My Head Is Bald

There is plenty of dark music available on CD -- Russian folk, grunge, Peruvian star Rossy War's cumbia triste (sad cumbia), Fiona Apple, Green Day singing "Boulevard of Broken Dreams." But the blues, like country, isn't simply dark -- it's dark-humored. The blues laughs in the face of adversity, which is clearly something that Lightnin' Hopkins, Little Walter, Jimmy Witherspoon, and Sonny Boy Williamson have had in common with Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, and Johnny Paycheck. And it is no coincidence that one sees so many smiling faces on this DVD even though Tail Dragger is addressing plenty of dark subject matter. There is no way that My Head Is Bald (which documents a July 16, 2005, gig at Vern's Friendly Lounge on Chicago's West Side) will be mistaken for an exercise in mindless, na‹ve, Pollyanna-ish optimism. Tail Dragger is singing about having the "Prison Blues"; he sings about betrayal, infidelity, back-stabbing, and countless disappointments. But he does it with an unwavering sense of humor, which is why one sees so many smiling faces in the audience. Tail Dragger's sense of dark comedy draws on Windy City influences that include Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon, but the dominant influence on his very Chicago-sounding blues is Howlin' Wolf -- no one has influenced this veteran singer more than his mentor, Howlin' Wolf. And while Tail Dragger is quite derivative, he is also very skillful at what he does. Tail Dragger is focused and inspired throughout his set, offering a tough, gritty, rugged, and -- of course -- very dark-humored dose of Chicago blues that isn't the least bit groundbreaking but is honest and pleasingly solid. ~ Alex Henderson|