Red to Blue is an album by the American musician Leon Redbone, released in 1986.[1][2] It was his first album for August Records, a label started by Redbone.[3] Redbone supported the album with a North American tour.[4]
Production
The album was produced by Beryl Handler and Redbone.[5]David Bromberg accompanied Redbone on the cover of the Bob Dylan song "Living the Blues".[6]Hank Williams Jr. provided a spoken part for the cover of his father's version of "Lovesick Blues".[7]Biréli Lagrène played guitar on "Whose Honey Are You?"[8]The Roches contributed backing vocals; Dr. John played piano.[9][10] The album title comes from a Jelly Roll Morton quote that describes the transition from Spanish musical styles to blues-based ones.[8]
The New York Times wrote that "Leon Redbone carries to a peak his mixture of jazz-filtered old pop songs, blues and 'contemp-folk' with the assistance of a pool of traditional jazz and folk-jazz musicians who light momentarily like hummingbirds in these performances, then take off again."[13] The Columbia Daily Tribune said that the album "saunters and shuffles like an old hepcat, past his prime but still jiving along at his own unhurried pace."[14]
The Vancouver Sun determined that "Redbone's almost hallucinogenic, sweeping you up in the gentle swing of his music and transporting you back to a '30s dance hall."[15]The Atlanta Journal-Constitution deemed the album "his standard fare—barely intelligible vocals that get so loooow, clarinets, coronets, guitars, banjoes and tuba."[16] Likewise, the Detroit Free Press considered it "the same old hambone."[17]
AllMusic praised "the usual Dixieland backing augmenting his tasteful fingerpicked guitar work."[11]
