Steve Howell & The Mighty Men – 99 1/2 Won’t Do
Out of the Past Music
10 tracks – 41 minutes
Steve Howell says his great revelation in playing music came in 1965 at age 13 when he first heard Mississippi John Hurt’s fingerpicking country blues. That spun him into the music of other blues legends such as Blind Willie McTell, Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, Son House and a host of other black acoustic guitarists and vocalists. Steve was born in Marshall, Texas where he also now resides. A stint in the US Navy in the early 1970’s led his being stationed in South Wales, where he got engaged in the British acoustic folk scene and started playing in the local folk music clubs.
He has released many albums in the years since with a shifting focus on blues and jazz. As can be quickly determined from the name of his label, his interest is in the music of the past. Steve’s focus is to bring songs from the past forward to present to a new audience and perhaps to bring memories to older listeners. But he shifts the songs to have a modern sound and relevance. Past albums have featured primarily the blues or jazz, but with this album he strides across several genres including gospel, pop and soul while still providing touches of the blues to each song.
Steve has been performing with his band, The Mighty Men, for over 30 years. Steve plays acoustic and electric guitar and provides the vocals. Jason Weinheimer who lives in Little Rock, Arkansas plays the bass and keyboards. He also produced, recorded, mixed and mastered the album. Chris Michaels provides additional electric guitar and Dave Hoffpauir plays drums. Both Chris and Dave are from Shreveport, Louisiana originally, but Dave moved to Little Rock in 1992. All three of the band members have multiple involvements in other bands. Jason, Chris, and Dave teamed with Jim Dickinson for a project that was recorded but has never been released. Jason worked closely with Jim on the production of albums and considers Jim his studio mentor.
Betty James’ 1961 soul song “I’m A Little Mixed Up”, which was later covered by Koko Taylor kicks things off. Steve ‘s smooth delivery and some interesting guitar work gives the song a different direction from the earlier interpretations. The title song, “99 1/2 Won’t Do” was originally released in 1949 as a gospel song by Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Here Steve converts the song into a slow blues shuffle as he sings “70 won’t make it, 80 God won’t take it, 90 that’s close, 99 1/2 that’s almost, but you’ve got to have a 100” in making a commitment to do good. Steve next moves into the 1960’s with an instrumental version of Scott McKenzie’s counter-culture song that called all young people to come to “San Francisco” as a promotion to the 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival.
An instrumental version of The Animal’s 1965 hit “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” and was initially sung by Nina Simone in 1964 follows. Little Willie John’s 1956 “Talk to Me, Talk to Me” is a slow and soulful call to the dance floor. Doug Sahm recorded a successful version of the song in 1989. The traditional gospel song “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” has been recorded many times over the years as country, folk, alternative rock, electronic and even black metal by artists ranging from Odetta, Johnny Cash, The Blind Boys of Alabama, and Nick Cave. Steve adds some swing to the standard gospel sound.
Charlie Rich first recorded his country hit “Who Will the Next Fool Be?” in 1961. It has also been covered by Bobby “Blue” Band and Jerry Lee Lewis. Steve also converts this song into a slow blues. “Stone Pony Blues” was originally recorded by Charlie Patton in 1929 as just “Pony Blues” but was not released until 1934 when it was re-recorded using the current title. Steve gives it a modern update.
The album concludes with two more instrumentals. The first comes from the 1966 pop song, “Walk Away Renee” recorded by The Left Banke, which is given another quiet, smooth guitar delivery. The Shadows 1966 rock instrumental hit, “Apache”, was first recorded in 1960 by Bert Weedon and was later also recorded by The Ventures. Steve picked this as a tribute to the era of rock instrumentals that was utilized as the sounds of the “spaghetti westerns” that were hit movies in that period.
Steve continues to surprise with his selection of songs. If you are expecting a major dynamic performance, then you are not understanding Steve’s direction. As indicated throughout this review, Steve and The Mighty Men deliver some excellent, albeit quiet, and smooth guitar work with some vocals on some songs that may be lost in current times. Steve’s vocals may sound slightly strained, but his delivery is such that they are certainly passable and suited to the songs he has selected.
