Keep It Clean - Catfish Stephenson

Catfish Stephenson filmed in his garage after band practice back on Aug. 29, 2007 - filmed by Scott "Boo" Kiker. "Keep It Clean" is an old Ragtime/Blues form recorded back in the 1930 or '31 by Charley Jordan and in 1970 by Larry Johnson on his "Fast & Funky" album. It was a big hit for Charley. You can hear any number of arrangements of the verse lyrics in lots of Old Time songs, so who knows how old the form is. I highly recommend picking up any Charley Jordan recordings you can. Very unique Old Time Blues. Document Records, I think, has his full collection - 3 volumes. Check Amazon. And I highly, highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of Larry Johnson's "Fast & Funky". The original is out of print, but the Baltimore Blues Society has it rereleased on CD at their site: http://mojoworkin.com/. Click "Merchendise" ($9.95 - can't beat that!). It's a gotta-have. Catfish had a copy of the vinyl back in the day and, from what I know of his repertoire, he must have worn the grooves bare - seems like he learned the whole album. There are lots of live vids of Larry on youtube from the 70's, 80's. Enjoy. - Boo.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Keep
• It
• Clean

[godsspear]

Love to hear you do that song, Catfish. It carried me back to 1981. It always gets better and you make it look so relaxed.

[sylnorma]

Man, if I had a quarter for every hour I sat out on the bench, listening to you play songs like this one! Too bad I'm back in Ohio.