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Travelin' with the Blues

Tom McFarland
1 disc

1. Travelin' With the Blues
2. You Can't Take It With You
3. Gasoline Blues
4. You're Killing Me
5. Going Back to Oakland
6. Street Walking Woman
7. Juicer's Blues
8. Blues Got Me
9. Blues Up and Gone
10. Telephone Blues
11. Midnight Train - (previously unreleased)
12. Big Drought in California - (previously unreleased)
13. Tom's Boogie - (previously unreleased, Explicit Lyrics)
Code: QZZQ
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Additional Info

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): 9055
Credits

Producer Chris Strachwitz; Chris Strachwitz
Engineer
This release include three bonus tracks.
Personnel: Tom McFarland (vocals, guitar); Tom McFarland; Steve Ehrmann (bass guitar); Bobby Broadhead (drums).
Liner Note Authors: Tom McFarland; Tom Mazzolini.
Recording information: Sierra Sound Labs, Berkeley, CA (1978).
Photographer: Tom McFarland.
Tom McFarland was a blues fixture in the Pacific Northwest and the Bay Area until his death in 2004. So it's perhaps apt that this CD reissue of his first album, recorded in 1978, now finds its way out. That he was a devotee of B.B. King is apparent in the way he uses his guitar to punctuate and accentuate lines, although throughout he chooses a much more brittle tone. And the West Coast attitude is apparent in the sense of easy swing in the original songs, backed by bass and drums -- nothing ever plods. There's an ebullience to McFarland's singing, nowhere more than on the bonus cut "Tom's Boogie" (one of three extra tracks here), which comes as close to driving along as anything on the disc. His tales of ordinary life, be they about prostitutes or simply trying to make ends meet as a musician, are reassuringly warm, while his signature piece, "Going Back to Oakland," has a real sense of stature. While not a major performer, there's still plenty to his work. Nothing is tossed off or haphazard; there's a real regard for the blues ~ Chris Nickson
Critic Reviews

Living Blues (p.78) - "[T]he bare-bones backing by bassist Steve Ehrmann and drummer Bobby Broadhead keeps the leader squarely in the spotlight while never losing the groove."