This page contains a brief overview on the album ARTHUR 'LOVEWHIP' SHUEY: Wilmington And Arthur Shuey, Volume One. Learn more about the artist and explore the track lists and website. If you find any information that needs to be corrected, please let us know.

 
Here's what the reviewers are saying about WAASVO -- "This is a great blues CD! It's fun and humorous with a lot of sexual innuendo!" the BLUES NEWS

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"It's not what you're thinkin' ...well, maybe it is.

If you think like I do, then you know this kind of music is not for easily offended people, unless you enjoy that shocked look on their faces! It's what makes dem dirty blues so good -- Innuendo.

Bluesmen have always relied on good innuendo to tell their stories.

A prime example of this is a new release from Arthur 'LoveWhip' Shuey entitled "Wilmington And Arthur Shuey, Volume One(WAASVO).

If you have never got yourself wet in dem dirty blues, then this is the perfect CD to just jump right into and get wet with! Of the fifteen songs, only two are cover tunes.

The first cover, which also heads up the CD, is Leadbelly's "Dem Ol' Cotton Fields Back Home.

It's done as only 'LoveWhip' can do it.

This rendition also lets you know that you're fixin' to hear something different! The second cover, about halfway through, is a version of Clarence Carter's "Strokin'." Watch out! The rest of the songs are original and, in this hippy's opinion, better than the covers.

Not all of the songs are "dirty," but all are full of innuendo.

This is one time you should listen to the words.

But don't fail to listen to the musicians, either.

All are from the Wilmington, North Carolina area, hence the album name, and all are great players.

So, for your first time through the album, just listen to the words, then listen again and again to put it all together! Tulsa Blues Society newsletter

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LoveWhip Shuey ... Delivers 15 Greats on New CD ... Arthur "LoveWhip" Shuey has been a fixture on the Eastern North Carolina music scene for a long time and there's a good reason for it -- he's darn good at it.

His new CD, "Wilmington And Arthur Shuey, Volume One," is a testament to Arthur's commitment to the blues.

While there are a number of "weekend warriors" who claim to be bluesmen, this man is the real deal -- sincere and well-versed in many styles.

Highlights of this self-penned 15 track CD include Harmonica Song, Computer Blues and Catching the Creeper.

If you like real blues, then by all means go see the LoveWhip with the HighRollers this Saturday at Charley Brownz; it's real.

Mac McKeever, The OutRider

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"I think we got a hit in 'Harmonica Song' ... Smile." Gary "Shrimp City Slim" Erwin, WSCI-FM and Low Country
Blues Society

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"I'm drinking a 2 bottle of lager beer and playing your CD with my friend Andy at work." -- broken English e-mail to Arthur Shuey from a Ukrainian fan ...

IF THERE IS ONE WAY TO APPROXIMATE the overall feeling one gets from the recently released CD from local bluesman Arthur Shuey, "like drinking beer at work" might be the closest.

For despite its variety of sounds, Wilmington And Arthur Shuey, Volume One -- which has the blues harpist and vocalist fondly known as "LoveWhip" teaming up with several different local musicians and combos -- never lets go of its "let the good times roll" message.

The concept for the album is a sound one: match up one of Wilmington's best harp players and gravel voices with a variety of local of local combos, from the rocking' blues of the HighRollers (who contribute seven of the album's fifteen tracks) and the jazz guitar of Roger Davis to the swing styles of the Chesterfield Four and the turtleneck folk of Eelgrass.

Probably the biggest success of Volume One is that Shuey seamlessly melds his harp style with whomever he happens to be playing with and, even more impressively, without significantly altering his own style.

There's also some great wordplay.

For example, on the traditional blues song, Cotton Fields, Shuey changes the words to, "If that cotton starts to fester / You better switch over to polyester," and it's little nuggets of surprise like this that make the album work.

John Staton, Encore Magazine ...

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Up front and right from the start, Arthur lets you know where he's coming from: "I think that music, narrative writing and cooking all come from the same place.

Rhythm and lead relate and balance exactly as do spices and basic ingredients in a recipe or dialogue and description." ...On his CD, Arthur drafts a raft of southeastern North Carolina's funkiest to aid and abet in his studio endeavor.

Besides "Dangerous Dave" Thompson, Arthur records with the Chesterfield Four(Featuring the intense Jake Horton on guitar), the Wolfe Gang, Roger Davis, Dave Schartman, Powertrain, Eelgrass and the Blue Rhythm Club.

