CHICAGO BLUES GUIDE
Mississippi Heat– Don’t Look Back By Greg Easterling
One of Chicago’s longest running blues band collectives has delivered one of their all-time finest efforts with the forward looking title of Don’t Look Back. Mississippi Heat features founder and harpist Pierre Lacocque with his usual blend of regular members and guests, a number of whom once played in the band. For the record, this is Pierre’s 14th album since Mississippi Heat debuted with Straight From The Heart in 1992. And yet, he describes Don’t Look Back as “the bluesiest project I’ve done in years” with 14 original songs written by Pierre during Covid. He used a time of destruction to create something constructive that will go down as one of the top blues albums of 2025. The individual players in Mississippi Heat’s history reads like a local blues hall of fame: the late Carl Weathersby to whom the album is dedicated, Bob Stroger, Little Smokey Smothers, Billy Flynn, John Primer, Lurrie Bell and Robert Covington.
Don’t Look Back literally blasts off with “You Ain’t The Only One”, a direct but empathetic statement in song that reminds the listener that they aren’t the only person who feels like that. “Are you barely holding on?/ Stuck in a life that’s all gone wrong?/ Well you ain’t the only one/feeling that way.” Chicago blues singer Sheryl Youngblood tours with Mississippi Heat now and delivers the message here on the album’s opening song. She’s supported by a trio of background singers who once backed Aretha, now known as Nadima: Nanette Frank, Diane Madison and Mae Koen. What a vocal 1-2 punch! Instrumental solos by guitarist Giles Corey and Pierre on harp are also a knockout.
Guest vocalist Danielle Nicole takes the lead next on “Third Wheel”. It’s another real-life situation between partners that often shows up in Pierre’s songs. The tune sparkles with guest contributions from Billy Flynn on guitar and Johnny Iguana on piano with Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith on drums. Nicole will return later on the album.
Mississippi Heat’s longtime lead singer Inetta Visor returns on “Quarter To Three.” Pierre gives her major props as one of the main reasons that Mississippi Heat has done so well over the decades. He sets the theme and solos as Inetta duets with Daneshia Hamilton. It’s a full sounding jam with both Giles and Billy playing guitar along with keyboard accompaniment by Johnny Iguana and Brother John Kattke, two local notables who have supported legends such as Junior Wells. Junior was also a major influence and friend to Pierre in the early days.
Then it’s time for confession and forgiveness on “Stepped Out of Line”. It has a gospel feel that wouldn’t be out of place in church with a great acoustic piano and organ intro and solo from Iguana and Kattke. And Sheryl Youngblood is back in the booth tapping into her gospel roots with Pierre’s blues harp sounding as natural in the sanctuary as it does onstage in a blues club.
The tone changes to accusation on “I Can’t Take It”. Several of Pierre’s latest songs here deal with addiction and its negative consequences. Sheryl changes her tune and goes on the attack vocally while Pierre, Iguana, and Kattke supply the fireworks in their individual ways so well.
Up next, it’s “Moonshine Man,” one of two major blues harp duets that Pierre included with his special guest Omar Coleman, who is among the best of the next generation of Chicago blues artists. Pierre could have done a whole album of nothing but harp jams and that would have been great, but he opted to take a more varied approach overall. Pierre plays amplified harp while Omar plays acoustic. Giles Corey pitches in with a nice guitar solo too. Make no mistake, it was the great Chicago blues harp players that were Pierre’s inspiration to make music back in the Sixties and Seventies. From his first exposure to Big Walter Horton one night as a teen in Hyde Park to Little Walter, James Cotton, Paul Butterfield, Rice Miller aka Sonny Boy Williamson II and face to face with Junior Wells at Theresa’s, it’s all about the blues harp for Pierre and he’s continuing the tradition.
Sheryl returns “Champin’ at the Bit” with exceptional solos from Pierre, Billy Flynn and Johnny Iguana. The anxiety that fueled this song is recent and real. “Covid checks stopped coming/savings are low/bad times are looming/no place to go”. Especially for artists who depend on live appearances to make ends meet.
Then it’s time for a love song, even if it’s of the long-distance type, “Love (It Makes You Do Most Anything)”. Pierre leads off this joyful romp with great solos from Corey, Iguana, and Pierre. The women of Nadima are also heard on background vocals supporting Sheryl along with the horns of Marc Franklin on trumpet and Kirk Smothers on saxophone.
The next tune is the most personal of the entire album, “Shiverin’ Blues”, dedicated to Pierre’s father Andre, a spiritual leader who never recovered physically from the Covid-19 disease. Guest Danielle Nicole returns for an emotion filled performance on this slow blues with the harp of Pierre backed by Corey, Kattke, Brian Quinn on acoustic bass and Kenny Smith on drums. It’s a heavy topic with the best of intentions and Danielle’s passionate vocals deliver the message.
Next Pierre takes us back to schooldays with “The Sock Hop”. It’s a nostalgic rock ‘n’ roll number played by bluesmen who understand, especially Jason “J Rock” Edwards on drums and Billy Flynn on slide guitar. The punchy horns are back with Nadima’s backup harmonies, too. And Sheryl is the engaging lead vocalist once again, beckoning us to hit the dance floor in the school gym.
“Blue Amber” explores a situation that Pierre is aware of through his other profession in the field of psychology. It’s the story of a stepchild whose stepfather is jealous of his wife’s love for her daughter. It’s not typical subject matter for a blues song but that’s another respect in which Pierre is different from most other songwriters.
It’s a more familiar kind of jealousy that informs “I Ain’t Evil” between a couple and one of the partners who gets extra attention. Corey gets a chance to shine with a basic Mississippi Heat lineup, also featuring Brian Quinn on bass and Pierre on harp.
It’s the title track now and Sheryl Youngblood’s final contribution to Don’t Look Back. Of the fourteen songs on the album, she sang lead on nine of them. She is the live voice of Mississippi Heat now besides her own band appearances. Sheryl finishes here with a jam featuring Pierre, Giles Corey, Billy Flynn, and John Kattke.
The album concludes with Pierre’s second harp duet with Omar Coleman entitled “Four Steel Walls”. Omar sings it too, as he does with his own band playing around town in Chicago. It’s a great way to wrap things up with a Harp Attack themed jam to finish what will go down as one of Mississippi Heat’s finest albums.
Don’t Look Back was co-produced by Pierre and his longtime fellow producer, the Grammy-winning Michael Freeman. It was recorded at V.S.O.P Studios in Chicago. Other musicians contributing to the album included Big Mike Perez on bass, Anthony Alexander on percussion and Natalie Bennison contributes hand clapping.
Mississippi Heat and Don’t Look Back is a bridge between 20th Century Chicago Blues and the development of the blues in our current century. The vitality of this album bodes well for future releases from Mississippi Heat and their fellow travelers on this musical onramp to the future.
Website: https://mississippiheat.net/
About the Author: Greg Easterling is a veteran Chicago radio air personality and media member of the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame. He is the host of American Backroads on WDCB, 90.9 FM in the Chicago area, Thursday nights at 9 p.m. Greg also a hosts Brass and Electric, a jazz fusion show on WDCB on Monday nights.
https://www.chicagobluesguide.com/post/mississippi-heat-don-t-look-back
ABS MAGAZINE (France) – December 2025
Pierre Lacocque’s Mississippi Heat
Don’t Look Back
Delmark Records 895 – www.delmark.com
For our greatest pleasure, Mississippi Heat continues its trajectory of excellence at Delmark Records with a new particularly exciting session. Led with remarkable mastery by harmonica player and composer Pierre Lacocque, the group delivers fourteen original compositions that testify as much to its artistic rigour as to its ability to renew its musical language without denying its roots. Singer Sheryl Youngblood shines brightly, notably on You Ain’t the Only One, the sumptuous Stepped Out of Line or Love (It Makes You Do Most Anything), where she embodies with power and grace the essence of contemporary blues. The album also owes a lot to the instrumental alchemy of the band: Giles Corey imposes a solid and tense playing that gives each track an implacable groove, while Billy Flynn, faithful companion on the road, distills a touch of rare finesse, all in nuances and feeling. Their musical dialogue, a subtle balance between rhythmic rigor and lyrical flights, tints each track with a singular identity. Around them, the keyboards of Johnny Iguana and John Kattke, the bass of Brian Quinn and Big Mike Perez, as well as the drums of Jason “J-Roc” Edwards and Kenny Smith form a formidably effective section. The contributions of Inetta Visor, Daneshia Hamilton, Danielle Nicole (remarkable on Third Wheel and Shiverin’ Blues) and the formidable harmonica player Omar Coleman further enrich this sumptuous, perfectly accomplished record. Between fervor and elegance, “Don’t Look Back” confirms, more than thirty years after its debut, that Mississippi Heat remains one of the most honest and inspired torchbearers of Chicago blues. – Jean-Luc Vabres
MICROWAVE DAVE’S TALKIN’ THE BLUES
I believe this is the finest of Mississippi Heat’s releases to reach my ears. They are all welcome and find homes on my playlists, but there is an upping of the ante in Don’t Look Back’s intensity, ensemble work, vocal presence — and in the excellent mix that never allows a busy background to impinge on vocal or solo space, nor lets any of those foundational components get lost in the crowd.
Pierre’s harp work is so present when out front, yet has resonance in backgrounds too. At times his attack almost sounds like a guitar, driving that amplifier’s transients into consonant-like syllables at the beginnings of phrases, yet his finesse caresses its way into other entrances that emerge beneath vocals with deftness.
The rhythm sections sound like birthright Chicago pros, at home in all the fixtures of the genre’s characteristic facets, but bringing an energy that succeeds in lifting the song impacts into meaningfulness regardless of tempos involved. The aerobic double shuffle of Can’t Take It’s drumming is superb, on an edge without ever slipping beyond it. On the other hand, the classic pocket of Champin’ at the Bit would pull nickels into Southside Seeburg boxes in those mid century havens as the dancefloors filled.
I’m not aware of a finer assembly of blues singing women than the one found on Don’t Look Back. Everyone is in the game and on message. Even a fun 1959-er like The Sock Hop runs on the sound of joy awaiting to replace whatever sadness and disappointment has been driven out by the straight-eight cadence. Sheryl Youngblood knows what to do with these, and keeps the ‘want-to’ on the front burner.
