Piece Description

Tomcat Courtney has made his debut album at age 79. A longtime fixture on the San Diego blues scene, Courtney has finally reached out to the wider world with this enjoyable album of rough-hewn blues. A native of Texas, Courtney joined a circus as a dancer during World War II (he was too young to be in the service) and became a singer almost by accident, when he was overheard teaching the lyrics of "St. Louis Blues" to the designated singer in the show. In the early 1970s, he settled in San Diego and has had enough work there to keep him going. Now, the rest of the world has a chance to hear him (a few tracks on the 1974 album "San Diego Blues Jam" were all that we've had from him until now), and it's better late than never. Courtney mixes original songs ("Downsville Blues" the title track is about his home town in Texas) with standards like "Meet Me In The Bottom." On this Blues File he talks about his life and we sample music from "Downsville Blues" plus one of his 1970s songs.