Big Lee Dowell - Are You Ready - Cannonball

B/W - Big Lee Dowell Interview

Condition - M


Notes from Alberto Zannini

As many of you already know after the first release "What I Done Wrong" we have been extensively searching for the man to share with him the happiness and the income of that great and unexpected success. We found him at the dawn of this year through some people who know some other people, we sent him both the 7" and the 12" and his one has to be probably the humblest and most respectful response we have had from an artist in these two and a half years of label works. He simply couldn't believe that some folks from overseas had such a fonded interest and respect for his long forgotten years of singing. We decided to plan a visit and I proposed him to take plain vocal recordings at his place and see if we can do something more, considering the appreciation he got here in Europe with his first tune. He said "man I am 82 now and the only thing I would like to do again before leaving this valley of tears is TO SING!!". Then the Cannonball Crew started to think how to get it sorted. By luck he has a long time unused Casio Privia Keyboard at his place so we had just to set up a mobile recording unit with an audiocard, a good ole MacBook, a pro mike and plenty of cables to get it going. Ater some driving up from Memphis and a couple other places we hit NYC, went to Sam's Music Store to buy a microphone rest and get to Lee's flat in central Manhattan. He is 82 he lives alone with no relatives in a tiny nursery flat, partially assisted by the national health care. He can barely walk but he still welcomes us with an invitation for lunch and cooked us a great soul food ensemble complete of chicken, black eyed peas and sweet mashed potatoes. What followed on that day were some great hours of tales, recordings, stories, happiness and friendship which we tried to put on this record. I am very happy that Azza was with me and witnessed the whole thing going on because listening to this song you can't believe that more than 40 years elapsed between What I Done Wrong and this new one. The lyrics of Are You Ready here has been written by the man for our label, recorded on that day and then arranged in Italy the following weeks, on the flipside will be an interview backed by music in which the man tells us about his history and career. Please note that, being a total contemporary production we went for a contemporary arrangement and not with the usual "retro" feeling mix we are use to when working on old recordings. Headphones or good speakers are therefore strongly recommended.