It’s funny how you can feel an affinity for a stranger you’ve never met rather than, say, a high school acquaintance desperately reaching out to you through Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. You like these strangers’ tastes; you even consider them to be “friends.” You don’t know them…but you know them. They make you feel good.
Late blues legend Robert Crotty certainly made many people “feel good” around the New Haven neighborhoods he called home, and is now getting a chance to belatedly befriend strangers far away from The Elm City. Like-minded musical ally Loren Connors has curated a Crotty anthology of recordings and collaborations between the two guitar maestros that will give much overdue attention to a one-of-a-kind musician who was taken from us too soon. Roping together almost a decade’s worth of stellar performances, Robert Crotty with Me: Loren’s Collection (1979-1987) will be released THIS FRIDAY, December 8, on Family Vineyard.
With all of the Connors-curated cuts — plus an extra disc that includes the rare Robert Crotty Blues album and “Prove It!” 7” single (both of which originally released on Connors’ St. Joan label) — there’s more here than can be comfortably handled in a single sitting…if this were The Foo Fighters. But luckily, this collection of masterful unhurried blues is Crotty, so the whole megillah is more than manageable and bears repeated bingeing.
Crotty, who died in his sleep in 2011 at the too-young age of 57, left a musical legacy that was begging for a mass release. “I would go as far as to say that the few recordings that exist of these Robert Crotty sessions are among the finest and most beautiful blues documents of all time,” says Connors. Pre-order the album and listen to some of Crotty’s beautiful blues in “By and Bye, I’m Going to See the King” and “Honeymoon Blues” at his Family Vineyard artist page and peep the album trailer down below.
Accept this request without hesitation for a life-affirming dose of blues from your new, true-blue friend.
Robert Crotty with Me: Loren’s Collection (1979-1987):
01. TB Blues
02. Come Back Baby
03. Improvisation No. 5
04. Golden Ring
05. Improvisation No. 1
06. Blow Wind Blow
07. That’s All Right
08. Come Back Baby
09. By and Bye, I’m Going to See the King
10. Honeymoon Blues
11. Improvisation No. 3
12. Improvisation No. 2
13. Georgia On My Mind
14. Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Bonus Disc: Robert Crotty Blues and “Prove It!”:
01. Lights Out
02. Groanin’ The Blues
03. When Things Go Wrong
04. I Love My Whiskey
05. TB Blues
06. Trouble in Mind
07. Never Let Me Go
08. I’ll Come Runnin’ Back to You
09. I’m Waiting for Ships That Never Come In
10. Country Man
11. Steady Rollin’ Man
More about: Loren Connors, Robert Crotty
