We listened to an LP by another blues singer and electric guitarist, Junior Kimbrough, accompanied by a drummer whose occasional uncertainties of tempo were offset by a really great, conspicuously live snare sound. Through this system, Kimbrough's singing was offhand, but it was the kind of offhand that had a little crazy behind it. His guitar sound was brash, like a singer hoarse from shouting, and his choice of notes was best described as dangerous. Far more than the average collection of playback gear, Jeffrey Jackson's system made it seem as though live, raucous, random, edge-of-my-seat music was happening right in front of me, sometimes in an unsettling way. If this had been a bar, I might have wanted to go home after a couple of numbers, if they'd let me—it was almost too much. But almost too much, rightly considered a positive attribute for this kind of music, is something one seldom hears from a record.
