Bo Carter - Banana In Your Fruit Basket

Artist:

Carter, Bo

UPC:

016351016423

See Also:

Mississippi Sheiks Patton, Charley Rainey, Ma Mississippi Sheiks/Bo Carter - Bo Carter & the Mississippi Sheiks [1/23]

Description:

Liner Note Author: Stephen Calt.
Unknown Contributor Role: Bo Carter.
Bo Carter is the alias for singer/guitarist Bo Chatmon, a member of the famous Chatmon family from Mississippi (which produced 13 musically capable children). Notorious for his double-entendre blues, Carter based his songs around sexual metaphors and the results were, unsurprisingly, widely popular. If there were such a thing as parental warning stickers in the 1930s, they would have been applied liberally to Carter`s releases. On Banana in Your Fruit Basket (the companion to Twist It Baby), Yazoo brings together 14 more Carter sides from the 1930s. A cursory glance at track titles alone tells a great deal: "Mashing That Thing," "Don`t Mash My Digger So Deep," "Pin in Your Cushion," "My Pencil Won`t Write Anymore." The themes in Carter`s music were certainly pervasive in the country-blues of the period, but they were rarely as explicit. Whereas one singer might ask "Baby, where`d you stay last night? You got the hair all tangled and you ain`t talkin` right" (a stock blues verse), few would ask the same woman "Baby, what kind of scent is that?" when she walks through the door. Often, Carter`s metaphors are so thin that the results have little value beyond their novelty. Musically, Carter has a relaxed, clear, and fairly indistinct singing style and a fluid, fingerpicking guitar attack to match it. While Banana in Your Fruit Basket paints an accurate picture of Bo Chatmon`s alter ego, the music is very much a product of its time. Giving insight into what people appreciated in their entertainment, it also feels like proof that not much has changed. ~ Nathan Bush

Track Listing:

DISC 1

1. Pig Meat Is What I Crave
2. What Kind of Scent Is This?
3. Mashing That Thing
4. Blue Runner Blues
5. Howling Tom Cat Blues
6. Don`t Mash My Digger So Deep
7. Pin in Your Cushion
8. Ram Rod Daddy
9. All Around Man
10. Pussy Cat Blues
11. My Pencil Won`t Write No More
12. Ants in My Pants
13. Banana in Your Fruit Basket
14. Cigarette Blues

Album Information

Release Date:

04/01/1991

Type:

Performer

Genre:

Blues

Subgenre:

Delta

Label:

Yazoo

Producer:

Nick Perls

Catalog Number:

YAZCD 1064

Original Release Year:

1978

# of Discs:

1

Studio/Live:

Studio

Mono/Stereo:

Mono

Runtime:

41 : 59

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