Despite the romantic title, these are private recordings done in Pinetop's home in Chicago in 1996 and 1997. This album finds him in an unaccompanied solo setting, with the first six selections featuring him manning an electric piano while the other seven tracks put him behind a conventional acoustic model. Lots of boogies and shuffles here for
Perkins to stretch out on, and he pays tribute to many of his early inspirations, like
Sunnyland Slim,
Leroy Carr,
Eddie Boyd and others. Highlights include "Kidney Stew," "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie," "Song for Sunnyland Slim," "Five Long Years" and the title track. If you want to hear a boogie-woogie master unencumbered by surrounding instruments in the band and laying it down with élan and pizzazz, this disc fills the bill nicely. ~ Cub Koda