Long John Hunter

For way too lengthy, the tale of Lengthy John Hunter was largely an area one, limited by the bordertown area between El Paso, Tx and Juarez, Mexico. That is where the guitarist reigned for 13 years (from 1957) at Juarez’s infamous Lobby Club. Its riotous, frequently brawling clients included local people, cowboys, military from close by Fort Bliss, frat young boys, and every type of troublemaking visitor among. Hunter held ’em all interested along with his outrageous showmanship and slashing electric guitar riffs. The Louisiana indigenous got a past due start his musical profession. When he was 22 and slaving away within a Beaumont, Tx box manufacturer, he went to a B.B. Ruler display and was immediately transfixed. The very next day, he bought a electric guitar. A year afterwards, he was starring at the same club that B.B. got headlined. Hunter’s 1954 debut one for Don Robey’s Houston-based Duke label, “She Utilized to End up being My Girl”/”Crazy Baby,” preceded his proceed to Un Paso in 1957. On the way, Phillip Walker and Lonnie Brooks both found on his licks. But Hunter’s documenting output was slender — several popular but obscure singles waxed from 1961 to 1963 for the small Yucca logo design out of Alamogordo, New Mexico (standouts consist of “Un Paso Rock and roll,” “Midnight Stroll,” and “Boundary Town Blues”). Probably he was simply too active — he kept court on the Lobby seven evenings weekly from sundown to sunup. Thankfully, Hunter’s reputation ultimately outgrew the Lone Superstar Condition. His 1992 established for the Spindletop imprint, Trip beside me, got the ball moving. A set of albums released afterwards in the 10 years for Alligator, Boundary Town Tale (1996) and Swinging from your Rafters (1997), uncovered the Tx blues great to a wider (if not really wilder) target audience than before. The next 10 years, Hunter didn’t record quite normally, but 2003’s One Feet in Tx (made out of his sibling Tom) and 2009’s Buying Party (released on Blues Express) had been both notable improvements to his discography.