''Superstitious Blues'' is an album by the American folk rock musician

Country Joe McDonald Joseph Allen "Country Joe" McDonald (born January 1, 1942) is an American musician who was the lead singer of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Country Joe and the Fish.Richard Brenneman"Country Joe McDonald Revives Anti-War Anthem", ''Berkeley ...

, released in 1991. Although McDonald had played then-recent anti- Gulf War rallies, the album is made up of personal, not political, songs. McDonald considered making ''Superstitious Blues'' his final album; it was his first album in 12 years to be distributed by a label other than his own.

Production

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence ...

played guitar on the album;

Sandy Rothman Sandy Rothman (born January 30, 1946, Miami, Florida) is an American, San Francisco Bay Area bluegrass multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He plays mandolin, dobro and banjo, and he also sings. Rothman was a friend and colleague of Grat ...

contributed dobro. "Eunecita" was written in 1971, but remained unrecorded for almost two decades. "Clara Barton" is a tribute to the founder of the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

; "Blues for Michael" is about Mike Bloomfield. McDonald was supposed to sing at the 1991 American Red Cross annual convention, but was uninvited due to his Gulf War protest. McDonald, in contrast to some of his peers, was happy to employ digital recording during the making of the album.

Critical reception

'' Entertainment Weekly'' called the album "both uneven and surprising," but acknowledged that the McDonald-Garcia "guitar team-up on the pretty country-folk tune 'Standing at the Crossroads' is a blissful pleasure." '' The Boston Globe'' wrote that "in backing McDonald,

arcia Arcia is a Spanish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Edgar Sanabria Arcia (1911–1989), Venezuelan lawyer, diplomat, and politician * Elizabeth Arcia (born 1997), Nicaraguan footballer * Francisco Arcia (born 1989), Venezuelan b ...

returns to fluid acoustic musings that evoke the Dead's ''American Beauty'' and ''Workingman's Dead''." The '' Sun Sentinel'' determined that "the shift from broader politics to personal themes reflects McDonald's maturation both as an artist and an activist." '' The Philadelphia Inquirer'' called the album "poignant, pretty and powerful, yet almost understated ... Its songs range from the moody, moderately psychedelic instrumental 'Tranquility' to 'Standing at the Crossroads', a country waltz." '' The State'' concluded that "the beauty of this disc is its simplicity ... McDonald combines those old bay area psychedelic sentiments with deep-rooted blues." AllMusic deemed it "an excellent comeback album."

Track listing

References

{{reflist 1991 albums Rykodisc albums