At Last

Personnel: Screamin' Jay Hawkins (vocals, piano); Frank Ash (guitar); T-Bone Tommy Burroughs (violin); Jim Spake (saxophone); East Memphis Slim (keyboards, percussion); Sam Shoop (bowed bass); David Hood (bass); Roger Hawkins (drums); William Brown, Bertram Brown, Kelley Hurt (background vocals).Recorded at Sam Phillips Recording Service, Memphis, Tennessee in July 1997.These 1997 recordings are among Screamin' Jay Hawkins' last sessions. After various pairings with sub-par backing or producers who weren't the optimum choice, AT LAST is a winner, produced by Jim Dickinson at Sam Phillips Recording Service in Memphis. In drummer Roger Hawkins and bass player David Hood, Hawkins has one of the best rhythm sections he's had in years. The dozen originals stay close to Hawkins' favored bluesy and soulful grooves, with the subject matter sticking to his usual themes of voodoo, cheating, and bodily functions.On "Coulda', Woulda', Shoulda'," Hawkins' enormous voice gets quasi-operatic as he trades off lines with singer Kelley Hurt. "I'll Be There" has a laid back tropical feel. It's the most relaxed setting on the album. The set closes with a cover of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff," a song that Hawkins transforms into his own testimonial.