Lonesome Sundown

by Bill DahlUnlike many of his swamp blues brethren, the evocatively monickered Lonesome Sundown (the name was an inspired gift from producer J.D. Miller) wasnt a Jimmy Reed disciple. Sundowns somber brand of blues was more in keeping with the gruff sound of Muddy Waters. The guitarist was one of the most powerful members of Millers south Louisiana stable, responsible for several seminal swamp standards on Excello Records.The former Cornelius Green first seriously placed his hands on a guitar in 1950, Waters and Hooker providing early inspiration. Zydeco pioneer Clifton Chenier hired the guitarist as one of his two axemen (Phillip Walker being the other) in 1955. A demo tape was enough proof for Miller — he began producing him in 1956, leasing the freshly renamed Sundowns Leave My Money Alone to Excello.There were plenty more where that one came from. Over the next eight years, Sundowns lowdown Excello output included My Home Is a Prison, Im a Mojo Man, I Stood By, Im a Samplin Man, and a host of memorable swamp classics preceded his 1965 retirement from the blues business to devote his life to the church. It was 1977 before Sundown could be coaxed back into a studio to cut a blues LP; Been Gone Too Long, co-produced by Bruce Bromberg and Dennis Walker for the Joliet imprint, was an excellent comeback entry but did disappointing sales (even after being reissued on Alligator). Scattered live performances were about all that was heard of the swamp blues master after that.