Special mention must be made of Danielle Nicole’s enactment of Shiverin’ Blues. Her introduction erected the hairs on the back of my neck like antennae when I auditioned the song — and damned if I didn’t have the exact same response listening to it as it was programmed into my playlist. Besides playing blues for my living since the 80s, I’ve been hosting blues radio over two 100,000-watt stations for thirty-six years, and my ears and memory are jaded by overexposure. But Shiverin’ Blues blasted right through any complacency. It reached me so much that I have to say this:
Danielle Nicole’s rendition of Shiverin’ Blues with Mississippi Heat is my Blues Performance of the Year.
Go ahead and reserve tables at the BMA’s for this one. And while it’s probably a waste of time and money to flog the Grammy apparatus into acknowledging such engagement as is found on Don’t Look Back, it might be good to slap those people around a little.
Dave Gallaher, Talkin’ the Blues with Microwave Dave, WLRH FM / WJAB FM, Huntsville AL
LA HORA DEL BLUES (SPAIN) – December 2025
Mississippi Heat “Don’t Look Back”
This is the fourteenth release by one of the most charismatic blues bands which can be found today in Chicago. Its name is Mississippi Heat and is led by the outstanding harmonica player Pierre Lacocque who, after some time without releasing an album, comes back to the front line with this impressive work that Pierre wants to dedicate to the memory of Carlton “Carl” Weathersby who sadly passed away in 2024.
One of the main band features is to include great female singers in its line-up so, this time, besides Sheryl Youngblood who is in nine tracks, Pierre introduces three fabulous voices like Danesha Hamilton, Inneta Visor and Danielle Nicole, all of them impressive vocalists who will delight listeners with the wide variety of vocal ranges and the feeling they give to their performing.
Led by Pierre Lacocque on harmonica, who shows his excellent instrument mastery technique in all songs, the album features, not only the usual band musicians like Giles Corey and Billy Flynn on guitars, John Kattke and Johnny Iguana on keyboards, Brian Quinn on bass or Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith on drums, but also a series of Chicago scene outstanding guests who enhance, if possible, the quality of a really brilliant and colorful recording.
Fourteen Pierre Lacocque’s own compositions give a distinctive stamp to the album, which makes Mississippi Heat become a unique band with a personal and dynamic sound, full of chromatic nuances. Each song reveals a different aspect of the personality of this excellent musician called Pierre Lacocque like, for example, the impressive emotional slow blues “Shiverin’ Blues” he devotes to his father’s memory who passed away from Covid, that is sung with an extreme passion by Danielle Nicole, or the fun harmonica duet with Omar Coleman.
Mississippi Heat makes the most genuine and traditional Chicago blues sound become totally actual, communicating a rewarding energy and good vibes that will catch most listeners from the first to the final song.
My advice is to get immediately a copy of the album. I’m sure you’ll thank me.
Marty Gunther’s Red, Hot ’n Blues Music Reviews – November 2025
Mississippi Heat – Don’t Look Back Delmark Records 895 www.mississippiheat.net
Led by fluid harp player Pierre Lecocque, Mississippi Heat has gone through multiple lineup changes since their founding in the ’90s, but that hasn’t hindered them from remaining a force to be reckoned with in the world of Chicago blues. And that’s crystal clear from the jump of this powerful disc, which features guest stars at every turn.
Produced by multiple Grammy winner Michael Freeman, Sheryl Youngblood handles most of the vocals but shares them with Inetta Visor, Danielle Nicole and Omar Coleman, too. Add guitarists Billy Flynn and Giles Corey and keyboard masters Johnny Iguana and Brother John Kattke along with other talents and you know you’re in for something special.
Fourteen tracks that sear, you’ll dig “You Ain’t the Only One,” “Third Wheel,” “Quarter to Three,” “Can’t Take It,” “Moonshine Man,” “Champin’ at the Bit,” “Shiverin’ Blues,” “Blue Amber,” “I Ain’t Evil,” “Don’t Look Back” and “Four Steel Walls.”
https://www.chicagobluesguide.com/post/marty-gunther-s-red-hot-n-blues-music-reviews-november-2025
BLUES CORNER (from POPROCK) (Croatia)
Pierre Lacocque’s Mississippi Heat – “Don’t Look Back”
- by Mladen Lončar – Mike 27/10/2025
It is with great pleasure that I write these sentences, although it has been more than a month since the album Don’t Look Back was released through the famous Chicago label Delmark Records. Pierre Lacocque’s Mississippi Heat are firmly behind this album, and everything that has happened in the meantime indicates that this is an album of exceptional value.
Namely, now that I look back, only then do I realize how much I have been doing these things for many years – I am engaged in radio promotion of blues, but also on this music portal I want to share with you my impressions of the albums that I like and that I want to recommend to you for one reason or another.
This activity of mine on the Internet has persisted for almost 20 years, because it all started back in 2006. I am glad that I have been following the band Mississippi Heat, led by the truly impressive harpist Pierre Lacocque, for many years.
All songs were written by P. Lacocque (Ransart Music, BMI).
Executive Producer: Pierre Lacocque.
Producers: Pierre Lacocque and Michael Freeman.
Album production and supervision: Julia A. Miller and Elbio Barilari.
After all, the question immediately arises – what did this great team film?
Here’s the answer: the new album sounds so direct and brilliant that every blues fan will be amazed by all those creative, virtuoso accordion playing skills, excellent songwriting and incredible artistic vision that Pierre Lacocque so sincerely offers. His “earwig” literally floats above everything and gives the whole album a brilliant connotation.
And yes, there is no doubt about it – and this time this whole new musical story is presented to us by a truly excellent harmonica player Pierre Lacocque in an equally strong, emotional and melodic way.
I’m thinking about which of these 14 offered compositions to emphasize in particular, but that would be neither fair nor fair, so I invite you to listen carefully to all 14, distributed in these great 53 minutes and 2 seconds.
The Mississippi Heat have once again returned to the very center of my life, and with this album, Pierre Lacocque has once again changed everything – who knows what will happen at the end of the year, when the results will be added up.
The Mississippi Heat have always been adorned with incredibly well-coordinated interaction of band members, no matter who it is. If you have “that something”, if you have “mojo” – you are welcome to the team, just show what you know. Pierre gives absolutely everyone unlimited freedom in every aspect of artistic expression. The only question is – where are your limits, and that’s it!
As I have been following the Mississippi Heat for many years and I know how “strong” they are, their musical expertise strongly points to their ever-growing presentation form. The main “face” and driving force of the whole story is the exceptional harpist Pierre Lacocque.
Since his debut album Straight from the Heart (1993, Van Der Linden), Pierre has been constantly exploring, learning, building his skill, developing his knowledge and is constantly looking for new, better, more attractive and expressive versions of the blues.
When I think about it – what else to write? The album is dominated by Pierre’s “mouthpiece”, with strong, sensual vocals, while behind it all there is a powerful musical background that literally shakes the ground under your feet!
Don’t Look Back brings a fascinating blend of Chicago and Delta blues – an incredible collection of compositions that show how modern music trends and the traditional form of blues can be successfully combined. It is a collision of many styles, forms and rhythms – from swing, boogie, R&B ballads to other rhythms and melodies.
In each individual musical number, the band manages fantastically, and listeners will often be taken aback by how harmonious and powerful it all sounds. Pierre Lacocque is the alpha and omega of the Mississippi Heat – without him, nothing would be the same. His “earwig” effectively and unobtrusively colors all 14 themes from the album Don’t Look Back. This is exactly where his greatness is measured – he and his “mouthpiece” lead, follow and solo, and Pierre does all this with ease and naturalness. Good job!
The album brings 14 excellent songs in which certain styles of blues rhythmically alternate. What they all have in common is that, united, they sound special, unique and incredibly proud. Really – congratulations!
The album was co-produced by Pierre Lacocque and Grammy/Blues Music Award winner, producer and recording engineer Michael Freeman. The more one listens to this album, the more the familiar feeling of comfort grows from song to song, as if inviting us: “Join us in this great celebration of blues music.”
From the first song it is clear – there is no joke here. Mississippi Heat have always been a great band, and I’m glad to be able to write that I’ve been following their work for many years and that their playing is growing from album to album, becoming stronger, more compact and more expressive. It has now reached an exceptional level of quality, expressiveness and strength. Absolutely top-notch!
Songs composed in this way prove why blues music is so friendly – at the first listen, it “sits in your ear”, stays there and constantly asks us to listen to it again and again. Is it the formula of a hit? If it is – I’m not sorry. I would like everything to be formulated and arranged in such a way.
And what else to write? I don’t want the end – I want more! That’s why I’m going again from the first song, and so on who knows when. In 14 songs, we are offered exactly 53 minutes and 2 seconds of music that leaves us breathless. As a result, I’ve been listening to this album for days and nights, intoxicated by what comes from the speakers. Insanity!
Recommendation
I suggest listening to the album Don’t Look Back by the exceptional Pierre Lacocque’s Mississippi Heat in its entirety – by no means skipping the songs. You can, of course, put together your own playlist and listen as you see fit – but that’s a matter of taste and personal preference. So, if you haven’t already, do it… And know – it’s your turn!
I absolutely recommend!
Find out more about everything at:
www.mississippiheat.net
https://www.facebook.com/mississippiheat
https://twitter.com/ManagerMichel
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/mississippi-heat/152766398
https://www.amazon.com/s?i=popular&rh=p_32%3AMississippi%2BHeat&ref=dp_byline_sr_music_3
https://www.youtube.com/@mississippiheat
(Delmark Records)
Discography:
Straight from the Heart, 1993, Van der Linden
Learned the Hard Way, 1994, Van der Linden
Thunder In My Heart [2] , 1995, Van der Linden
Handyman, 1999, Van der Linden
Footprints on the Ceiling,2002, Crosscut (Germany)
Glad You’re Mine, 2005, Crosscut (Germany)
One Eye Open, 2005,Delmark
Hattiesburg Blues,2008,Delmark
Let’s Live It Up! ,2010,Delmark
Delta Bound,2012,Delmark
Warning Shot ,2014, Delmark
Cab Driving Man ,2016, Delmark
Madeleine, 2022, Van der Linden Recordings
Don’t Look Back , 2025, Delmark Records
Yours bluesy,Mladen
Lončar-Mike
IL BLUES (Italy)
Mississippi Heat-Don’t Look Back
The Blues | November 26, 2025 |
It is common opinion that events and contingencies have fought fiercely to keep the Blues and Pierre Lacocque away. In vain. Reading his biography, it is clear that the leader of the Mississippi Heat, with that calm and professorial air, could have been a distinguished professor of some humanistic subject in a Northern European university. Maybe a lawyer or a notary, but it would be difficult to go further. But fate, or rather the Blues, decided otherwise and in the end, Pierre found himself in Chicago, at the end of the sixties, not far from places and characters that would have directed him in the world of music, despite an interruption of several years in which Pierre was a researcher in Psychology.
