King Biscuit Boy: "You Done Tore Your Playhouse Down Again" (1971)

King Biscuit Boy was the stage name of Richard Alfred Newell, a Canadian blues musician noted for his harmonica playing. The name was taken from the 'King Biscuit Flower Hour' an early American blues broadcast and was given to him by rock 'n' roll musician Ronald "Ronnie" Hawkins while he was playing as part of his backing band. Some of you may remember that members of what would become The Band backed him up at one time as well. Hawkins would later appear in their movie "The Last Waltz" and sings "Who Do You Love"?

King Biscuit Boy was very popular in his native Canada and made the playlists in the U.S. as well. In 1971 he realeased the album "Gooduns" which was wraped in burlap the same way flour was packaged in the old days (get it?). "You Done Tore Your Playhouse Down Again" is the first cut on the album. It was written by Newell and starts out slow and shifts gears into a complete rocker. I like that formula and Newell rolls in his harmonica to perfection.
This passage from Green Man Revue says it best: "Gooduns" starts with a slow buildup, Rick Bell's solo piano leading into one of the most stunning displays of boogie woogie I've ever heard, and then the band starts, Biscuit's harp, slide guitar from Ray Lanthier, and "Oohoooooooohooooooooo Little girl, little girl...." "You Done Tore Your Playhouse Down Again" is a song "about a hard drinkin' woman," the liner notes tell us. "You were last seen headin' up Highway 27 with a bottle of gin in your right hand..."

A buddy of mine turned me on to this in 1979 and the song just stunned me. Some songs are so good that you rember exactly where you were when you first heard it.

Turn the volume up on this one...