Speaking of old-time bluesmen (as we were in this post regarding the Record Store Day Black Friday releases from T-Bone Walker and Charley Patton)…
By now, you’ve probably heard the story of how Pink Floyd co-founder Syd Barrett came up with the band’s name: when another band going by the same name as his The Tea Set was slated to perform at a same gig, Barrett needed look no further than his own record collection, where albums from two bluesmen named Pink Anderson and Floyd Council caught his eye.
Now you too have the chance to include Anderson’s 1961 album debut Carolina Blues Man in your collection, thanks to Craft Recordings’ Bluesville Records, which recently made a reissue of the album available both on vinyl and digitally.
Remastered from the original analog tapes, Vol. 1: Carolina Blues Man features a solo Anderson on guitar and vocals, rolling through such classics as “Baby Please Don’t Go”, Meet Me in the Bottom”, “Weeping Willow Blues”, and “I Had My Fun” (a.k.a. “Going Down Slow”).
Each of the 10 tracks here is a good one, with Anderson’s (whose full name was Pinkney) crisp and dynamic vocals and playing presented in stunning clarity. From slow numbers such as the gritty, opening “My Baby Left Me This Morning” and creeping “I Had My Fun” that feature some particularly pronounced picking on guitar, to slightly more bustling tracks like “Baby Please Don’t Go” and spunky songs such as “Every Day in the Week” and “Meet Me in the Bottom”, Anderson delivers in as entertaining and competent a fashion as you’ll hear, demonstrating that Anderson deserves to be much more widely known and considered among the genre’s all-time greats. We don’t think it’s overstating things to say that Anderson could easily have been–or could still be–another Robert Johnson if more folks were to give him a listen, and this is definitely an album any traditional blues fan is going to want to have in their collection.
A slow “Big House Blues” and slightly more uptempo “Mama Where Did You Stay Last Night” fill out the first side of the LP, with a swaying “Weeping Willow Blues”, particularly expressive-vocaled “Thousand Woman Blues” and flowing “Baby I’m Going Away” rounding out the album.
Anderson may have thought himself just a Carolina Blues Man, but, after a listen to this album, we think you’ll agree that his is a name that deserves worldwide recognition for much more than being part of the inspiration for a famous rock band’s name. Syd Barrett–to whose mad genius his former Pink Floyd band members paid tribute with their hit song “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”–didn’t always make good decisions, but sure did seem to know his stuff early on by both owning a Pink Anderson album and naming his band after this talented bluesman.