Lonnie Mack - Memphis Wham! (expanded)

I was reading a "best 60's instrumentals" list one time, with all the usual contenders - Booker T and the MGs, the Ventures, Link Wray, stuff like Telstar, Tequila and Misirlou, and all the rest. There was one name I didn't recognise, though - Lonnie Mack. I found an album that had both of his signature instrumentals, one called Memphis and another named Wham!, and, yes, they both very much deserved a place on the best-of list. What really blew me away, though, was his singing. The intense vocal over the burning guitar solos and the soul-y brass section support sounded so much like my favorite West Side bluesman - Otis Rush - that I was shocked to find out that Mr. Mack is neither black nor a Chicagoan.

Lonnie Mack is the stocky guy with a pompadour and a Flying V on the picture below. He wears his influences on his sleeve: the pompie and his love of instrumentals are reminiscent of Freddie King, and the Flying V is just like the other King, Albert, plays.
Lonnie's career is similar to that of the guitar legends like James Burton, Roy Buchanan, Jimmy Bryant, and Danny Gatton: the effortless virtuosity made him a legend in the musicians' circles, but his distaste for the music business kept him away from the public eye. Blues fans may know him as the biggest influence on SRV; Lonnie Mack's comeback concert brought together a score of other fans like Keith Richards, Ron Wood, Ry Cooder (who joined Lonnie onstage) and Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, Eddie Van Halen, who were in the audience.

I meant to start this entry with the famous quote from Hunter S. Thompson but then found it on Lonnie Mack's website (bottom of this page).

This record includes the original LP from 1964 and some non-album tracks.

Lonnie Mack - Memphis Wham! (expanded)
REUP: depositfiles
87 mb

1. Memphis
2. Where There's A Will There's A Way
3. Wham!
4. I'll Keep You Happy
5. The Bounce
6. Baby What's Wrong
7. Down And Out
8. Satisfied
9. Susie Q
10. Why
11. Down In The Dumps
12. Rockin' Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu
13. Gee Baby
14. Chicken Pickin'
15. Oh, I Apologize
16. Say Something Nice To Me
17. From Me To You
18. Turn On Your Love Light
19. The Freeze
20. Farther On Up The Road
21. Cry, Cry, Cry
22. Save Your Money
23. Tension (Part 1)
24. Tension (Part 2)