Fourteen albums, seven of which with Delmark Records, with this “Don’t Look Back” confirms all the good that has been said about him, a pupil of Big Walter Horton, now a pillar of Chicago Blues. An album full of musicians, Giles Corey and Billy Flynn on guitars, Johnny Iguana on piano, John (Brother John) Kattke on organ and other keyboards, two bassists, two drummers one of which is Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith, Sheryl Youngblood and Inetta Visor on vocals, replaced by Danielle Nicole in two tracks, and to top it all off backing vocals and horn section.
In the past of the Mississippi Heat there have been, not exhaustively, Carl Weathersby, Deitra Farr, Robert Stroger, Bill Boy Arnold. “Don’t Look Back” is a successful album where some songs emerge such as “Stepped Out Of Line”, an almost gospel with a great Youngblood well flanked by Johnny Iguana, the pulsating “Love (it makes you do most anything)” with choirs and horns, and the slow “Shivering Blues”, passionately sung by Danielle Nicole with a good solo by Brother John. Otherwise, solid Chicago Blues, where the harmonica of Pierre Lacocque, a virtuoso of the instrument and a master of the genre, rages on.
Luca Lupoli
CULTURE BLUES (France)
Pierre Lacocque’s Mississippi Heat, new album “Don’t Look Back”
By Daniel Léon News
Since 1991, harmonica player Pierre Lacocque has been at the head of Mississippi Heat, one of the best blues bands in Chicago for more than three decades. The band’s discography is of a very high level and each new album is always eagerly awaited. The next one, which will be released by Delmark on September 19 (it is even available since yesterday for download), is called “Don’t Look Back” and has fourteen songs, all written by Lacocque. The members of Mississippi Heat have changed over the years but without losing quality, often with superb singers. This is the case again this time with Sheryl Youngblood present on nine tracks, as well as Inetta Visor, Daneshia Hamilton and Danielle Nicole, while Omar Coleman appears on one track on vocals and two on harmonica. Among the other speakers, the “pillars” of the band are Giles Corey and Billy Flynn (guitar), Johnny Iguana and John Kattke (keyboards), Brian Quinn and Big Mike Perez (bass), Jason “J Roc” Edwards and Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith (drums), excuse me… The album can be pre-ordered at this address.
ZICAZIC (France)
| PIERRE LACOQUE’S MISSISSIPPI HEAT Written by Fred Delforge Friday, 24 October 2025 Don’t look back (Delmark – 2025) Duration 53’20 – 14 trackshttps://mississippiheat.net |
Founded in 1991 by Belgian harmonica player Pierre Lacocque, Mississippi Heat is one of the most iconic bands of contemporary Chicago blues. Born in Jerusalem, raised in Brussels, Pierre Lacocque found in the blues a universal language capable of transcending borders. After emigrating to the United States, he immersed himself in the Chicago blues scene, forging a style that was both respectful of traditions and open to innovation. Mississippi Heat stands out for its collective approach to the blues and each member brings its color, its fire, its groove. The group has seen the passage of very talented singers, Deitra Farr, Inetta Visor, and more recently the powerful voice of Carla Stinson, while retaining the sound imprint of Pierre Lacocque, whose agile and expressive harmonica acts as a common thread. The band’s rich and coherent discography explores the many facets of the blues, from Chicago shuffle to slow blues through forays into funk, jazz and Latin rhythms. Mississippi Heat has toured all over the world, from Europe to Japan, and remains true to its mission, to bring the blues to life as a music of passion, memory and communion. With “Don’t Look Back”, Mississippi Heat signs its fourteenth album and proves that Chicago blues can still surprise, move and groove. The big news here is the arrival of Sheryl Youngblood on lead vocals. Her voice, both rough and warm, gives a new impetus to the whole. From “You Ain’t The Only One”, she imposes her style, direct, embodied, vibrant. She also shines on “Stepped Out Of Line” and “Love (It Makes You Do Most Anything)”, where her tessitura follows the arrangements with stunning ease, occasionally giving up the microphone to Inetta Visor and Daneshia Hamilton, Danielle Nicole or Omar Coleman. Pierre Lacocque signs the fourteen tracks, and his writing reaches an impressive narrative maturity. He tackles personal themes such as the loss of his father in “Shiverin’ Blues”, the ravages of addiction in “Four Steel Walls”, or the simple joys of youth in “The Sock Hop”, all with a sincerity that touches the heart. Musically, the album is a feast. The guitars of Giles Corey and Billy Flynn dialogue with John Kattke’s organ and Johnny Iguana’s piano. And for the picky eater, Omar Coleman comes to lend a hand on the harmonica on “Moonshine Man”, in a jubilant duel with Pierre Lacocque, worthy of the great jousts of the “Harp Attack”. Produced by Michael Freeman, the book is a declaration of love to the blues, its roots and its ability to reinvent itself!
https://www.zicazic.com/zicazine/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=18662
IL POPOLO DEL BLUES (Italy)
Pierre Lacocque’s Mississippi Heat – Don’t Look Back
4 November 2025 by Silvano Brambilla in Records, Reviews
Delmark
www.delmark.com
https://mississippiheat.net/
https://www.facebook.com/Lacocqueblues
On vocals, Chicago blues harmonica players, after The Fathers Come, Little Walter, Big Walter Horton, Junior Wells, Carey Bell, there are the “sons” also with light skin, Paul Butterfield, Charlie Musselwhite, Jerry Portnoy, and Pierre Lacocque. The latter was not born in the United States, when he was young he moved with his family to the city mentioned above. In such a place, predisposition or not, one cannot fail to come into contact with a musical reality that is a fundamental part of the social and cultural fabric. The foundation of the Lacocque blues harmonica player bears the name of, Big Walter Horton, whom he heard play at the University of Chicago when he was a student, and Junior Wells whom he met several times and became his mentor. The blues, therefore, between ups and downs, studies, and various notional insights, was what became more and more a reason for living, also driven by his brother who advised him to devote himself more to autographed songs than covers. In an interview he said: look at me, I’m a white man, I’m Belgian, I’m European, I have a French accent (…) at first glance I don’t belong to the world of the blues, yet I belong to it completely, the blues understands me. So if he understood the blues, he too understood and assimilated it with a clear secular, direct, contagious, emphatic expressiveness. In 1991 the idea of Mississippi Heat was born, immediately it was an open nucleus where several black and white bluesmen and female voices followed one another, understandably for various solo and non-solo commitments, all well motivated to be next to an excellent harmonica player expert in music and a person of culture. His recording return after almost ten years is still linked to Delmark, and he wanted to gather, together with those who are part of it today, also those who were part of it in the past. In total there are about twenty, all mostly well-known and high-profile artists, who in perfect harmony with the bandleader Pierre Lacocque, have given the fourteen autographed tracks (these songs speak of my life, my joys and my sorrows), valid reasons to listen to them, all of them, carefully, where a great sense of belonging to the blues is evident, With a look at funky, R&B, rock’n’roll. Mentioning all the names of those who played and sang would become uncomfortable, it can be remedied by reading some of them on the cover. Among guitars, rhythm sections, keyboards, winds, there are also many female voices, the most present is Sheryl Youngblood (on the cover with Lacocque). Don’t Look Back is a great record, and it shows how much there is still some lifeblood in the Chicago blues!
Silvano Brambilla
https://www.ilpopolodelblues.com/wp/2025/11/pierre-lacocques-mississippi-heat-dont-look-back
B21 (Spain)
Pierre Lacocque’s MISSISSIPPI HEAT
MISSISSIPI HEAT
“DON’T LOOK BACK !”
DELMARK RECORDS
DE-895
RELEASE DATE ; 09/19/2025
(USA)
Harmonica player, composer, and bandleader Pierre Lacocque founded Mississippi Heat in Chicago in 1991, making it one of the city’s leading blues bands. They have released fourteen albums and performed not only across the U.S. but also in Europe, Canada, Africa, and South America. Since 2005, Mississippi Heat has been recording through Delmark Records. Innovation as an added value to traditional Chicago blues, a commanding harmonica true to classicism, and an infectious energy that captivates the listener, this is Mississippi Heat, a sure bet for the best in contemporary blues.
P R E V I O U S DELMARK A L B U M S
https://www.blues21.com/mississippi-heat-don-t-look-back
KANSAS CITY BLUES SOCIETY – “Don’t Look Back”
Artist: Mississippi Heat
Review by Cory Bryars
Mississippi Heat and frontman Pierre Lacocque have been around a while, making great music with and without Inetta Visor. I don’t know Mississippi Heat well, but in reviewing bands for Blues in the Bottoms 2024, several of us liked them more with Inetta than without, and we made sure to have Inetta for what was indeed a great show.
So, when I listened to Track 1 “You Ain’t the Only One,” and it had powerful female vocals, I figured it was still Inetta on lead vocals. But then, Track 2 had a VERY familiar sound (see below 😊) that I KNEW wasn’t Inetta, so I had to go research the song-by-song details on the ol’ interwebs.
How pleased I was to learn about Sheryl Youngblood, a Chicago Blues icon for 40 years who is featured on 10 of the 14 songs on this great album, including that first track that caught my ear right away. I love the Blues Mamas in general, so how did I NOT know about her—she is fantastic. And Inetta does show up in one song, along with one instrumental, and 2 superb songs featuring none other than KC’s own Danielle Nicole. And there are several other guests including Kenny “Beady Eyes” Smith and Billy Flynn, another Chicago Blues stalwart I am just now learning about.
The whole album is upbeat, has some great harp with shades of Lee McBee, great keyboards, and even some horns thrown in.
