Two-Fisted Mama [CD]

Watch out for your fingertips! You're holding the second Katie Webster album on Alligator Records, and I'm here to tell ya it is hot! Katie's debut Alligator release, The Swamp Boogie Queen, was hailed by critics and fans alike as one of the rockin'-est blues records of 1988, topping the blues radio charts for three straight months and winning the title of "Blues Album of the Year" from both the Bay Area Music Awards and the National Association of Independent Record Distributors and Manufacturers, bringing Katie's talent to a whole new audience. She's no longer just known by her fanatic European fans (she spends almost half of every year touring Europe) and the hippest American blues devotees. Now, with three national tours, major festival performances and a network TV appearance all in the last eleven months, a whole new audience has discovered Katie Webster.

Now this new audience wants more Katie Webster, and Two Fisted Mama! will fill the bill. You'll hear more of Miss Katie's unequalled piano prowess, on C.Q. Boogie, composed to celebrate the birth this year of her first two grandchildren, Courtney Lockridge and Quentin Lamaro. Katie shines on bright new originals like the funky Stood Up Again and the deep blues of Pussycat Moan. The title track, co-written by Katie and producer Bruce Iglauer, says it all, telling the true story about the Houserockin' Grandma from Houston.

When Katie Webster covers someone else's song, she sings it like nobody but Katie Webster. She takes Dire Straits' So Far Away straight to church, and she mesmerizes with her reading of Never Let Me Go, a ballad from the Johnny Ace songbook. She funkifies you with Love Deluxe, a tune about the value of  Love over Money that was penned by those two rock 'n' roll physicians extraordinaire, Doc Pomus and Dr. John.

Like her friend and inspiration, the late Otis Redding, KatieWebster glows when she is on stage. Her live shows are not-to-be-missed events, with Katie moving from boogie woogie to Memphis soul to a taste of gospel and to a spontaneous rap with unmatched energy and spirit. The trio that has toured with Katie for the last eight months has learned to follow Katie's every move, and their musicianship contributed greatly to this new record. Gerald Warren, drums and backup vocals, spent seven years with soul man Tyrone Davis' Platinum Band before joining Katie. Gus Thornton, bass and backup vocals, worked with Albert King's band for three years. The multi-talented Vasti Jackson, who leads the rhythm section, was essential in arranging much of the album. He played all the guitar parts, sang with Katie on Love Deluxe, and even brought her an original song, Money Honey or Honey Hush. Young Mr. Jackson was formerly musical director for Johnnie Taylor and prior to that served as band leader for the late great ZZ Hill's Down Home Blues Band. And adding that extra spice were those amazing Memphis Horns, Andrew Love and Wayne Jackson, who always supply just the right riffs to fill out the grooves.

For all the great sidemen, this is Katie's record. After thirty-five years in recording studios here and abroad, she finally found herself totally free to make exactly the record that she wanted. As you can hear, Katie Webster's Dictionary is a very large volume indeed. There's only one other performer that I've ever heard who is truly able to deliver the goods in virtually any musical idiom, whether it be blues, R&B, gospel, country, jazz, ballads, pop or even classical, and that's Ray Charles. Be it rock 'n' roll or Rachmaninoff, according to Katie, "My soul is in the song I sing and the note I play. This is my legacy."

So fasten your seat belts and hold on to your hats, y'all. 'Cause here comes the very legendary, extra-strawdinary, red-hot, double-barrelled boogie woogie bombshell herself -- Miss Katie Webster!
-- Ice Cube Slim
   August, 1989