'Searching For Odell Harris'

 

For years and years, whenever I spoke to people who were knowledgeable of Mississippi blues, the name Odell Harris almost always came up.   Writer Robert Palmer (no, not the singer) enthusiastically told me of the two times he saw Odell, first on a friend of Odell's front porch, and then in another friend’s living room.

Odell Harris was a reclusive legend, who never made a record, so for most people, the only way to hear Odell was to visit a Mississippi juke joint, and even if you did, he was infamous for not showing up.



Apparently, Albert King was Odell’s uncle, and his cousin was Soul singer/songwriter, William Bell.  His two of his closest friends were fellow North Mississippi Hill Country Blues musicians R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough.



Jeff Konkel founder of The Broke & Hungry Records label, and his team caught up with Odell, in November 2006.  Odell made it clear it was then or no time, so the engineer set up his recording equipment and started the tape rolling the tape.  The acoustics were rough, there was a rowdy audience, and Harris preferred to fool around than to take the recording seriously.  It took hours before Harris took the recording seriously.  Then around four o'clock in the morning, hours into the session, the audience quieted down or left and Harris settled in for this session of ten vocals and two instrumentals.  This would be the only recorded evidence of the legendary bluesman.


If you like your blues authentic, down, dirty and raw, you’ll love 'Searching For Odell Harris'.  Accompanied by a second guitarist, Bill Abel, and trash can drummer "Lightnin’ Malcolm" Harris delivers one gem after another.  No one cut really stands out over the others, although the first cut, "Train I Ride" is a good introduction to his raw, unpolished style, heavy on funk.  I don’t know whether Harris plays the guitar solos or Bill Abel (who was also recording engineer for the session) but they’re pretty good.



Like bluesmen before him, Odell makes each standard his own.  They are also a couple instrumentals, songs that were created right on the spot.  This recording isn't finely polished, and Odell is sometimes out-of-tune.  But, as "Lightnin' Malcolm" said of the set:


"Some of it wasn't even in tune, but it was, like BETTER than in tune".

Odell disappeared from sight again shortly after this session was recorded. Some time later, he was slated to perform at a blues festival but never showed. The next notice about was his obituary, dead in Louisiana at age 75.

For the freeload, post a few of your favorite Blues double entendres.