This is a 100% BUY IT NOW album — and hear for yourself at https://mississippiheat.net/albums/dont-look-back/
https://blueskc.org/album-review-dont-look-back
TORONTO BLUES SOCIETY
December 2025 – Pierre Lacocque’s Mississippi Heat
Published on December 1, 2025 in John’s Blues Picks
Pierre Lacocque’s Mississippi Heat Don’t Look Back (Delmark Records)
Pierre Lacocque’s Mississippi Heat has a unique approach to presenting blues music.. In the true spirit of the Blues, the leader gathers a collection of the finest male and female musicians, singers, to deliver the messages contained in his songs and creating a musical energy rich with these blended talents! The result is a sophisticated, original performance, a strong cohesion, and remarkable sounds. With his precise and relevant touch, Lacocque’s amplified harmonica enlivens and elevates the interpretations with his unique flavour and spices. “The blues is like salt, you put it everywhere” (Roosevelt Sykes). Pierre Lacocque, the excellent harmonicist, is also a musician-creator, a gatherer, a leader… a band guy!…
Don’t Look Back is Mississippi Heat’s 14th album. Straight From The Heart, the first, was released in 1992. Thirty-three years of discography—that’s what you call experience! Mississippi Heat invents and charts its path built on talent, passion, and resilience… This new release features 14 tracks, including one instrumental. For the first time, Pierre Lacocque wrote and composed all the pieces in this consistent offering. His favorite subjects are inspired by his life experiences, his joys, interests, and concerns. Among other things, it talks about love, the devastation of drugs and alcohol, the pain of losing his father, who died at the age of 94 from COVID complications… In fact, all the artist’s themes illustrate the “facts of life” with this positive and liberating vision, which is inherent to the Blues. Before talking about the album content itself, I think it is useful to mention that this opus was co-produced by Lacoque alongside Michael Freeman, described as a “Legendary Producer” and also a Grammy winner. Another point to highlight is the participation of 21 musicians, including four female vocalists and one male vocalist, on this album, each invested in their contributing role for a harmonious and unified result. Once again, Lacocque exemplarily puts into practice his motto, “My motto is to build on the talents that surround me.” The result is that each artist contributes to the delivery and expression of the message, as well as to the particular atmosphere of each of the songs.
The album opens with You Ain’t The Only One, a driving shuffle interpreted by the energetic Sheryl Youngblood, the main vocalist who performs on nine tracks in total. The band is solid, Giles Corey’s lead guitar is sharp and dynamic, and Lacocque’s harmonica is very present. The tone is set!… The expressive Danielle Nicole follows with Third Wheel, a slightly slower shuffle; Billy Flynn is on guitar, Johnny Iguana on piano, and Lacocque heats up the harmonica! Thereafter, Inetta Visor & Daneisha Hamilton are not left behind when they interpret Quarter To Three. After three shuffles, Youngblood skillfully interprets Stepped Out Of Line, a slow, elegant blues, enhanced by a choir of three female vocalists. The entire track, interpreted impeccably, exhales soul and refinement! One can appreciate the solid performance of John Kattke on the organ. Moonshine Man is a lively harmonica duet with Omar Coleman on acoustic and Lacocque on electric. This driving challenge gives way to a knowing, well-supported dialogue between the two harmonicas! Shivering Blues, a slow blues, is, in my opinion, the album’s pièce de résistance!… It’s kind of a fresh look at St. Louis Jimmy Oden/Howlin Wolf’s classic “Going Down Slow”. It is written by a son intimately connected to the painful passing of his father, André Lacocque, due to COVID, to whom this anthology moment is dedicated… It is interpreted with confidence, intensity, heart, and guts by Danielle Nicole, a truly exceptional singer! The entire band is wonderful in this deep blues, a blues of urgency… when life hangs by a single thread!…
From start to finish, there is no downtime on this album. It is dedicated to Carl Weathersby, guitarist and Soul Man who was a faithful friend of Pierre’s! Overall, this 14th milestone of 14 tracks of blues & associated music is a rapid-fire offering that modulates acutely and navigates competently through the turbulent waters and deep emotions of the blues! Highly recommended! (Pierre Jobin)
MAKING A SCENE
September 24, 2025
Pierre Lacocque’s Mississippi Heat Don’t Look Back Delmark Records
Chicago Blues Hall of Famer Pierre Lacocque’s Mississippi Heat remains a premier revolving door workshop for some of Chicago’s finest contemporary blues musicians. The ones that like to lay down soul-fired, 1950s and 60s-rooted Chicago blues music. How and why? Well, Lacocque’s uniquely Israel-born but Christian heart obviously beats with plenty of Chicago blues blood. His worldly, scholarly upbringing has made him a consistently superb songwriter turning everyday situations into eloquent blues. He blows tuneful and hellacious harmonica, and leads musicians in ways that bring out the best in the best.
Don’t Look Back is Mississippi Heat’s 14th album since a self-titled 1992 debut, and the first to feature Sheryl Youngblood front and center. Youngblood grew up singing in Chicago’s Mt. Zion Baptist Church, and has that kind of a crystal clear, booming voice to prove it. She sings lead on nine of the 14 songs on Don’t Look Back. Right out of the gate on the hard charging, encouraging (to our youth, thankfully) “You Ain’t the Only One,” she proves herself one captivating hurricane of a blues vocalist. But she can also be the eye. On the gospel-inspired blues of “Stepped Out of Line,” she owns up and pleads in calm, grand style. But the eye has passed for the rambunctious album highlight, “Can’t Take it,” as Youngblood kisses off a fool with unbridled ferocity in her voice.
Besides Lacocque blowing superb harmonica, the 20 singers and players assembled in small combos are astonishingly tight on one divergent groove after another. Prominent among the Chicago giants present are guitarists Billy Flynn and Giles Corey, pianist Johnny Iguana, and drummer Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith. Among them too is guest vocalist Danielle Nicole. “Third Wheel” and “Shiverin’ Blues” both feature Nicole singing lead, and in each setting, she turns in an utterly commanding performance. “Third Wheel” bounces along with confidence, Flynn and Iguana leading the way with happy aplomb. Nicole reaches heights in the song that cause shivers. But on “Shiverin’ Blues,” she takes a very serious turn, personifying the role of Lacocque’s elderly father battling COVID to his death. Nicole takes possession of the song (or perhaps it took possession of her). She is as sympathetic and vivid as the song is chilling. Lacocque’s harp solo and John Kattke’s organ work add much to the somber, real as can be blues.
To these Heat-experienced ears from that debut album forward, Don’t Look Back is the most accomplished and exciting one yet. Chicago blues may seem simple on the surface. But pulling it off convincingly takes natural know how. Keeping a listener riveted for an hour straight, over, and over, takes excellent entertainers. I quickly placed Mississippi Heat’s Don’t Look Back in my blues of the year file.
Tom Clarke for MAS
https://www.makingascene.org/pierre-lacocques-mississippi-heat-dont-look-back
CULTURA BLUES (Mexico)
Pierre Lacocque’s Mississippi Heat
José Luis García Fernández323 visits
Chapter 64: Pierre Lacocque’s Mississippi Heat – Don’t Look Back (2025)
As a bandleader and songwriter, Pierre Lacocque’s vision has never wavered since he founded his band Mississippi Heat in 1991. His mantra is clear and concentrated. The band has always had an ensemble sound: all the musicians are outstanding and it is pleasant for them to share the stage and the studio on the recordings. Pierre has been the main producer and composer of the group. To date, they have recorded over a hundred of their original songs.
Over the years, the Mississippi Heat has featured legendary lineups of guest artists and full-time members. Literally, a list of the most prominent in the Chicago blues world: Deitra Farr, Carl Weathersby (RIP), Lurrie Bell, Katherine Davis, Inetta Visor, Bob Stroger, Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith, Billy Flynn, James Wheeler (RIP), Robert Covington (RIP), Sam Lay (RIP), Calvin “Fuzz” Jones (RIP), Barrelhouse Chuck (RIP), John Primer, Billy Boy Arnold, Michael Dotson, Smoky “Little” Smothers (RIP), Zora Young, Mary Lane and others. The band has performed at festivals in various parts of the world. Over the years, they have received numerous prestigious individual and band awards. Pierre was inducted into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame in 2017.
Mississippi Heat have recorded 14 CDs and one DVD live (One Eye Open: live at Rosa’s Lounge). Seven of his albums have been released by famed Chicago-based label Delmark Records, and many were co-produced with Grammy winner Michael Freeman. Pierre’s record company (Van der Linden Recordings) released four CDs. Three additional albums were recorded by the European label CrossCut Records.
The Mississippi Heat’s discography is: Straight From The Heart (1992); Learned The Hard Way (1994); Thunder In My Heart (1995); Handyman (1999); Footprints On The Ceiling (2002); Glad You’re Mine (2005); One Eye Open: Live At Rosa’s Lounge, Chicago (2005); Hattiesburg Blues (2008); Let’s Live It Up (2010); Delta Bound (2012); Warning Shot (2014); Cab Driving Man (2016); Madeleine (2022) and Don’t Look Back (2025).
This new Mississippi Heat album (fourteenth recording), Don’t Look Back, was released by Delmark Records in September 2025. The recording is receiving worldwide recognition and this is its track listing: 01. You Ain’t The Only One; 02. Third Wheel; 03. Quarter To Three; 04. Stepped Out Of Line; 05. Can’t Take It; 06. Moonshine Man; 07. Champin’ At The Bit; 08. Love (It Makes You Do Most Anything); 09. Shiverin’ Blues; 10. The Sock Hop; 11. Blue Amber; 12. I Ain’t Evil; 13. Don’t Look Back; 14. Four Steel Walls.
On the record, in addition to regular Mississippi Heat members Giles Corey (guitar), Billy Flynn (guitar), John Kattke (keyboards), Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith (drums), Johnny Iguana (piano) and Brian Quinn (bass), Lacocque also adds a three-man brass section and four unique vocals: Inetta Visor, Sheryl Youngblood, Daneshia Hamilton and Danielle Nicole.
Each of the Mississippi Heat’s previous 13 albums since their 1992 debut album has shown growing confidence at every level. There is confidence in the composition, musical arrangements, swing, vocal power and contributions of each guest musician. That confidence can only grow through decades of studying, performing, touring, and recording. Lacocque’s 14 original tracks illustrate his development as a mature musician, composer, and arranger. He no longer imitates the master, but moves forward with his unique voice and style.
In this regard, Pierre comments… “These songs focus on my life, my joys and my worries. You’ll find lyrics about love, the devastation that drug and alcohol abuse causes a family (using homelessness as a metaphor for losing everything), the pain of losing my father (who passed away at age 94 due to complications from COVID-19), sharing that we’re not alone when we’re depressed, happier times ahead, etc.”
His songs have matured into vignettes that every listener can relate to. Whether it’s taking us back in time with the nostalgic The Sock Hop or tackling everyday stress with Champin’ At The Bit or Four Steel Walls, which touches on the devastating effects of drug abuse, or the relationship advice from the title track Don’t Look Back, Lacocque’s words paint lyrical images.