From the Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter traditional trappings of "Cotton Fields" to the rolling blues of Clarence Carter's "Strokin," Arthur and Company throw in the right spices for the stew.

And he veers into parody on "Extra Pickles on Mine("Kisses Sweeter Than Wine"), down and dirty double entendre with "The Yellow Fruit Song" and "Harmonica Song" and just plain funky stuff with "Eleventh Hour Blues" and "HighRoller Blues."

Mike Raab, Television & Entertainment
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Arthur Shuey has one of those gruff take-no-prisoners sounds that denotes his serious interest in the blues and affiliated song styles.

To this he adds the unexpected twist to lyrics, adding a commentary to the entertainment.

For example, Cotton Fields maintains the flavor of the classic served by Arthur up tempo style, giving it a contemporary approach without forgetting its roots: "When I was a little bitty baby, they flung boll weevils in my cradle in tem old cotton fields back home / It was down in Louisiana, drinking Tanqueray and Tropicana in them old cotton fields back home," wrapping up with, "Now if that cotton starts to fester, you better switch over to polyester in them old cotton fields back home / And you know you'll find me grinnin' if you squeeze a lime n my cotton ginnin' ..." Make One Mistake (And The Lord Will Do The Rest) is an original by Arthur Shuey.

"And If you don't believe it, here's a way to put it to the test." The easy, driving harp responses show that a player doesn't have to be a Little Walter clone to make the harp work effectively.

Harmonica Song s a solo acoustic vocal and harmonica song that uses blowing the harmonica as a double entendre for impressing his girlfriend.

Heartbreak Road, recorded with the HighRollers, offers a slow after hours blues, featuring unobtrusive acoustic harp fills that moves the tune along rather than draw attention to themselves.

He takes a nice harp chorus that demonstrates the importance of understatement that is possible without cranking the amp up to 13.

When My Baby Gets Upset, I Rubs Up Against Her tells the story in the title in an easy-going jazz inflected tune.

Backdoor Blues alludes to the advantages of sing the back door, and it turns out that "You can use your back door, but sometimes the front door will stick." The song's narrator prefers the back for all occasions.

"That front door right where everyone can see / Better use the back unless you want them to see me." This one is a nice romp on the variation of the classic blues backdoor man theme.

Computer Blues evokes rockabilly sound in the extended metaphor, "Baby won't you boot my disk; I use a surge protector so you know there ain't no risk," which includes the admonition that he can crunch her numbers and "you ought to see what [he] can do with your spreadsheet." The funky tune, Strokin' as a familiar riff and s one of those one-word songs, dominated by the single entendre one-word chorus.

"Stroke it to the east, stroke it to the west, stroke it to the lover who will stroke you the best." When he sings about stroking during breakfast, he encourages listeners to "stroke it in the grits, stroke it in the eggs, grab your baby's bacon and just stroke it down your leg." Extra Pickles on Mine is a song about a negative Burger King experience to the tune of pop singer Jimmy Rodgers' version of Kisses Sweeter Than Wine.

"I may try McDonald's or KFC, but there's one thing they'll never hear from me / I want extra pickles on mine." Eleventh Hour Blues is an up tempo sax driven moan about "the baddest blues I know," which comes from not paying last month's rent and at 3am wondering where his baby went.

You Shudda Told Me is about the trials of the morning after with a newly met female friend who mentions in point of comparison her husband.

Of course it's not our friend's fault; she never mentioned the husband and wasn't wearing a ring.

The narrator swears to be more careful in the future, though - "Last thing I want to see first thing in the morning is a husband with a reason to fight." Another Woman is about a guy who has a woman at home, but whose tree is only shaken by 'another woman.' The Yellow Fruit Song is about a guy meeting his "baby in the produce section at the grocery store" and, for good measure, wanting to "put [his] banana in [her] fruit basket," thumping the melons along the way.

One of these mornings, the evil woman is going to wake up and discover that this guy really is a highroller in HighRoller Blues, ad there's no telling what he'll do when the braggadocio runs out and reality taps in.

Catching the Creeper finds the Powertrain band jamming in the closing anthem about poor LoveWhip encountering yet another upset husband... Phil Lloyd American Harmonica Newsmagazine

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I think that music, narrative writing and cooking all come from the same place.

Rhythm and lead relate and balance exactly as do spices and basic ingredients in a recipe or dialogue and description.

