Never Come Up

Taj and a truckload of tubas, covering a classic Sleepy John Estes blues live at the Fillmore East? Big fun I say.

Taj Mahal - Diving Duck Blues

Look Bright

A subtle blues by the Rising Sons, the commercially unsuccesful '64 combo that gave both Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal their first shot at stardom. Needless to say, both shine here. "Can't get to Natchez, they tell me there's high water there..."

Rising Sons - By And Bye (Poor Me)

Shake Sugaree

Shake Sugaree is a song I´ve always loved, especially in the original version as performed by the amazing Elizabeth Cotten. "I've a little secret, I ain't gonna tell... I'm goin' to heaven in a ground pea shell... Oh, Lordy me, didn't I shake sugaree, everything I got is down in pawn..." It´s Elizabeth ´Libba´ Cotten (1895-1987) on guitar here only by the way, as her great grandchild Brenda Evans is singing it. And what a voice she´s got... Brenda was only twelve (!) at the time, and contributed to the lyrics together with her brother Johnny and her two cousins Sue and Wendy, on gran Elizabeth´s melody. According to Cotten in the liner notes "the first verse, my eldest great grandson, he made that himself, and from that each child would say a word and add to it. To tell the truth, I don´t know what got it started, but it must have been something said or something done". Find this jewel on the cd Shake Sugaree (Smithsonian Folkways).

Shake Sugaree was covered by many, as were other Cotten classics as Freight Train - which she wrote when she was eleven btw, so it runs in the family - and Oh Babe, It Ain´t No Lie. Greenwich Village folky Fred Neil did a nice version with slightly altered lyrics as I´ve Got A Secret (Didn´t We Shake Sugaree) on his eponymous second album (Water ´67) for instance. The loving reading Taj Mahal gives to the song even comes with a spoken intro about Libba and with a children´s choir. Find it on his ´88 cd Shake Sugaree (Taj Mahal Sings And Plays For Children) on the Music For Little People label. Bob Dylan never recorded it in the studio alas, but played homage to it a couple of times in concert in ´96 and ´97. Another interpretation I really like comes from Mary Lou Lord´s Got No Shadow album (Work ´98). Short and sweet. Oh Lordy me indeed...

Elizabeth Cotten - Shake Sugaree MP3
Fred Neil - I´ve Got A Secret (Didn´t We Shake Sugaree) MP3

Taj Mahal - Shake Sugaree MP3
Bob Dylan - Shake Sugaree (live Atlanta 1-12-´97) MP3
Mary Lou Lord - Shake Sugaree MP3