The funniest song is Moonshine Man, the harmonica session between Lacocque and Omar Coleman. Like Harp Attack’s legendary recording with Wells, Cotton, Branch, and Carey Bell, this piece is a bar-by-beat duel to the death, performed by two giants of the instrument. His most chilling parable is Shiverin’ Blues, the story written for Lacocque’s father, André, who was diagnosed with Covid-19 in 2022 and never recovered.
With Lacocque at the helm and an art collective of veteran and emerging artists, the Mississippi Heat continue to look to the future while pushing the boundaries of Chicago blues. Without a doubt, it is an exquisite material for blues purists, but also a nice lesson in good new and contemporary blues… be sure to enjoy it! In addition, we expect Pierre and Sheryl in Mexico for the first week of December 2025.
Rating: 9.0 Excellent
BLUESTOWN MUSIC (The Netherlands
Review: Mississippi Heat – Don’t Look Back
Mississippi Heat – Don’t Look Back
Format: CD – Digital / Label: Delmark Records
Release: 2025
Text: Gerard Haarhuis
Since the debut album Straight From The Heart in 1992, (Pierre Lacocque’s) Mississippi Heat has released 13 albums. So this new album is number 14 and maybe not coincidentally that there are 14 songs on this album? All of their own songs and that is primarily thanks to Michel, Pierre’s brother who urged him not only to write his own work, because he was already doing that for others, but to also release his own work himself. And so it happened.
As almost always, each song has its own reason for creation, such as that Pierre’s father did not recover and finally died of Covid-19 at the age of 94. Drinking and drug use has been the reason for writing many a song about it in all our musical years, I don’t know how many times. And so on and so forth.
Let me start by naming all band members and on which songs they participate. To this end, I will also mention their next song for the individual songs so that searching back for “who is participating in that song” becomes a lot easier. And that prevents me from having to mention the name or names of the outstanding artist(s) for each song… Even though I will do so here and there if there is reason to do so.
Thus:
Pierre Lacocque – harmonica on all songs and handclaps on 6
Sheryl Youngblood – vocals (1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 to 13)
Inetta Visor & Daneshia Hamilton – vocals on 3
Danielle Nicole – vocals on 2 and 9
Omar Coleman – vocals on 14 and (acoustic) harmonica on 6 and 14
Nanette Frank, Diane Madison and Mae Koen – background vocals (1, 4, 8, 10, 14) and hand clapping on 6
Giles Corey – rhythm and lead guitar (1, 3, 5, 6, 8 to 14) and slide guitar on 9
Billy Flynn – rhythm and lead guitar (2 to 5, 7, 13, 14)
Johnny Iguana – acoustic piano (1 to 5, 7, 8, 10, 14)
John Kattke – B3 Organ, Fender Rhodes, piano, Wurlitzer (1, 3 to 5, 9 to 11, 13)
Brian Quinn – bass (1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 10 to 13) and acoustic bass on 9
Big Mike Perez – bass (3, 4, 6, 14)
Jason “J Rock” Edwards – drums (1, 3 to 6, 8, 10, 11, 13)
Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith – drums (2, 7, 9)
Marc Franklin – trumpet (1, 8, 10, 14)
Kirk Smothers – sax (1, 8, 10, 14) and also the solo on 14
Anthony “Tony” Alexander – percussion on 12 and 14
and finally
Natalie Bennison – hand clapping on 6
In other words, a complete band with all the trimmings with 21 members!
After this introduction, it’s time to listen to all the beauty that this select group has put on the record. The first song (1) is titled You Ain’t The Only One and that is announced in a nice way. Driving song (I will say that more often in this review), lots of background vocals, ditto horns and then the guitar can go wild and Pierre makes a contribution. Very pretty! And as goes with an unequal number of friends, someone is always (2) Third Wheel and that’s never nice. A tight drum leads us through the song with a piano in which the suffering of a Third Wheel is sung.
Quarter To Three, the time that I usually have a cup of coffee myself, but before that Pierre plays a nice intro and the singers sing to the accompaniment of a boogie piano that they leave Quarter To Three, after which Pierre continues on harmonica, the drummer quietly hammers on, the piano comes back and the song is closed by the singers. This song definitely has the potential to become a classic. Everything is right! A real blues, almost a gospel, great background vocals and soulful lead vocals by Sheryl Youngblood in Stepped Out Of Line in which she makes it clear to her buddy that enough is enough and that she is Stepped Out Of Line. Fantastic piano solo. Whew! Well, I claim with the previous song that it has everything to become a classic, what do you think of this song? In my words: 10x Phew! Fat vocals, harmonica and chasing drums in Can’t Take It. Clear language: He is “the worst nightmare”, also “Oef” but different. What a villain. Delicious harmonica! And okay, again: “I want to kick you where the sun don’t shine”. What do you mean, fat vocals. This leaves nothing to be desired in terms of clarity. At the end great, great luxury keyboards!
Time for a nice, uncomplicated song Moonshine Man, as they say in classical music “Song without words” or instrumental. Just having fun with each other with room for different solos, always solidly supported by bass and drums. Champin’ At The Bit is an expression that has its origins in
the horse world. The bottom line is that you are grinding your teeth, full of impatience, because you don’t know what to do first and last. Who doesn’t recognize it. Nice and smooth song, again with the excellent vocals of Sheryl Youngblood.
You don’t get time to recover, especially not because it’s all about love again, because Love (It Makes You Do Anything). Great guitar, strong harmonica and it drives and swings on and on. Danielle Nicole takes care of the lead vocals in Shiverin’ Blues, a song written for André, Pierre’s father who, as described earlier, eventually died from the effects of Covid-19. A slow blues with huge outbursts from Danielle and yet also very sensitive. If you know the genesis of this song, you can hear sadness and that is precisely why this is a gem of a song. A very deep harmonica by Pierre really sounds like a farewell.
Old-fashioned solid blues in The Sock Hop in which we go back to the 50s when informal dance parties were organized in mostly gymnasiums where the participants had to take off their shoes so as not to damage the floor. Hence The Sock Hop and a “hop” it certainly is. Heavy, rousing vocals and ditto background vocals. In Blue Amber, Sheryl Youngblood and Giles Corey divide the leads between vocals and guitar. Supported by excellent bass in the foreground and keyboards! In I Ain’t Evil a true dilemma for Sheryl: “no matter what I do, you tell me I’m wrong”, but I Ain’t Evil to at least make that clear. Beautiful bluesy melody with Giles on guitar, an extensive intermezzo after which the thread is picked up again with a wonderful addition by John Kattke’s Wurlitzer!! Period!
The title track Don’t Look Back convinces us that it is pointless to look back because the life that lies ahead of us still has so much beauty in store. (How about all that beautiful music of which we do not yet know the existence…?) Or don’t you? For a change, the vocals on the last song Four Steel Walls are by Omar Coleman and he also “whines” merrily on his harmonica. Heavy horns, pounding background vocals and of course Giles and Bily can show off their craftsmanship on the strings.
And then what I was already afraid of happened. This is it! Off, end, finish, Schluss. But… We really have no reason to complain. It is a “full” album with 14 wonderful songs. Summarizing is impossible. Every song is just rock solid, not to mention the artists. Everyone is an expert in his or her field, whether it is the vocals or an instrument, this album is just COMPLETE! The compositions are well thought out, each with its own story, at the right moments a vocal or an instrument comes so that everything forms a completely logical whole and it can be listened to as such.
Buy that record!
As for Pierre Lacocque and his Mississippi Heat, I can only say: On to album number 15!
As we are used to from Delmark, the label that releases this album, the cover really gives all the information about the songs and who participates on which songs!!
Website: https://mississippiheat.net/
SOUTHLAND BLUES (October 13, 2025)
PIERRE LACOCQUE’S MISSISSIPPI HEAT Don’t Look Back Delmark
Veteran harmonica ace Pierre Lacocque came to American blues music through Europe. As a youngster, his family resided in various countries; young Pierre’s father was a Judeo-Christian scholar who travelled the world. The Hohner Marine Band harmonica given him as a teenager living in France started the ball rolling. When the family moved to Chicago in 1969, his appreciation of the harp turned to the blues. Seeing and hearing Big Walter Horton proved to be an epiphany for the young musician. Of course, Chicago offered much for Lacocque’s music appetite: James Cotton, Paul Oscher, Charlie Musselwhite, and the Muddy Waters band.
Sheryl Youngblood and several other guests provide spirited vocals on the album as Lacocque adds his harp to the concert. Johnny Iguana’s piano provides plenty of blues color along with bass, drums, horns, and much more. When Lacocque opens “Moonshine Man,” the joint is jumpin’. This one turns into a cutting contest as Omar Coleman battles the leader with his own harp. The two give this piece the kind of hoedown spirit that makes blues fans want to jump and shout.
All 14 songs come from Pierre Lacocque’s pen. The horns on “Love (It Makes You Do Most Anything)” give Youngblood and Lacocque a big lift and the background singers help to prove the point made by these lyrics quite clearly. Solo spots from harp, piano and guitar add to the thrill. Then “Shiverin’ Blues” lets soulful vocalist Danielle Nicole and the band deliver a lowdown blues that can put tears in your eyes and trouble in your heart. The “Heat” in this band’s title carries through the music like incense at a church service; this Chicago band delivers its message deep to the bone.
— Jim Santella
BLUES.GR (Greece)
Q&A with Pierre Lacocque of Mississippi Heat – continues to look ahead as it stretches the boundaries of Chicago blues.
“Blues music is existential. It will never die. It reveals what human beings experience from infancy to old age. The intricacies, joys, and struggles of life are embedded in this profound music.”
Pierre Lacocque: Don’t Look Back
Pierre Lacocque’s MISSISSIPPI HEAT back with a new recording featuring amazing talent from Sheryl Youngblood, Danielle Nicole, Omar Coleman, Inetta Visor, Daneshia Hamilton, Giles Corey, Billy Flynn, Johnny Iguana, Brother John Kattke, Kenny Smith, and more! “DON’T LOOK BACK” IS MISSISSIPPI HEAT’S 14TH ALBUM, produced by Chicago Blues Hall of Fame harmonica player PIERRE LACOCQUE and Grammy and Blues Music Award Winner Producer/Engineer MICHAEL FREEMAN. Freeman is the former Chair of the Board of Directors of the Blues Foundation. He returns at the helm for their 7th Mississippi Heat collaboration. The record was recorded and mixed at Chicago’s V.S.O.P studios and mastered by Paul Blakemore (Nashville, TN). Post-war Chicago Blues lovers will enjoy this vibrant recording.