Barring predispositions and allergies, if you like my songs, you'll like my writing and cooking, and if you don't, then you won't.

You, the listener, the dinner guest, the reader, may ponder the ramifications of this theory on your own.

I haven't written a song or story about it and lacked time and resources to give a bottle of "Texas LoveWhip" hot sauce to every purchaser of the WAASVO CD.

To make your own hot sauce, begin with vinegar tea.

Add one orange pekoe and black tea bag per quart of white or amber vinegar and steep for a couple of weeks on the back of a gas stove, in a window, on your water heater or in some other source of mild, constant warmth.

add 4 ounces of ground Chinese red pepper, a half pound of pureed green chili peppers, four tablespoons of grated fresh ginger root and half a bottle of powdered vegetable bouillon.

One day later, your "mother bottle" will be ready to decant.

Airline liquor bottles may be easily filled from a turkey baster, but vinaigrette bottles and other vessels work, too.

Your sauce should balance front and back tongue burn and provide flavor rather than overwhelming with pain.

If your first batch is too hot, add more vinegar and, in time, milder pureed base from banana or bell peppers.

If it is too mild for your own tastes, add habaneros or some other powerful pepper.

One bit of advice -- this sauce will multiply in strength when added to food during cooking.

While you may enjoy three healthy drops on a cracker, ten may suffice for a quart of chili if added while the chili is still on the stove.

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BIO

A leader in southeastern North Carolina's musical community for over a decade, Arthur Shuey is the founder of the Blues Society of the Lower Cape Fear, Beat Magazine and the Hard Listenership concert series.

Past President, Director, Secretary and Vice President of both the Blues Society of the Lower Cape Fear and the Cape Fear Musicians' Association, he has taught blues history, songwriting and harmonica to over two thousand people, ranging in age from four to eighty-four in workshops, seminars, arts camps and private lessons, including those for Laura Dern for the film, Ramblin' Rose.

He has been featured in eight films and numerous television documentaries and incorporated five blues societies outside of the Cape Fear region.

As a performer, he has won several regional blues talent contests as a soloist and as a band leader and brought the blues to dozens of festivals, hundreds of nightclub audiences and three feature films.

First with the Blue Rhythm Club, which in 1990 represented southeastern North Carolina in national blues band competition in Memphis, then with the still-active HighRollers and most recently with Makin' Whoopie, Arthur Shuey has consistently drawn, held and pleased record crowds.

A natural storyteller described by the Island Gazette as "the region's pre-eminent blues lyricist," he specializes in blues that are not depressing, negative or down in any way.

Encore Magazine wrote, "He is the Wilmington blues." He has been the subject of numerous articles in publications including the Wilmington Star-News, Encore, This Week, Fayetteville Observer, New Bern Sun-Journal, Gig Magazine, Greenville Reflector, Carteret County News-Times, the Island Gazette and American Harmonica Newsmagazine.

The last-mentioned publication referred to his "gruff, take-no-prisoners style that recalls Howlin' Wolf" in its June, 1998 issue.

The periodical named prior described him as "the region's pre-eminent blues lyricist.

He has performed with George Herbert Moore, Drink Small, Big Boy Henry, Walter "Lightnin' Bug" Rhodes, Johnny Shines, Guitar Gabe, "Slippery Jake" Horton, Mark Hibbs, Truth, and the Blue Rhythm Club, as well as his two currently active bands, the HighRollers and Makin' Whoopie.

"Word on the Street," a comprehensive, living, eclectic website devoted to Arthur "LoveWhip" Shuey and featuring Realplayer files of every song on "Wilmington And Arthur Shuey, Volume One" may be found at http://daddyvoice.tripod.com

Check out the artist's website:
http://arthurshuey.150m.com

Track List:
1. Cotton Fields
2. Make One Mistake
3. Harmonica Song
4. Heartbreak Road
5. When My Baby Gets Upset, I Rubs Up Against Her
6. Back Door Blues
7. Computer Blues
8. Strokin'
9. Extra Pickles On Mine
10. Eleventh Hour Blues
11. You Shudda Told Me
12. Another Woman
13. The Yellow Fruit Song
14. HighRoller Blues
15. Catching The Creeper
99. Goober Buick

Suggested CDs:

• Frank Morey
• Jimmie James

Other Genres:

• BLUES: Rockin' Blues
• BLUES: Jazzy Blues
• MOOD: FUNNY