“Boogie Disease” (Dr. Isaiah Ross), from “13 featuring Lester Butler”
Got to boogie for the doctor
Got to boogie for the nurse
Got to keep on boogie’n ’til they throw me in a hearse
Got to boogie
Got to boogie
‘Til the break of dawn
Got to boogie in the alley
Gonna boogie in the street
Got to keep on boogie’n ’til it knock me off my feet
Got to boogie
I got the boogie
Got the boogie disease
Transcribed by nofightin.com. More Red Devils lyrics here.
The versions of “Sweet Tooth” and “Black Hearted Woman” that ended up on “13 featuring Lester Butler” were actually the demo tracks, featuring the propulsive drumming of Johnny Morgan.
I spoke with Morgan back on May 29, 2011, at the Simi Valley Cajun and Blues Festival, minutes after he got off stage playing behind Big Pete, Alex Schultz and Willie J. Campbell as part of a tribute to Lester Butler.
In the interview, Morgan talks about recording those demos and how the band was spurred on to get more aggressive, what Butler was listening to, and what he thought of his singing voice, among other observations.
MP3: John Morgan interview May 29, 2011 (8:30)
We’re working on editing a longform interview with Alex Schultz as well; watch nofightin.com for more …
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We’ve been going through thousands of photos, videos, posters, documents and ephemera given to No Fightin’ by drummer Eddie Clark. Much of it focuses on his time with 13 or his many years with William Clarke.
Over the coming months, we’ll be posting more rare inventory from the Eddie Clark collection. First up: This faxed itinerary for 13′s 1997 European tour, which came in one long sheet, like a blues scroll. Plenty of notes in the margins, including the addition of several days at two separate Chesterfield Cafe clubs, in Moscow and Madrid.
It offers a little different look at life on the road for a touring musician.
Most of these dates are already in our timeline, and we’ve corrected others based on this first-hand information.
Follow @nofightin on Twitter as we give updates on our work on the Eddie Clark collection.
“13 featuring Lester Butler” reissue producer James Austin is obviously a big fan of the harmonica player. In a recent email Q&A with nofightin.com, Austin, vice president of A&R for RockBeat Records, talked about the project, his goals and his continuing amazement at Lester Butler.
Q: How were you brought aboard this reissue project? Were you a fan of Butler’s before you started working on this?
A: When we started RockBeat Records in November of 2010 we were looking to start with re-issuing CDs from the HighTone Records as we had access to that catalog through Richard Foos of Shout Factory. He made it possible for us to release CDs that Shout was not going to issue.
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“13 featuring Lester Butler” is available again. The reissue, out March 22 on RockBeat Records, features new art, new liner notes and three bonus tracks previously available only on bootleg.
We are on record with our love of “13,” so the quality of the music is not in doubt on this reissue. Instead, let’s look at what’s new here:
BONUS TRACKS: The three “new” live cuts will be of most interest to Butler fans — though they’ve been in circulation for years. The liner notes wrongly (and incompletely) claim the songs are from the “Tamines Festival, France, 1997.” In fact, “I Wish You Would,” “Boogie Disease” and “So Mean to Me” were actually recorded Aug. 29, 1997, at the 7th South Blues Festival in Tamines, Sambreville, Belgium.
The bonus cuts show the “other” 13 — the live unit of Alex Schultz, Eddie Clark and Mike Hightower that took Europe by storm in 1997-98 with its wild, expansive blues explorations. Amazingly, the three bonus tracks clock in at more than six minutes each, making them the three longest cuts on the reissue by far. The 19 additional minutes are literally half the length of the lean, mean original album.
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The “13 featuring Lester Butler” reissue will include three live bonus cuts from the Tamines Festival in 1997.
The tracklist for the disc, out March 22, was revealed today in a news release and e-mail exchange with RockBeat Records, a division of S’More Entertainment:
13 FEATURING LESTER BUTLER
There are very few white blues bands that have been able to take the blues to a new level without compromising the integrity of the sound. Lester Butler seemed to understand the blues structure and he performed with an attitude and an edge that stands him apart from his contemporaries. He was able to shape his sound by bringing the blues harp more upfront and not take a back seat to the lead guitar. His playing reflects the passion and love for the blues that remain long after his active career. Butler worked with some great musicians, including Bill Bateman, Paul “the kid” Size, Jonny Ray and Dave Lee Bartel during his stint with The Red Devils. In both bands, Lester was clearly the star, but he always had topnotch support with musicians that propelled his sound to fever pitch intensity. In America the scene was pretty jaded, but it was in Europe where Lester really gained popularity playing at festivals such as Tamines in France. He passed away tragically in May 1998.