(Pierre Lacocque / Photo by Sam Wong)
With Pierre Lacocque at the controls and an artistic collective of veteran and rising new artists, Mississippi Heat continues to look ahead as it stretches the boundaries of Chicago blues. Featuring Sheryl Youngblood, vocals. Pierre says: “This will be our 7th Delmark recording and our 14th overall. Thanks to everyone involved, and especially to our co-producer, Grammy-Award Winner Michael Freeman whose diligence and genius lifted this project to stellar levels.”
Interview by Michael Limnios Archive: Pierre Lacocque, 2022 & 2016 interview
Special Thanks: Pierre Lacocque, Kevin Johnson, and Delmark Records
What keeps a musician passionate after five decades in blues? What musicians have continued to inspire you and your music?
It is a blissful mystery to me that I continue to be inspired. Blues music speaks to my soul. I can’t get enough of it. Listening to Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Jimmy Rogers, and all the blues legends gives me meaning and purpose. I don’t take this muse for granted.
Why is it important for us to preserve and spread the blues? What’s the balance in music between technique (skills) and soul/emotions?
Blues music is existential. It will never die. It reveals what human beings experience from infancy to old age. The intricacies, joys, and struggles of life are embedded in this profound music.
Technique is at the service of emotions. While there are excellent technicians and vocalists out there, what moves me is the integration of technique with honest, genuine feelings.
It does not matter what music I listen to; if the player plays from the heart, I am easily drawn in. That is especially true when we talk about blues music. Some singers and players may not be technically advanced, but they move me because of their heartfelt delivery. That is what ultimately matters.
Technical skills, however, offer an opportunity to add to and enrich the emotional message.
“The old cats, as you call them, are delightful and welcome. Players like Billy Flynn, Lurrie Bell, Carl Weathersby, Michael Dotson, singers Sheryl Youngblood and Inetta Visor, and background singers (NADIMA) bring a history and depth that younger musicians lack.” (Left: Mississippi Heat’s album “Don’t Look Back” / Photo by Roman Sobus — Right: Pierre Lacocque / Photo by Chuck Osgood)
Currently, you’ve one more release with Delmark Records. How did that relationship come about?
Our relationship with Delmark Records goes back decades. My brother Michel – our manager – knew the Koester family well. Besides, Mississippi Heat had an all-star band early on, so Bob Koester Sr.was aware of us from the outset. Our first recording for Delmark Records came in 2005 when we released our live CD and DVD at Rosa’s Lounge(ONE EYE OPEN-LIVE AT ROSA’S LOUNGE DE 783). It was well received worldwide, and we stayed with that label.
To date, we have done seven of our fourteen albums with Delmark. Our relationship is based on mutual respect. Calling the label and telling them I was ready to record a new project felt natural. They never hesitated. It was just something like, “Hey Pierre, sure, when do you want to come in and record?” I am proud to be on that label.
Do you have any interesting stories about the making of the new album “Don’t Look Back” with many special guests?
Well, every recording has stories! LOL.
Thank God that I had my co-producer, Michael Freeman – we’ve worked together on seven albumssince 1996 – and the VSOP studio staff, Matt and Ty, on my side. They were looking for the best answers to difficult situations.
Michael Freeman and I bring different skills to the table, but we have the same aim: to never give up until we have the best outcome, no matter howlong it takes. My siblings, Elisabeth and Michel, my wife Vickie, and my children also providedconstructive criticism on the mixes and helped as best they could to make DON’T LOOK BACK (Delmark Records, DE795 2025) a success.
At times, I had doubts and worries about howthe recording was going. Yet, everyone wanted the same thing: the best recording we could make. It turned out to be fantastic!
“You never know who is in your audience. Sheryl recently told me that someone loved her band so much that they were flown to Mexico, and all expenses were paid. We have had a similar experience while performing at Buddy Guy’s Legends and were flown to London for a weekend. Serendipity plays a role, too!” (Pierre Lacocque / Photo by Matt Zahn)
From the musical and feeling point of view, is there any difference between the “old cats” bluesmen and the new generation of blues musicians?
The old cats, as you call them, are delightful and welcome. Players like Billy Flynn, Lurrie Bell, Carl Weathersby, Michael Dotson, singers Sheryl Youngblood and Inetta Visor, and background singers (NADIMA) bring a history and depth that younger musicians lack.
Younger blues musicians add a wider range of musical styles that blend with traditional blues. I am aware of this fine line when we record. If we are interpreting a vintage blues song, I would want traditional blues players like Johnny Iguana and Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith.
Conversely, songs like a modern boogie, a 50’sRock & Roll, or a blues reggae call for modern blues players, though the old timers would do well too.
How can a band/musician truly turn the blues into a commercial and popular genre of music for today’s audience?
Distribution (music stores), radio plays, PR, and playing at venues and festivals outside the typical blues arenas help, but it is difficult. Delmark Records is aware of that. For instance, they have been working with the Chicago Cubs and have their artists perform at Cubs games.
You never know who is in your audience. Sheryl recently told me that someone loved her band so much that they were flown to Mexico, and all expenses were paid. We have had a similar experience while performing at Buddy Guy’s Legends and were flown to London for a weekend. Serendipity plays a role, too!
You’ve worked in many different settings, from clubs and studios to open-air festivals and bars. How do you navigate between these different worlds?
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what the venue is.
While festivals like the Lucerne, Montréal, and Chicago Blues Festivals bring pride and excitement, I prize performing with my world-class bandmates.
Pierre Lacocque’s Mississippi Heat – Home
(Pierre Lacocque’s Mississippi Heat: [L-R]: Yoshimi Hirata, Pierre Lacocque, Sheryl Youngblood, Giles Corey, and Terrence “T-Man” Williams / Photo by Foto Dan)
https://blues.gr/profiles/blogs/q-a-with-pierre-lacocque-of-mississippi-heat-continues-to-look-ah
“Excellent work, Pierre! Your unique and thoughtful blues playing uplifts the world. What a significant music project!”
CORKY SIEGEL
PIANO AND HARMONICA LEGEND, CO-FOUNDER OF THE SIEGEL-SCHWALL BAND, LEADER OF CHAMBER BLUES,
& BLUES HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
“Congrats!!! … smokin’ top to bottom!”
PAUL BLAKEMORE
AUDIO ENGINEER
MULTI-GRAMMY WINNER-AUDIO ENGINEER
SOCIETY LIFE MEMBER
“I can only describe this recording with one word: MAGNIFICENT!”
WESTSIDE ANDY LINDERMAN
RENOWNED BLUES HARMONICA MAESTRO
“Lacocque’s 14 originals illustrate his development as a mature musician, writer, and arranger. … Lacocque’s words paint lyrical pictures. … His songs have matured into vignettes that every listener can relate to. (Pierre) no longer imitates the masters but forges ahead with his unique style and voice. (This recording is) wonderful.”
ART TIPALDI
EDITOR OF BLUES MUSIC MAGAZINE AND AUTHOR OF CHILDREN OF THE BLUES, PROFILES OF 49 BLUES MUSICIANS.
FROM THE LINER NOTES (AND PERSONAL COMMUNICATION)
YOU AIN’T THE ONLY ONE
Pierre Lacocque, Ransart Music, BMI
LEAD VOCALS: SHERYL YOUNGBLOOD
BACKGROUND VOCALS:
NANETTE FRANK-DIANE MADISON-MAE KOEN (NADIMA)
.1. BAND ON THE V
.2. DO YOU THINK
YOU AIN’T COOL? OR BELIEVE
THAT YOU ARE A FOOL?
ARE YOU BARELY
HOLDING ON
STUCK-IN-A-LIFE
THAT’S ALL GONE WRONG?
V: WELL, YOU AIN’T …
THE ONLY ONE FEELING THIS WAY
.3. DO YOUR TEARS
HIT THE GROUND?
FEELING SAD
NO-ONE’S AROUND?
DO YOU CARRY A LOAD
ON YOUR SHOULDERS
MAKING YOU LOOK
SO MUCH OLDER?
V: WELL, YOU AIN’T
THE ONLY ONE FEELING THIS WAY
CHORUS
.4. YOU AIN’T THE ONLY ONE
YOU AIN’T THE ONLY ONE
IV: NO-NO YOU AIN’T … YOU
AIN’T YOU AIN’T THE ONLY ONE
V: NO, YOU AIN’T THE ONLY ONE
FEELING THIS WAY
.5. GILES COREY
.6. PIERRE
.7. DO YOU BUILD A WALL
TO KEEP PEOPLE OUT
OR FEEL LIKE
YOU ARE BURNING OUT?
DO YOU BAWL
SCREAM AND SHOUT
NO BAILOUT
ALL BUMMED OUT?
