No Foolin'!

KATIE WEBSTER--AN APPRECIATION

Katie Webster sings the kind of songs more often associated with male blues singers than with women. With a few exceptions (Koko Taylor and Denise LaSalle come to mind), there is an edge to the music she chooses, an edge that a lot of women don't have. Her songs will never be confused with that plaintive wailing of a woman who's been hurt and left by her man. Katie sings, "I need love and I need affection, or I'll find all my good things in the wrong direction."

I saw Katie at the Jazz Fest in New Orleans last year. She not only was playing one of the early shows, before the crowds had started to build, but the night before she had just returned from a month of one-nighters in Europe. Jet lag was her close companion. Yet, when she sat down at the piano, all of that fatigue just melted away before her two-fisted piano and what I call her "no foolin'" style of singing. In her own song on this new offering, I'm Bad, Katie sings, "I'm bad and the whole world knows I'm bad. And I don't mean like Michael Jackson either."

That Saturday in New Orleans, Katie Webster set the tone for the Jazz Fest. Those early birds who caught her performance had something to talk about for the rest of the day. Put simply, Katie Webster's bad!
--Ed Bradley

This entire project is dedicated, with love, to the memories of: Cleveland Chenier, The Reverend James Cleveland, Doc Pomus, David Ruffin, Catherine "Momma" Semmes and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

It's Mighty Hard is dedicated to Mrs. Carole Allen Simmons.

Thanks to the Almighty for bringing me this far, and to all of Katie Webster's family, friends and fans around the world; you make it all so worthwhile!

To all the retailers and radio programmers everywhere, thanks for staying on the case.  Katie Webster loves y'all!

Thanks to Bob, Bruce, Nora and all the Alligator Staff.  Thanks to Dag, Rod, Lars, Sandy, Bob and Mel and all the Sonet people.

Very speical thanks go to: Gene Barge and the horn section; Black & Blue of Norway; Black Cat Bone; Ed "60 Minute Man" Bradley; Lonnie Brooks and family; Bully's of Jackson; C.J. Chenier; Sergio Fernandez; The good folks at Festival Productions and Folklore Productions; Erby Foster III; Goldstar Associates Pty.; Danny Scher, Queenie Taylor, and everyone at Bill Graham Presents; Hal and Mal's; Fasteye Hairstyle; Steve Hennessy; Lee Hildebrand; Ice Cube Slim--World's Coolest Manager; Josie Jackson--Vasti's Other Mother; Jazz Alley of Seattle; Keisean and Arsadia; Earl King; Marty Kirkman; Wolfgang Lampfuss; Kathirine Lee; Laura Lee; Linda Lee and the Coconut Club; Darrell Lewandowski; Ziddy McCain; Len McRae and Peavy Electronics; Tom Mazzolini and the San Francisco Blues Festival; Mark Naftalin; Ornament Records; Alan Paul; Michael Pollack; the Rubenfelds; E. Leonard Rubin; Jaquine and Kierra Sanders; Lisa Shively; Lanny Steele and the Juneteenth Festival; Samuel Untermyer II; Tom Wacha; Sara Wolfe; Jonathan Wexler; and the whole Zydeco Crewe!