Grady champion - Payin' For My Sins

Grady champion

"Payin' For My Sins"

Shanachie 9020

I have read reviews that compare the singing and harp playing of Grady champion to Sonny Boy Williamson. Another review compared the way he worked a crowd to Robert Johnson. These seem like pretty big shoes to fill.

Grady played locally a couple of months ago at Gatorz in Port
charlotte and the Five O'clock club in Sarasota. While we missed him,
the locals I talked to described him as a very dynamic entertainer.
From listening to this cd, I can see the possible comparison to Sonny
Boy. There is a certain rawness to this young Mississippi entertainer that
is reminiscent of the post war Delta bluesmen who blended their gutsy
sounds into the more polished chicago scene. champion is backed on the cd by some stylish horns and B-3 organ that accent his powerful vocals and soulful harp on numbers like I'm Smilin' Again, You Got Some
Explaining To Do and one of my favorites, My Rooster Is King. He pulls
down the tempo and does a fine job on slow burners like Good As New and Goin' Down Slow, which has some excellent guitar backing. The title
song provides excellent lyrics and a good demonstration of champion's
harp skills.

I get accused of being too partial to harp players and realize there is
truth in that. Even Nikki, though, who complains about the cd collection being weighed too heavily to the harp, kept punching the replay button on this disk.

Tim Graham