September 2024

Billy Barton and Friends Atomicat Records (ACCD154) contains ninety-seven songs including thirty-seven previously unreleased acetate recordings from the years 1951-1962. Most certainly this is the largest exploration of the talented; musician, producer, and songwriter. Within this anthology you will discover an artist who recorded with Johnny Horton, wrote several hit recordings for other artists, and amazingly is mainly a footnote in music history.

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According to an article in Living Blues magazine in 1977 "There is hardly a guitarist around here today who doesn't owe a little something to Lafayette Thomas." He has been called "one of the finest guitarists to emerge from the San Francisco-Oakland Blues scene." I would say "one of the finest players ever." Period. Many of his solos contain jaw-dropping ideas that will make any aspiring Blues guitarist go "Whoa! What was that!?" and move the needle back in the grooves again and again to try to learn that crazy lick he just did—I know I have. Just listen to "West Side Jump," and you'll see what I mean. Compiling all the sides Lafayette Thomas ever played on, and then selecting 28 sides that contain his best playing, has been quite a task! I don't think he ever played an uninspired solo, and his ideas just seemed to flow from him. His style was sharp, and intense, and he would switch sounds and styles to match the song. His playing ranged from dynamic and edgy, to aggressive and heavily distorted and he’d effortlessly transition between a down-home Blues and a beautiful ballad. Lafayette Jerl Thomas came into the world on June 13, 1928, in Shreveport, Louisiana. His first exposure to The Blues was most likely through his uncle Jesse "Babyface" Thomas. By the late 1940s, he was living in San Francisco, where he played with Al Simmons Rhythm Rockers, Bob Geddins' Cavaliers, and the great Jimmy Wilson of "Tin Pan Alley" fame. In 1948, Thomas appeared on wax for the first time on the B-side of a Bob Geddins record. The track was Shermans Trio ‘Jumpin For Julia’ with pianist Sherman Louis and bass player Bill Bostick. Bob Geddins was the owner of the Art-Tone, Big Town, Cava-Tone, Downtown, Irma, Plaid, Rhythm, and Veltone labels, and he leased records to Swing-Time, Aladdin, Modern, Checker, and Imperial. Thomas remained closely connected to Geddins and appeared on his releases from his 1948 debut and all well into the mid-1960s. Thomas’ first solo record, ‘Sam's Drag/ Baby Take a Chance On Me’ was released as L.J. Thomas and his Louisiana Playboys. If you think it sounds like something straight out of Sam Phillips Sun studios, you're right. The record was made by Sam Phillips and leased to Chess Records in 1952. ‘Sam's Drag’ rocks, and his T-Bone Walker influence really shines through on the flip side. During the fifties and sixties, Thomas appeared on more than a hundred records—most prominently with Jimmy McCracklin & his Blues Blasters, whom he joined in early 1951, replacing Robert Kelton on guitar. (Thomas and Kelton share the guitar duties on ‘Rockin' All Day’). He would record and perform with McCracklin, off and on, for pretty much the remainder of his career. Thomas also appeared on great sides with Jimmy Wilson, Roy Hawkins, Willie Huff, and James Reed. Both Jimmy Wilson and James Reeds versions of the now classic ‘Tin Pan Alley’ are included here. The 1953 track ‘Instrumental Jump’ was released on Big Town and re-released in 1956 on Modern as a filler b-side for rockabilly artist Johnny Todd. His next solo effort was the brilliant ‘Lost Mind’ (aka ‘Standing In The Back Door Crying’) and ‘Don’t Have To Worry’ (aka "Jumpin’ In The Heart of Town"), released as by Jerry Thomas. The monumental ‘Strangest Blues’ is often credited to Jimmy Nolen, but it was actually a record by Jimmy Wilson featuring Wild Willie Moore (tenor sax) Johnny Heartsman (bass), unknown drummer and Lafayette Thomas on guitar. It was first released on Rhythm Records 1765 and then re-released on ELKO as by Jimmy Nolen’s Band. We round this volume off with Johnny Parker & His Orchestra, but fear not! Theres a Volume 2 on the way featuring Lafayette Thomas tracks from 1954-62… to be continued…

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