First Recordings

Recording information: American Studio, Memphis, TN (1966).
Photographer: Ray Allen.
Junior Kimbrough's droning, modal, hypnotic one-chord approach to the blues made him a juke joint favorite in his native North Mississippi. In 1966 Kimbrough left Mississippi and traveled to Memphis, Tennessee to record an on-spec afternoon session at American Studios for gospel and R&B producer Quinton Claunch, the owner of Goldwax Records (as well as the founder of Hi Records). Kimbrough delivered his patented raw trance blues, and Claunch passed on releasing anything from the session, deeming it "too country." It would be 40-some years before the session was released in 1997 by Big Legal Mess Recordings. These are Kimbrough's earliest recordings, but they aren't at all different than his later Fat Possum material. If Kimbrough was a one-horse pony as a musician, and he was, then this was a pony who knew exactly how to run the race in a busy juke joint and keep the dancefloor filled. He was absolutely no different in a recording studio. ~ Steve Leggett