Trouble Trouble: The Definitive Early Years Collection.
Lowell Fulson is not just a bluesman, he is a historic link between the blues of the 1930s and the blues-singing guitarists of the 1950s. In the late 1930s, he travelled with Texas Alexander, a bluesman who didn’t play an instrument, gaining inspiration from him for “River Blues”. A contemporary of T-Bone Walker, he helped to formulate the style of single-string soloing that became de rigueur for the likes of B.B. King, Pee Wee Crayton, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and Albert Collins. A native Oklahoman, he nevertheless became associated with West Coast blues, with a series of 1940s hits, among them “Three O’Clock Blues” (which he passed on to B.B. King), “Everyday I Have The Blues”, “Blue Shadows” and the two-part “Lonesome Christmas”.
From his 1946 debut for Big Town, he was a prolific recorder. In 1954 he scored for Checker with “Reconsider Baby”, which was later covered by Elvis Presley, and he continued to record for Kent and Jewel into the 1970s. His songs were always well-constructed and literate and sung with intimate precision. His guitar-playing was accomplished without indulging the excesses of some of his fellow instrumentalists.
Compiled by blues authority and producer Neil Slaven, Trouble, Trouble covers Lowell Fulson’s recording career from his 1946 debut for Big Town, to his fifties and sixties sessions for Checker, via his many recordings for Down Beat and Swing Time as well as sides released on Scotty’s Radio, Trilon, Aladdin and Cava-Tone. Featuring his first nine R&B Hits, Trouble, Trouble is the definitive collection of the formative years of the influential singer, guitarist and songwriter, before his mid-sixties crossover into the pop charts, which peaked with “Tramp” in 1967.