For those not in the know, Louisiana Red was born in Alabama in March 1932 and died in Hanover almost exactly 80 years later.

The early life of Iverson Minter, also known as Louisiana Red, was marked by suffering. His mother died of pneumonia a week after he was born. When he was five years old, his father was executed by the Ku Klux Klan. After that, he lived in orphanages until he was able to spend the rest of his childhood with his grandmother. As a teenager, he was sentenced to hard labor for burglary and subsequently sent by Uncle Sam to the Korean War.

Iverson had wanted to become a blues musician ever since he had met Muddy Waters. In the late 1950s, he played in John Lee Hooker’s band. In the mid-1970s, he moved to Europe, where he gained recognition among a wider audience through appearances at the WDR Rockpalast and the Montreux Jazz Festival. In the 1980s, Fritz Rau signed Louisiana Red for his successful festival series, the American Folk Blues Festival.

In 1983, he released his acclaimed album Anti-Nuclear Blues, whose content and message are more relevant today than ever. The original vinyl edition has since become a sought-after rarity. Now, the album is being released for the first time on CD, featuring six bonus tracks from the 1981 American Folk Blues Festival, as well as a reissue on vinyl with a fresh sound.

1. Anti-Nuclear Blues
2. Reagan Is For The Rich Man
3. Starving In Detroit
4. Still Crying About Detroit
5. Tribute To Tampa Red
6. No More Destruction In This Land
7. I’m Tired
8. Bessie
9. I’ll Get To Victory
10. Woodchopping Blues
11. Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky
12. I Love
13. Flip, Flop And Fly
14. Shake, Rattle And Roll

The album opens on the strident messaging within the titular Anti-Nuclear Blues, the low slung, harmonica-driven Reagan Is For The Rich Man and the gentle guitar-driven duo of both Starving In Detroit and Still Crying About Detroit, then comes the quietly jaunty commendation within Tribute To Tampa Red and both the rhythmic No More Destruction In This Land and the grooved I’m Tired.

Along next is the impassioned Bessie, the finger snapping, sing-along that is the brilliant I’ll Get To Victory and some quiet reminiscing within Woodchopping Blues, before they are in turn followed seamlessly by the upbeat and joyful Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky, the roll-along blues of I Love, the new compilation rounding out on the downright and playful blues of Flip, Flop And Fly, coming to a close on a resoundingly vibrant rendition of the rock ’n’ roller Shake, Rattle And Roll.

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