Track Listing

1. Sweet Mama Hurry Home or I'll Be Gone
2. Ain't Misbehavin'
3. My Walking Stick
4. Lazy Bones
5. Marie
6. Desert Blues (Big Chief Buffalo Nickel)
7. Lulu's Back in Town
8. Some of These Days
9. Big Time Woman
10. Haunted House
11. Polly Wolly Doodle

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2040 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Once cited by Bob Dylan as the first performer he'd want to sign to his own label, Leon Redbone instead made his 1976 recording debut with Warner Brothers. On the Track carries a "very special thanks" to Jelly Roll Morton and Jimmie Rodgers, and indeed sounds like the offspring of the pioneering jazzman and the early hillbilly blues singer, with perhaps a bit of Bing Crosby tossed in. Aided by a small horn section (including a prominent tuba) and violinist Joe Venuti, among others, the disc is a gorgeous, affectionate tribute to pre-World War II vernacular music. Redbone croons and growls his way through a repertoire that includes Rodgers, Fats Waller, Irving Berlin, and "Polly Wolly Doodle," the last of which inspired album-cover artist Chuck Jones to include "a grasshopper sittin' on the railroad track... pickin' his teeth with a carpet tack." Redbone and crew rise to peak after peak (hear Venuti's finessed high-wire act on "Some of These Days"), resulting in a record that makes for perfect Saturday night and Sunday morning listening. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews

I Never Tire of This One
I've had this one for many, many years and I never get tired of it. Not a clinker in the bunch (I even like Polly Wolly). Leon has a sort of irreverent, off beat approach to these old jazz classics that is just plain fun to listen to. He'll improvise horn fanfare with just his lips, or mix words around to his liking that in no way diminishes the tune (as it usually does with other artists). Plus, he surrounds himself with real talent. His version of Ain't Misbehavin' would make Al Jolson himself beam with pride. I can't say enough good about this one. It's a keeper!

Whimsical and Excellent
This album is an excellent collection of music from the 1920s and 30s, brought back to life by a talented and eccentric artist. Some of the songs you'll recognize, such as "Ain't Misbehavin'", while some will be charmingly new. My favorite is "Walking Stick", with its sly sexual reference to "the thing that makes [him] glad on Lover's Lane". There's no attempt to modernize these songs, as artists in past decades have been wont to do. Instead, Leon keeps true to the old style, the Dixie, Delta blues and ragtime jazz that made these songs so popular to begin with. I recommend this album with my whole heart.

Oh, Yeah
Oh, Yeah. This is the stuff. Great Sunday afternoon mood music. Mom and Dad turned me onto this in the 70's when I was just a wee little lad. This album makes me want to nap on a row boat in the middle of a lake on a sunny day. Or just doze in a hammock under a shady tree. This is the work of a song-stylist, not just a singer. What Redbone does to some of these familiar standards is nothing short of perfection.