“This is an ole rock ‘n’ roll song that we played in the clubs a lot,” explains Alan Jackson, reminiscing about his #1 hit, “Mercury Blues”, in the liner notes of his ’95 best-of. Well, not quite. The song is a blues boogie originally recorded in 1948 by the late K.C. Douglas; Jackson doubtless heard it on Steve Miller’s Fly Like An Eagle album. (The former used-car salesman isn’t emulating David Lindley’s helium-fueled version, that’s for sure.) Whatever the case, even if Jackson doesn’t know who Douglas is — and no matter how sick we all are of hearing that damn truck commercial — at least he granted the bluesman posthumous immortality. Douglas’ survivors, one trusts, don’t mind the publishing royalties, either.
Douglas, who died in Berkeley two years before Miller released his fetching cover of the bluesman’s signature song, grew up in the Mississippi Delta. It was there that he fell under the spell of the recordings of the great Tommy Johnson, easily the most lyrical Delta blues ever committed to shellac. Mercury Blues, a collection of recordings Douglas made between 1960 and 1974, even includes a pair of songs, “Catfish Blues” and “Canned Heat”, that he learned from Johnson. But that’s as far as the kinship goes. Douglas, you see, was but a journeyman, a working stiff who knew enough to hang onto his day job.
Which isn’t to say that Douglas’ down-home delivery and the shuffling rhythms, squalling harp, and snaky slide guitar that accompany him here don’t have a certain laid-back charm — like late Lightnin’ Hopkins, say. In fact, heard at a backyard barbecue, or within the confines of one’s favorite haunt, they hold up quite well. But at 22 tracks — and even if the eight solo-acoustic sides unearthed here give us a glimpse of Douglas the folk-bluesman — Mercury Blues drags on a bit. That said, only a churl could begrudge Arhoolie any mileage they’re getting out of Jackson.