3 live bonus tracks on 13 reissue

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.

The 13 FEATURING LESTER BUTLER CD tracks include:

SO LOW DOWN (Lester Butler)
HNC (Lester Butler)
SWEET TOOTH (Lester Butler)
BLACK HEARTED WOMAN (Lester Butler)
CLOSE TO YOU (Willie Dixon)
SMOKE STACK LIGHTNING (Chester Burnett)
PRAY FOR ME (Lester Butler)
SO MEAN TO ME (Elmore James)
WAY DOWN SOUTH (Lester Butler)
BOOGIE DISEASE (Dr. Isaiah Ross)
PLAGUE OF MADNESS (Lester Butler)
DOWN IN THE ALLEY (Lester Butler)
BABY PLEASE DON’T GO (Big Joe Williams)

Bonus Tracks:
I WISH YOU WOULD (Billy Boy Arnold) – Recorded at The Tamines Festival, France 1997

STREET DATE: MARCH 22, 2011
GENRE: Blues/Rock
UPC: 0 89353 30012 8
Single CD
SRP: $11.98

Earlier in the day, we received a slightly different tracklist from S’More Entertainment, which included “Boogie Disease” and “So Mean To Me,” both also from the Tamines festival.

The Tamines festival has been available in tape-trading circles for several years; those are strong tracks that do highlight Butler’s great touring version of 13, with Eddie Clark on drums.

In addition to 13, RockBeat will also issue a Big Sandy best-of on March 22.