''God Knows I Tried'' is an album by the American
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
musician
Junior Kimbrough, released in 1998. It was his first posthumous album.
Buddy Guy covered "I Gotta Try You Girl" on his ''
Sweet Tea
Sweet tea, also known as sweet iced tea, is a popular style of iced tea commonly consumed in countries such as the United States (especially the South) and Indonesia. Sweet tea is most commonly made by adding sugar or simple syrup to black tea e ...
'' album.
Production
The album includes tracks that were left off Kimbrough's three
Fat Possum
In nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food.
The term often refers specifically to triglycerides (triple e ...
albums, and were recorded between 1992 and 1997. A few songs were recorded at Kimbrough's
juke joint in
Chulahoma, Mississippi.
[ Kimbrough first recorded "Tramp" in 1968, as a single for Philwood Records.]
Critical reception
''The Plain Dealer
''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday.
As of Ma ...
'' wrote that "the music here is powerful and, on 'Tramp' and the slashing instrumental 'All Night Long', moving ... The urgency with which Kimbrough plays is undeniable, but how much thought he gave to the shape of these tunes is a question that likely will go unanswered." ''Miami New Times
The ''Miami New Times'' is a newspaper published in Miami, Florida, United States, and distributed every Thursday. It primarily serves the Miami area and is headquartered in Miami's Wynwood Art District.
Overview
It was acquired by Village Voic ...
'' called Kimbrough "an undisputed master," writing that he "sounded primitive and modern all at the same time."
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
wrote: "Kimbrough single-handedly invented his own blues style, a mixture of hard-edged instrumentation, conversational, ghost-touched vocals, and, unique to the North Mississippi hill country, the looping, hypnotic guitar riffs which he plays through mild, fluid distortion, giving the whole a pulsing, dream-like quality."Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' deemed the album one of 1998's 10 best blues releases.
Track listing
References
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Junior Kimbrough albums
1998 albums
Fat Possum Records albums