Big Pete Pearson
I’m Here Baby
Blue Witch Records

A one-time sideman for blues legends that include T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Big Joe Turner, Big Pete Pearson has been based out of the Phoenix area for four decades now. A 70-year-old veteran shouter with a gruff, booming voice, “I’m Here Baby”, is actually his first CD.

Backed by his band, the Rhythm Room All-Stars, the release is filled with guests that include other journeymen like W.C. Clark and Ike Turner, as well as axe-slinger Kid Ramos. Though tracks may mime standard-issue blues boast and some sexual cliches, it’s hard not to feel the grooves of “Worried About My Baby” and “Too Many Drivers”.

Other stand-outs include the experience-gives-perspective of “The Way I See It”, the interstate run of “The Highway Is Like A Woman”, and rollicking “Natural Ball”, as Pearson shows why he’s long been considered Arizona’s own king of the blues, a celebrated state musical treasure deserving greater national exposure.

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