Friday, January 18, 2013

Chris Thomas King "Bona Fide"

 
Yes, you know who he is.  He played the blues singer in George Clooney's band of escaped convicts in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"  Imagine that, a real life musician.  He was also featured in the concert film, Down From The Mountain, that was inspired by the movie. Any association with T-Bone Burnett is a good thing.  He also appeared in the movie, "Ray," in which he played blues artist Lowell Fulsom.  I knew him as Chris Thomas and absolutely loved his 1990 album called "Cry Of The Prophets."  A few short years later, Thomas started employing hip-hop and rap into his blues music, but it wasn't as well received as the rap-metal hybrid that had begun around the same time.  His major label was less than fond of the stylistic change, so he eventually released what many considered one of the most overlooked releases of the decade, "21st Century Blues...From da 'Hood," on essentially a New Age record label...probably the major reason for it to fly under the radar.  I tried to understand it, but it didn't work for me.  Somewhere along the line, he added "King" to his name for the obvious blues references.  Sure, he's sold some records and won a Grammy, but "King"?  C'mon...
 
Can't argue with the man's musical vision.  He was years ahead of everybody in the hip-hop blues movement (I have a forthcoming post on a female take on the genre) and now he's deep into digital delivery of music and very aware of how the majors still manipulate the charts by buying their own songs to make them rank higher.  It's too bad his music isn't as astute.  "Bona Fide" isn't easy to find as it's relegated to digital services only, and that's no great loss, either.  I'm keeping just this one track
 
Too bad there's nothing else remotely close to being that good on the album...

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