Stop Lyin’

Delmark Records

by Liz Mandeville

“It’s so ezee to use your head…You got to use it when you vote, you got to use your head before you crack a joke…”.  These are true words of wisdom from the lips of Chicago veteran bluesman Tail Dragger from “So Ezee,” the first track of his latest CD, Stop Lyin’.  Just released on Delmark, the disc contains nine songs, all written by Tail Dragger and sung in his growling, raspy baritone with an accent that sounds like he has a mouth full of caramels. He sings the most unaffected truths with real sincerity and tells his stories with a manner that is intimate, approachable and disarmingly charming.

These tracks are actually from a recording date back in 1982 and they recall the Chicago West Side Blues as it was in those days when folks still had a reverence for the masters of the craft. Tail Dragger, born James Yancy Jones somewhere in Arkansas well over 70 years ago, was a devotee of one of the undisputed masters, the great Howlin’ Wolf.

While still in high school, Jones discovered Wolf playing in a juke joint near his home. Young Jones was soon running up and down the road, following his idol from juke joint to house party, learning his ferocious singing style. It was Wolf that named Jones “Tail Dragger.”

When I interviewed Jones  (CLICK to read interview) for Chicago Blues Guide in 2009 at his home on Chicago’s West Side, he said there were two reasons for the moniker. One being the fact that handsome, young Jones was a favorite of the ladies, (he’s been married six times by his own recollection) and folk wisdom tells that a wolf will drag his tail behind him to leave no tracks! The other reason being that Tail Dragger had a bad habit of showing up late so Howlin’ Wolf accused him of literally dragging his tail.

But the 10 tracks on Stop Lyin’ are right on time! This CD would be hard pressed to fail, thanks to the smoking back-up band playing on these sides with a loose feel that fits the music perfectly without over thinking or overplaying. The rhythm section is multiple-Handy/BMA winning bassist, the late great Willie Kent, and Larry Taylor, of the dynastic Taylor family, sitting in the drum chair. Although we lost Willie Kent a few years ago to cancer, Larry Taylor is still very much alive. Now working with Dave Weld, Larry is every bit as good as he was on these tracks. Go see him when he plays a club near you and hear how blues drumming is supposed to sound! Although you don’t hear it here on this disc, Larry Taylor is also a gifted singer. 

Guitarist Johnny B. Moore appears here at the top of his formidable game, blending seamlessly with guitarist Jesse Lee Williams’ traditional first position rhythm. It’s a delight to hear guitar playing without all the histrionics today’s bluesmen seem to find necessary. This should be required listening (along with the Hubert Sumlin and Eddie Taylor cannon) for anybody who thinks they can play blues guitar. With the added flavor of Eddie “Jew Town” Burks on harp rounding out the band, the sound is like a snifter of Martel on a cold Chicago night, a little smoky, a little mellow with just a little bite.

Just like a Saturday night set down at the Rat Trap circa 1982, the CD jumps off with the medium tempo “So Ezee” which sets the mood for a bar set of good unfettered blues. For people who love the simple one chord grooves of Howlin’ Wolf or John Lee Hooker, track two, “Where Did You Go” will ring your chimes. Reminiscent of Wolf classic “How Many More Years,” the moaning harp and pleading vocals drip with the simple yearning of a man with a terrible woman who just won’t stay home. The next track, the medium tempo 12 bar, “Ain’t Gonna Cry No More,” seems to be about the same couple on a different night. “Don’t You Want a Good Man” lopes along with a swinging rhythm. Tail Dragger exercises his artistic license breaking time and phrasing how he feels it and Johnny B. gives us some of those down home blues licks he’s famous for, trading riffs with Eddie Burks’ harp like a conversation among friends, one overlapping the other.

No set of Tail Dragger is complete without some version of his classic lament “My Head Is Bald.”  Little Mack Simmons plays some great harp on the opening number and this track as well. Those two tunes are also sweetened by Lafayette Leake’s tasty understated piano.

“Alabama Bound” owes a debt to Elmore James with the loping slide intro. Larry Taylor’s perfectly timed fills show both Chicago and Memphis influence as he and Willie Kent propel the groove along. Johnny B’s solo sounds loose and happy while Tail howls about his lost Fannie Mae.

“Don’t Trust Your Woman” has us back in the Howlin’ Wolf one chord groove. Tail Dragger demonstrates his heir apparent status crooning and howling like a hound dog denied his love bone. While Johnny B’s guitar echoes the vibration of Tails’ voice; here he also delivers another satisfying solo. The effect is hypnotic. 

Slow blues was never delivered better than in “Please Mr. Jailer” which Tail Dragger introduces by saying the police took his woman to jail; but he pleads “Please Mr. Jailer, won’t you let my woman go free? I know she wasn’t in no fight, ‘cause she was home in the bed with me.” Here once again Johnny B. Moore shows his deep feelings on a couple of solos that are hauntingly illustrated by Eddie Burks’ harp punctuation.

The CD’s title track “Stop Lyin” demonstrates the loping lump de lump Tail Dragger does so well, breaking time, growling and adding asides, all wonderfully tempered by the slide guitar sound Johnny B. gets with his fingers. This song is a warning, one man to another, to stop lying, a break from the bad love affair theme in most of these songs.

The final track of Stop Lyin’ is a 16-minute segment of Tail Dragger talking about some of the clubs he was associated with and some of the musicians he hung out with during the making of this disc. These are some of the guys who made up my impression of what Chicago Blues was all about when I came on the scene around 1980. These characters never made the Billboard Charts, but they made the Chicago Blues scene so intoxicating to be a part of. Guys like Necktie Nate, Jimmy Dawkins, The Highway Man, Lucky Lopez, Arlean Brown and Little Mack Simmons populate Tail’s stories along with his mentor Howlin’ Wolf and his buddy Hubert Sumlin. I’ve often said if they had a reality TV show with these Chicago Blues folks as stars then the blues would be top of the charts again and folks would say “Snookie who?” These tracks represent early work from one of the blues' most long lasting characters, as fresh as the day they were recorded, as deep as a dream and as satisfying as a cold beer on a hot day. Blues you can use! Buy this disc and get to know Tail Dragger, you won’t regret it.

Liz Mandeville is a true Renaissance woman: a sultry singer, showstopping entertainer, award-winning songwriter, guitarist, journalist, painter, educator and all around bon vivant. She has performed all over the world and has four CDs on the Earwig Music label to her credit. Her latest release, Clarksdale, is on her own indie label Blue Kitty Music.