What's Wrong with You is an album by the American musician Robert Belfour, released in 2000.[1][2] He was 60 when the album was released.[3] Belfour supported the album by participating in the Fat Possum Juke Joint Caravan tour.[4]

What's Wrong with You
Studio album by
Released2000
StudioMoney Shot
GenreBlues
LabelFat Possum
ProducerMatthew Johnson, Bruce Watson
Robert Belfour chronology
The Spirit Lives On
(1994)
What's Wrong with You
(2000)
Pushin' My Luck
(2003)

Production

edit

Belfour signed with Fat Possum after a fan spent years asking if Belfour's phone number could be relayed to the label.[5] "Black Mattie" and "Done Got Old" were written by Junior Kimbrough, Belfour's former neighbor.[6][7] Belfour used a drummer on only two tracks.[8]

Critical reception

edit
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [9]
The Commercial Appeal     [10]
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings    [11]
The Philadelphia Inquirer    [12]
Winnipeg Sun    [7]

Billboard wrote that Belfour's "insistent, fluid guitar work and keening singing may remind the listener of John Lee Hooker at times, but his strong, original songs ... and a hypnotic style that betrays his North Mississippi roots, establish him firmly in a class by himself."[13] The Winston-Salem Journal determined that "it is impossible not to hear John Lee Hooker, Fred McDowell and Charlie Patton in Belfour's vocal phrasing and his delightfully eclectic guitar playing."[14] The Commercial Appeal called the album "a tour-de-force of startling fortitude and timeless character that will have you envisioning Belfour contemporaries R. L. Burnside and the late Junior Kimbrough."[10]

The Village Voice stated that, "with a voice cracking with the rage of the oppressed and cuckolded, 60-yearold Belfour is a silent sufferer who'd rather wallow than fight."[15] The Chicago Tribune noted that, "even as fickle characters deceive, confuse and betray him, the singer maintains a melancholy dignity, his stoic voice exuding compassion even as the world he knows collapses around him."[16] The News-Gazette deemed What's Wrong with You "easily one of finest pure Mississippi blues albums to emerge in years, if not decades."[5] Knight Ridder considered it the second best blues album of 2000.[17]

Track listing

edit
No.TitleLength
1."My Baby's Gone" 
2."Black Mattie" 
3."What's Wrong with You" 
4."Done Got Old" 
5."Treat Me Right" 
6."Walkin' the Floor" 
7."Norene" 
8."Holding My Pillow" 
9."Bad Luck" 

References

edit
  1. ^ Himes, Geoffrey (15 Sep 2000). "Fat Possum Records' showcasing of a forgotten...". The Washington Post. p. WW18.
  2. ^ Casey, Vickie (1 Sep 2000). "Blues". Free Time. Star Tribune. p. 11.
  3. ^ Musser, Jim (31 Aug 2000). "Mississippi's burning on Fat Possum's caravan". Iowa City Press-Citizen. p. 2D.
  4. ^ Koster, Michael (26 May 2000). "Caravan to Bring Blues, Characters to SF". Albuquerque Journal. p. 2.
  5. ^ a b Gerard, Don (1 Sep 2000). "Down-home blues caravan stops Monday at Highdive". Etc. The News-Gazette. pp. 7, 8.
  6. ^ Berkovitch, Ellen (26 May 2000). "Label Stable Has Old-Time Mississippi Blues". The Santa Fe New Mexican. p. P48.
  7. ^ a b Sterdan, Darryl (12 May 2000). "Robert Belfour What's Wrong with You". Winnipeg Sun. p. 46.
  8. ^ Puckett, Jeffrey Lee (15 Apr 2000). "Blues with a feelin'". Scene. Courier Journal. p. 4.
  9. ^ "What's Wrong with You Review by Mike DaRonco". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  10. ^ a b Ellis, Bill (1 July 2000). "Old Folks and Newcomers Give the Past Its Props". The Commercial Appeal. p. F8.
  11. ^ The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings. Penguin Books. 2006. p. 29.
  12. ^ DeLuca, Dan (16 Apr 2000). "Country/Roots". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. I14.
  13. ^ Morris, Chris (Mar 4, 2000). "Flag Waving". Billboard. Vol. 112, no. 10. p. 92.
  14. ^ Bumgardner, Ed (28 Apr 2000). "Tiny Fat Possum Records in Oxford, Miss., provides...". Winston-Salem Journal. p. E5.
  15. ^ Weingarten, Marc (22 Aug 2000). "What's Wrong with You". The Village Voice. Vol. 45, no. 33. p. 122.
  16. ^ Kot, Greg (27 Aug 2000). "From Southern Porches Chicago Gets a Taste of Hill-Country Blues". Chicago Tribune. p. 7.6.
  17. ^ Knopper, Steve (20 Dec 2000). "These top 10 CDs just might make you happy about the blues". The Charlotte Observer. Knight Ridder. p. 6E.