This was the initial coupling between Sam and Anson that originally appeared on Black Top in 1984. As luck would have it, I was in the Dallas strip-mall studio when this was recorded. Sam and Anson were very much the odd couple of the blues. Anson, a sober, slow-talker from Plano, Texas, could usually be found chasing a little white ball across the pasture with a golf stick when he wasn’t bending notes on his ’54 Stratocaster. Sam, who liked nothing better than ordering a double Paul Bunyan breakfast after a gig at 4 a.m., was having rent problem in Jackson, Mississippi, and struggling to buy harmonicas. Sam sat in with Anson’s group, the Rockets, whenever they played in Jackson, and they found that they fit like a glove. Sam wasn’t part of the group when My Love Is Here to Stay was recorded, but that changed when the album got rave reviews.

The recording session was completed quickly with very few extra takes. But while Sam and Anson seemed on the same page musically, they didn’t exactly get along socially. At one point, Sam chided Anson that he needed to learn some new chords to stay in the music business. Anson in turn told Sam (who was legally blind), he better move his leg or his dog was going to piss on it! The music here speaks for itself—this is one of the best blues CDs recorded in the 1980s. Sam recycles some of his earlier material including the title track, My Heart Cries Out for You” and “Hep Cats in Big Town.” There are a few well-chosen covers, but not many, as Anson and Sam came up with some clever originals. The musicianship is superb. Sam’s playing is comparable to Little Walter, and Anson proves he’s a master of the Stratocaster. If you missed this one the first time around, or you lost it in Katrina like me, here’s you chance to own a classic.