V: WELL, YOU AIN’T …
THE ONLY ONE FEELING THIS WAY
CHORUS
.8. YOU AIN’T …
— THE ONLY ONE
YOU AIN’T …
— THE ONLY ONE
IV: NO, NO YOU AIN’T
— THE ONLY ONE
YOU AIN’T …
— THE ONLY ONE
V1:YOU AIN’T
THE ONLY ONE …FEELING THIS WAY
NO … NO
V2: YOU AIN’T
THE ONLY ONE FEELING THIS WAY
“I WANT YOU TO KNOW”
V3: YOU AIN’T THE ONLY ONE
FEELING THIS … WAY
THIRD WHEEL
Pierre Lacocque, Ransart Music, BMI
LEAD VOCALS:
DANIELLE NICOLE SCHNEBELEN
.1. BILLY FLYNN LEADS VERSE
.2. I’M EASY-GOING
BUT I AIN’T MADE OF STEEL
IV: I’VE TRIED TO CHANGE YOU
I BEGGED AND APPEALED
V: CAN’T HIDE WHAT I FEEL
DON’T WANNA BE A THIRD WHEEL
.3. YOUR EYES WANDER
WHEN WOMEN ARE WALKING BY
IV: I’VE ASKED YOU TO STOP
BUT YOU BARELY COMPLY
V: I CAN’T HIDE WHAT I FEEL
I DON’T WANNA BE A THIRD WHEEL
.4. YOU MAKE ME CRY
CRY, WEEP AND MOAN
IV: YOUR ROAMING EYES
HAVE HURT ME TO THE BONE
V: I CAN’T HIDE WHAT I FEEL
I DON’T WANT TO BE A THIRD WHEEL
.5. BILLY FLYNN 1 X 12
.6. JOHNNY IGUANA 1 X 12
.7. THE FACTS ARE CLEAR
WE AIN’T A GOOD TEAM
IV: NOW I’M DROWNING
IN A SHATTERED DREAM
V: I CAN’T HIDE WHAT I FEEL
I WON’T BE A THIRD WHEEL
.8. PIERRE 1 X 12
QUARTER TO THREE
Pierre Lacocque, Ransart Music, BMI
LEAD VOCALS:
INETTA VISOR & DANESHIA HAMILTON
.1. INTRO: PIERRE
.2. I LEARNED THE HARD WAY
McCOMB AIN’T FOR ME
IV:I’M TOSSING MY TROUBLES
INTO THE DEEP BLUE SEA
V: GOT ME A ONE-WAY TICKET
LEAVIN’ AT A QUARTER TO THREE
.3. HE ACTS LIKE A STRANGER
WHEN I’M SAD ABOUT ME
IV: HE DON’T GIVE A CARE
AND THAT’S NO WAY TO BE
V: GOT ME A ONE-WAY TICKET
LEAVIN’ AT A QUARTER TO THREE
.4. P. LACOCQUE (HARP SOLO)
.5. J. IGUANA (PIANO SOLO)
.6. I’M GOING TO CHICAGO
STAY WITH AUNT NELLIE
IV: I’M BLUE AND LONELY
I WON’T ALWAYS BE
V: GOT ME A ONE-WAY TICKET
LEAVIN’ AT A QUARTER TO THREE
.7. I’M MOVING ON
HE IS A NO-GOOD FELLOW
IV: IT’S A LONG TRAIN RIDE
HOPIN’ IT WON’T SNOW
V: GOT ME A ONE-WAY TICKET
BREAK:
LEAVING’ AT A QUARTER TO THREE
.8. B. FLYNN (GUITAR SOLO)
V: GOT ME A ONE-WAY TICKET
LEAVING’ AT A QUARTER TO THREE
STEPPED OUT OF LINE
Pierre Lacocque, Ransart Music, BMI
LEAD VOCALS: SHERYL YOUNGBLOOD
BACKGROUND VOCALS:
NANETTE FRANK-DIANE MADISON-MAE KOEN (NADIMA)
.1. INTRO: JOHNNY IGUANA
.2. I ACCUSED YOU
OF WANTING TO LEAVE
IV: AND OF PLANNING
TO HURT AND DECEIVE
V: I STEPPED OUT OF LINE
SWEET BABY
THIS TIME … BIG TIME
.3. YOU’RE A QUIET MAN
I FOOLED MYSELF
IV: I DIDN’T TRUST YOU
WHEN YOU KEPT IT TO YOURSELF
V: I STEPPED OUT OF LINE
SWEET BABY THIS TIME
… BIG TIME
BRIDGE
.4. I AM DOWNHEARTED
I AM BLUE
I WAS WRONG, BABE
SO WRONG TO INDICT YOU
YOU’RE MY HEART
YOU’RE MY STEADY
BABY PLEASE
ACCEPT MY PLEA
BREAK
.5. MY STORY IS OF A
TROUBLED, TROUBLED PAST
IV: WOULD’VE NEVER BELIEVED
YOUR LOVE WOULD LAST
V: I STEPPED OUT OF LINE
SWEET-SWEET BABY THIS TIME
BIG TIME
BIG BIG BIG-BIG TIME
.6. PIANO SOLO: JOHNNY IGUANA
BRIDGE
.7. I AM DOWNHEARTED
I AM BLUE
I WAS WRONG
SO WRONG TO INDICT YOU
YOU’RE MY HEART, BABE
YOU’RE MY STEADY
BABY PLEASE … PLEASE
ACCEPT MY PLEA
BREAK
.8. MY STORY, MY STORY
IS OF A TROUBLED, TROUBLED PAST
IV: I WOULD’VE NEVER BELIEVED
YOUR LOVE WOULD LAST
V: I STEPPED OUT OF LINE
SWEET-SWEET BABY THIS TIME
BREAK
… BIG TIME
CAN’T TAKE IT
Pierre Lacocque, Ransart Music, BMI
LEAD VOCALS: SHERYL YOUNGBLOOD
.1. INTRO: TURN @ LICKS
.2. YOU CRASHED THE CAR
NEAR THE BANK
COULDN’T HANDLE IT
YOU GOT DRUNK WITH FRANK
WHEN YOU WALKED HOME
A DOG BIT YOU
NOW YOUR PANTS ARE TORN
WELL …
BREAK
WHERE’S THE OTHER SHOE?
TWO HITS
IV: LISTEN TO ME
YOU’RE WORSE THAN A NIGHTMARE
V: WHEN YOU GET TO DRINKIN’
IT’S GOT ME THINKIN’
YOU’RE A HOT MESS THAT I CAN’T TAKE
.3. YOU LOOK LIKE
YOU GOT IN A FIGHT
LOST A SHOE
WHAT A WEIRD SIGHT
HELL, I’M DONE
IT’S ALWAYS THE SAME
YOU GOT DEMONS
BREAK
DEMONS THAT YOU CAN’T TAME
TWO HITS
IV: LISTEN TO ME
YOU’RE WORSE THAN A NIGHTMARE
V: WHEN YOU GET TO DRINKIN’
IT’S GOT ME THINKIN’
YOU’RE A HOT MESS THAT I CAN’T TAKE
.4. GILES 1 X 12
.5. PIERRE 1 X 12
.6. I WANNA KICK YOU
WHERE THE SUN DON’T SHINE
WOULD DO NO GOOD
TO KEEP YOU IN LINE
QUIT YOUR HABIT
DON’T YOU SEE
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
BREAK:
MOVE OUT AND LET ME BE
TWO HITS
IV: LISTEN TO ME
YOU’RE WORSE THAN A NIGHTMARE
V: WHEN YOU GET TO DRINKIN’
IT’S GOT ME THINKIN’
YOU’RE A HOT MESS THAT I CAN’T TAKE
.7. JOHN KATTKE B-3: 2 x 12
MOONSHINE MAN
Pierre Lacocque, Ransart Music, BMI
Harp Duet with OMAR COLEMAN on Acoustic Harp
CHOMPIN’ AT THE BIT
Pierre Lacocque, Ransart Music, BMI
LEAD VOCALS: SHERYL YOUNGBLOOD
.1. INTRO ON V
.2. PIERRE SOLO 1 X 12
.3. MY BACK’S AGAINST THE WALL
MY MIND IS RAMBLIN’
NEVER THOUGHT
THIS WOULD BE HAPPENING
IV: I AM CHAMPIN’ …
YES, I’M CHAMPIN’ AT THE BIT
V: I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO
LORD, I’M LOSING MY GRIP
.4. COVID CHECKS STOPPED A-COMING
SAVINGS ARE LOW
BAD TIMES ARE LOOMIN’
NO PLACE TO GO
IV: I AM CHAMPIN’ …
YES, I AM CHAMPIN’ AT THE BIT
V: I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO
LORD, I’M LOSING MY GRIP
.5. PIERRE: 1 X 12
.6. J. IGUANA: 1 X 12
.7. I’M WORRIED SICK
DON’T WANT TO FALL
OH LORDY-LORD
WHO DO I CALL?
IV: I AM CHAMPIN’ …
YES, I’M CHAMPIN’ AT THE BIT
V: I JUST DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO
LORD, I’M LOSING MY GRIP
.8. GUITAR: 1 X 12
.9. GUITAR STAY ON THE I
LOVE
Pierre Lacocque, Ransart Music, BMI
LEAD VOCALS: SHERYL YOUNGBLOOD
BACKGROUND VOCALS:
NANETTE FRANK-DIANE MADISON-MAE KOEN (NADIMA)
.1. PIERRE: INTRO VERSE
.2. IV: LOVE …
IT MAKES YOU DO MOST ANYTHING
IV: YES, LOVE, OH LOVE
IT MAKES YOU DO MOST ANYTHING
V: THERE’S NOTHING SWEETER
THAN TO HEAR YOUR HEART SING
.3. WE MET THROUGH A FRIEND
I FELL FOR THE GUY
IT’S BEEN A WHILE
SO, I’M GIVIN’ IT A TRY
IV: LOVE … LOVE
IT MAKES YOU DO MOST ANYTHING
V: THERE’S NOTHING SWEETER
THAN TO HEAR YOUR HEART SING
.4. I’M IN CHICAGO
HE’S IN TENNESSEE
DON’T WANT TO DROP HIM
HE’S TOO DEAR TO ME
IV: WHAT ABOUT LOVE?
THAT MAKES YOU DO MOST ANYTHING
V: I GUESS THERE’S NOTHING SWEETER
THAN TO HEAR YOUR HEART SING
.5. GILES COREY
.6. JOHNNY IGUANA
.7. LIVING APART
BRINGS LONELY NIGHTS
SUNNY DAYS
CAN BE COLD AS ICE
IV: WHAT ABOUT LOVE?
THAT MAKES YOU DO MOST ANYTHING
V: THERE’S NOTHING SWEETER
THAN TO HEAR YOUR HEART SING
.8. PIERRE
.9. IV: WHAT ABOUT LOVE?
