Great intro to the early music of Jerry Lee

When Jerry Lee Lewis started out on Sun records in 1956, it was obvious that he had a fully fledged style and also a very well developed repertoire. Although a master vocalist and a good musician with numerous styles, perhaps his favorite one was oldtime blues-based country music. This CD explores that side of JLL's music.

Here, we have JLL's covers of such songs as "I'll sail my ship alone" (a 1950 Moon Mullican western swing hit - a favorite of JLL's from perhaps JLL's favorite singer/pianist and biggest influence), Hank Williams' "Cold cold heart" and "You win again" (JLL has done more than any of his era to keep Hank's music relevant and indeed turned rock audiences onto Hank's music), and Gene Autry's "You're the only star". These show JLL's preferences to record songs of his idols while at Sun were strong.

While JLL's versions of "Deep Elem blues" (variants were done in the 1930s and 1940s by Shelton Bros., Moon Mullican and others), "I'll sail my ship alone", "Slipping around" (A Floyd Tillman-penned blues-honky tonk song), "Born to lose" (A 1940s standard in the repertoires of many western swing bands) and Jimmie Rodgers' "Waiting for a train" maintain a dominant blues feel, others - like "Crazy arms" or "I'm the guilty one" are pure, beautiful country ballads. The blues feel is always there, though, and this is what makes JLL's vocal sincere. JLL's originals were recorded by many of his idols as a thank you as well: For example, "Fools like me" was covered by Moon Mullican, "One minute past eternity" was covered by Hank Snow. It is a pity a longer version of "Live and let live" (a country and bluegrass standard with a blues feel that was sung by Bill Monroe, Moon Mullican and Jimmie Davis before) does not exist. It is obvious that JLL's version would have made an excellent single.
It is also interesting to note that JLL cut two songs here that would become more famous by others later. They are "I love you because" and "Release me". The former was written by Leon Payne and spent years around as a semi-hit, local hit, etc. in the hands of artists as diverse as Ernest Tubb and Elvis Presley before it became one of the biggest hits for Jim Reeves. JLL's early version is excellent and should have been released. "Release me", apparently, was a cajun song in its first incarnation - but again was a pretty obscure country standard for years. Ray Price, Jerry Lee, and others all had a go at it - with some success (Price) and without any success (for JLL: it was not released). However, it was Englebert Humperdinck that would make it really famous. JLL's version is blues-based and therefore is my favorite interpretation of the song. Again, one wonders if it was released how successful it could have been.

"Little green valley", an old bluegrass standard, really shows how easily JLL can augment and interpret the style of any music on his piano. This CD really shows JLL, the master, at his best. This is a melting pot of blues, country, western swing, bluegrass, cajun, western and many other genres. I can't recommend this album enough to anyone interested in real music.