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In light of the recent announcement that Lester Butler’s 13 album is being rereleased by RockBeat records, we here at Nofightin.com felt it was only appropriate to take a look back at the original debut.
It was December 12th of 1996 when Hightone Records sent out info “for immediate release” on some new acts that has just been added to the roster. Included in their lineup of scheduled recordings for 1997 was 13, Lester’s first and only solo recording.
Here is what Hightone had to say:
HIGHTONE ANNOUNCES NEW SIGNINGS FOR 1997; ALBUMS DUE FROM 13 / THE SKELETONS / JULIE MILLER
OAKLAND, CA — HighTone Records, distributed by Rhino, has announced the signing of 13 (featuring Lester Butler), The Skeletons, and Julie Miller, and will release new albums by all three acts in early 1997.
13 (featuring Lester Butler) evolved from the L.A.-based group The Red Devils, who recorded albums backing Mick Jagger and Johnny Cash as well as their own critically acclaimed Live At The King King CD for American Recordings. Fueled by Butler’s incendiary vocals and harmonica work, coupled with his legendary near manic stage presence, 13′s powerhouse lineup also includes James Intveld (The Blasters) on bass, Steven Hodges (Tom Waits) on drums, Alex Schultz (The Mighty Flyers) on guitar, and Andy Kaulkin on keyboards. The band’s eponymous debut album, set for release on March 18, careens out of the speakers with a vengeance, with a nod to the gritty Chicago blues sound, but powered by a rock energy that places 13 in a league all its own. Material includes nine originals, plus covers of classic songs by Howlin’ Wolf, Big Joe Williams, and Dr. Ross.
The label was obviously pretty stoked about the whole affair, and why not? Butler was an exciting new artist, and with such a stellar lineup of accompanists on the project, how could it not promise to be anything other than outstanding?
Long out of print, “13 featuring Lester Butler” appears to be headed back to stores.
Copies of the 1997 album, first issued on the now-defunct HighTone label, are scarce, and often sell for nearly $100 on eBay.
Now, almost exactly 14 years after its debut, “13″ looks like it’s being reissued through Rockbeat Records.
There is not much information on this record yet, as it has just begun appearing on sites such as amazon.com, bn.com and others. Here are a few things we do know:
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This is one of the more readily available interviews with Lester Butler, but we’re including it here anyway:
Blowin’ out reeds with Lester Butler: Blues harp player/singer says the bad luck made him better
By Fred Shuster, Los Angeles Daily News Music Writer
March 28, 1997
Blues harpist Lester Butler says 13 is his lucky number, even though it spells bad news for others.
“There’s lots of symbolism behind it — bad luck and that whole deal,” Butler said. “But it’s always been lucky for me. All the bad things that happen make you stronger. The 13 thing is where the worst stuff can happen, but you can turn it around, and it actually helps you survive.”
Butler, who sings the blues with conviction and blows a mean Chicago-style harmonica, has been through the music-biz ringer. In the early ’90s, he led the Red Devils, a popular local combo that scored a deal with producer Rick Rubin’s Def American label. The band recorded an EP and a well-received live album titled “King King,” after the then-jumping club.
On Mondays, the Devils played to star-studded, packed houses at the now-defunct La Brea Avenue night spot. ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons and Mick Jagger often dropped by. Queen’s Brian May, members of the Black Crowes, Lenny Kravitz and Peter Wolf sat in with the band. Angelo from Fishbone would recite spoken word when he wasn’t playing saxophone.
We are continuing to sift through Feelgood’s fantastic collection of Red Devils and 13 memorabilia. He’s sent us a lot of great stuff to look at, including images of several ticket stubs, and the really cool handbill at right. It is from the Nov. 18, 1993, gig at Schaaf, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. Appears that Paul Size and Dave Lee Bartel were unceremoniously scratched-out from this promo item; Size had probably already left the band a few months earlier.
Feelgood also sent us these two ticket stubs, one Devils and one 13:
Both tickets are from the venue Oosterpoort in Groningen, Netherlands, three years apart; ABOVE LEFT is the Devils Sept. 4, 1994, and ABOVE RIGHT is 13 Sept. 7, 1997.
Finally, Feelgood shared his own ticket collection with us: Chuck Berry, Flaco Jimenez, Bo Diddley, Georgia Satellites, Steve Earle, John Hiatt, the Paladins, Billy Joe Shaver, and many more. That’s an impressive resume!
Watch for more from Feelgood’s collection, soon on nofightin.com.