IT MAKES YOU DO MOST ANYTHING
IV: YES LOVE … LOVE
IT MAKES YOU DO ‘MOST ANYTHING
V1: THERE’S NOTHING SWEETER
THAN TO HEAR YOUR HEART SING
V2: I GUESS THERE’S NOTHING SWEETER
BREAK
THAN TO HEAR YOUR HEART SING
SHIVERIN’ BLUES
Pierre Lacocque, Ransart Music, BMI
LEAD VOCALS:
DANIELLE NICOLE SCHNEBELEN
.1. SHORT INTRO [Fm]
.2. MY-Y-Y TIME HAS COME
IT COULD HAPPEN TONIGHT
IV: MY DEMISE IS NEAR
LO-O-O-RD I AIN’T WINNING THIS FIGHT
V: I’VE BEEN SHIVERIN’ AND ACHIN’
AND THERE AIN’T NO CURE IN SIGHT
.3. MY FEVER’S OFF THE CHARTS
AND MY BODY IS BREAKING DOWN
IV: YES, MY FEVER’S OFF THE
CHARTS, YOU ALL
AND I AM IN THE DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND
V: SAID I’M SHIVERIN’ AND ACHIN’
LORD, MY SPIRIT IS SHUTTIN’ DOWN
OH, SHUTTIN’ DOWN
BREAK
.4. BY THE TIME THE ROOSTER CROWS
I’LL LIVE IF YOU SAY SO
WITHOUT YOUR MERCY
I’LL HAVE NO BREATH TO SHOW
IV: I SAID SWEET-SWEET LORD
CAN YOU …
CAN YOU PLEASE RESCUE ME
V: ‘CAUSE I’M SHIVERIN’ AND ACHIN’
OH…LORD V… THIS AIN’T NO
PLACE-AIN’T NO PLACE TO BE
.5. PIERRE LACOCQUE 1 X 12
BREAK
.6. MY SHIP’S GOIN’ DOWN
IT’S TIME TO SAY GOODBYE
I GOT NO POWER LEFT IN ME
SAID I…TEA-EA-EARS WELL UP IN MY EYES
IV: I SAID SWEET-SWEET …
SWEET LORD
I NEED YOU TO PLEASE COME AND
RESCUE ME-CAN YOU RESCUE ME?
V: SAID I’VE BEEN
SHIVERIN’ AND ACHIN’
THIS JUST AIN’T NO WAY … NO WAY
NO WAY – AIN’T NO WAY TO BE
THE SOCK HOP
Pierre Lacocque, Ransart Music, BMI
LEAD VOCALS: SHERYL YOUNGBLOOD
BACKGROUND VOCALS:
NANETTE FRANK-DIANE MADISON-MAE KOEN (NADIMA)
.1. DRUMS: 4 BARS/BREAK:
.2. GOT BALLROOM SHOES
A POODLE SKIRT
A YELLOW SCARF
AND POLO SHIRT
NAILS ‘R PAINTED
HAIR IS DONE
ONE HIT
X WE’RE GONNA PARTY
X HAVE LOTS OF FUN
IV: TONIGHT …
TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT
V: IT’S GONNA BE ALRIGHT
AT THE SOCK HOP NIGHT
.3. BREAK: CHROMATIC NOTES
WE START
AT HALF PAST EIGHT
BREAK: CHROMATIC NOTES
LORDY-LORD
I CAN NOT WAIT
BREAK: CHROMATIC NOTES
WE GONNA ROCK
TEAR-UP THE FLOOR
BREAK: CHROMATIC NOTES
TAKE A BREAK
AND GO FOR MORE
IV: TONIGHT …
TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT
V: IT’S GONNA BE ALRIGHT
AT THE SOCK HOP NIGHT
CHORUS
.4. TONIGHT
TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT
IV: YES, TONIGHT
TONIGHT’S MY NIGHT
V. IT’S GONNA BE ALRIGHT
AT THE SOCK HOP NIGHT
.5. GILES COREY
.6. BREAK: CHROMATIC NOTES
JERRY LEE …
AND THE PLATTERS
BREAK: CHROMATIC NOTES
KING ELVIS …
DON’T MATTER
BREAK: CHROMATIC NOTES
MY TWO-TONES …
WILL DO THE SWIRL
BREAK: CHROMATIC NOTES
NO, NOTHING
WILL STOP THIS GIRL
IV: TONIGHT …
TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT
V: IT’S GONNA BE ALRIGHT
AT THE SOCK HOP NIGHT
.7. HORNS/MELODY
.8. PIERRE
.9. TONIGHT’S …
TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT
IV: YES, TONIGHT …
TONIGHT’S MY NIGHT
V1-IV: IT’S GONNA BE ALRIGHT
AT THE SOCK HOP NIGHT
V2-IV: IT’S GONNA BE ALRIGHT
AT THE SOCK HOP NIGHT
V3: IT’S GONNA BE ALRIGHT
— THE SOCK HOP NIGHT
BLUE AMBER
Pierre Lacocque, Ransart Music, BMI
LEAD VOCALS: SHERYL YOUNGBLOOD
.1. INTRO: BREAKS ON THE I
.2. TWO LOVES ARE HARD TO PLEASE
WHEN THEY DON’T GET ALONG
IV: TWO LOVES ARE HARD TO PLEASE
WHEN THEY DON’T GET ALONG
V: NO MATTER WHAT I SAY
YOU TELL ME THAT I’M WRONG
.3. WHEN AMBER IS HOME
YOUR FACE TURNS GREEN
SOON AS SHE TALKS
YOU THROW AN UGLY SCENE
IV: TWO LOVES ARE HARD TO PLEASE
WHEN THEY DON’T GET ALONG
V: NO MATTER WHAT I DO
YOU TELL ME THAT I’M WRONG
.4. YOU DIG MY BROTHER
YOU LIKE MY SISTER
I KNOW YOU LOVE MOM
WHY-NOT-SWEET-AMBER?
IV: TWO LOVES ARE HARD TO PLEASE
WHEN THEY DON’T GET ALONG
V: NO MATTER WHAT I SAY
YOU TELL ME THAT I’M WRONG
.5. J. KATTKE (B3) 1 X 12
.6. PIERRE 1 X 12
.7. AMBER’S MY LIFE
SHE’S EVERYTHING TO ME
THIS MESS IS KILLING US
BABY-CAN’T-YOU-SEE?
IV: TWO LOVES ARE HARD TO PLEASE
WHEN THEY DON’T GET ALONG
V: NO MATTER WHAT I DO
YOU TELL ME THAT I’M WRONG
.8. GILES 1 X 12
I AIN’T EVIL
P. Lacocque, Ransart Music, BMI
LEAD VOCALS: SHERYL YOUNGBLOOD
.1. 4 BARS ON THE I
SIGNATURE TURN
.2. I KNOW YOU’RE THINKING
I AM TOO FRIENDLY
— 2 BARS
I CAN TELL YOU’RE WORRIED
‘BOUT MEN LIKING ME
— 2 BARS
I MEAN NO HARM
I WISH YOU COULD SEE
— 2 BARS
I AIN’T NO EVIL …
BREAK
NO, I AIN’T YOUR ENEMY
SIGNATURE TURN
.3. AS A CHILD
YOU DIDN’T LIKE YOUR DAD
— 2 BARS
YOU GOT SCARED
WHEN HE WAS MAD
— 2 BARS
YOUR MOM WAS GONE
SCHMOOZING IN BARS
— 2 BARS
IT’S HARD TO TRUST
BREAK
WHEN YOU HAVE DEEP SCARS
SIGNATURE TURN
.4. GILES COREY SOLO
= 8 BARS
SIGNATURE TURN
.5. DRUMS SOLO
WITH BAND’S SUPPORT HITS
.6. WHEN I’M WITH YOU
YOU NEVER RAISE SAND
— 2 BARS
I’M A BLESSED GIRL
I DON’T JUMP MAN TO MAN
— 2 BARS
THE LORD’S MY SHEPPERD
RIGHT BY MY SIDE
— 2 BARS
HONEY I AM YOURS
BREAK
OH…YOU’LL BE SATISFIED
SIGNATURE LICKS
.7. JOHN KATTKE:
16 BARS SOLO
EXIT:
SIGNATURE LICKS X2
DON’T LOOK BACK
Pierre Lacocque, Ransart Music, BMI
LEAD VOCALS: SHERYL YOUNGBLOOD
.1. BAND ON THE I X 4
.2. YOU SAY YOU CARE
RED FLAGS FLYIN’ HIGH
I KNOW YOU’RE HURTING
HE ALWAYS MAKES YOU CRY
IV: I KNOW THAT YOU LOVE HIM
BUT YOU GOT A BLIND EYE
V: SISTER, DON’T LOOK BACK
HIS LIFE IS BUT A LIE
.3. HE’S CHEATS ON YOU
CRYIN’ NEVER ENDS
HE’S A MEAN TRICKSTER
AIN’T NO FRIEND
IV: YOU SAY THAT YOU LOVE HIM
BUT YOU GOT A BLIND EYE
V: SISTER DON’T LOOK BACK
HIS LIFE IS BUT A LIE
BRIDGE
.4. WHAT YOU DON’T REMEMBER
WILL COME TO HAUNT YOU
WHAT YOU WON’T RECALL
WILL SET YOU BACK ANEW
.5. PIERRE: 1 X 12
.6. J. KATTKE: 1 X 12
.7. COME VISIT
BRING LITTLE ROY
THAT MAN’S NO GOOD
AIN’T NO ALTER BOY
IV: YOU SAY THAT YOU LOVE HIM
BUT YOU GOT A BLIND EYE
V: SISTER, DON’T LOOK BACK
HIS LIFE IS BUT A LIE
.8. BILLY FLYNN: 2 X 12
FOUR STEEL WALLS
Pierre Lacocque, Ransart Music, BMI
VOCALS, ACOUSTIC HARP: OMAR COLEMAN
AMPLIFIED HARP: PIERRE LACOCQUE
BACKGROUND VOCALS:
NANETTE FRANK-DIANE MADISON-MAE KOEN (NADIMA)
.1. TURN @ INTRO:
4 HITS ON V + IV + I
.2. A FREIGHT TRAIN
FOUR STEEL WALLS
A TORN HAT
NOTHIN’ MORE
IV: WHEN I’M LONESOME
I LONG FOR YOU
V: I’M A DRIFTER NOW
BIT UP MORE THAN I CAN CHEW
.3. THREE PICTURES
IN A WALLET
MEMORIES
I CAN’T FORGET
IV: WHEN I’M LONESOME
I LONG FOR YOU
V: I’M A DRIFTER NOW
BIT UP MORE THAN I CAN CHEW
.4. YOU SAID “GET IT TOGETHER”
STOP THE SMACK
… OR IT’S OVER
IV: WHEN I’M LONESOME, BABE
I LONG FOR YOU
V: I’M A DRIFTER NOW
BIT UP MORE THAN I CAN CHEW
.5. OMAR / PIERRE in BACKGROUND
PIERRE / OMAR in BACKGROUND
.6. I’VE BEEN PLACES
IN THE USA
I CAN’T REST
WHERE I LAY
IV: WHEN I’M LONESOME
I LONG FOR YOU
V: I’M A DRIFTER NOW
BIT UP MORE THAN I CAN CHEW
.7. GILES COREY
.8. KIRK SMOTHERS: SAX SOLO
V1: YES, I’M A DRIFTER NOW
BAND SUSTAINS ON V
“BIT UP MORE THAN I CAN CHEW”
