Wake Up and Live! is an album by the American musician Floyd Dixon, released in 1996.[1][2] He was backed by the Full House band.[3] Dixon supported the album with a North American tour.[4] In recognition of Wake Up and Live!, Living Blues bestowed on Dixon its "Most Outstanding Blues Musician (Keyboards)" award.[5] The album also won the W. C. Handy Award for "Comeback Blues Album".[6]
Production
The album was produced by Dixon's guitarist, Port Barlow, who used vintage recording equipment to achieve a 1950s sound.[7][8] Dixon wrote or cowrote all of the album's songs.[3] "Hey, Bartender" is a version of Dixon's first hit, from 1954.[9] "My Song Is Don't Worry" is adapted from a poem Dixon used as his answering machine message.[10] The album liner notes are by Chip Deffaa.[11]
The Chicago Tribune noted that, "unlike some of the bland revivalists now exploiting [jump blues], Dixon helped to develop the idiom, and his supple piano style and infectious vocals render this set irresistible."[12]The Vancouver Sun stated that Dixon "plays the jazz-blues of the 1950s, with his piano and vocals leading the way, acoustic bass providing the bottom and, on most tracks, a horn section kicking in for the ride."[15] The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel listed Wake Up and Live! among the 10 best blues albums of 1996, writing that "his slow songs, such as 'My Song Is Don't Worry', have a believable desperation."[16] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette determined that the album "shows how alive and vital the music remains."[14]The Ithaca Journal considered it the sixth best album of 1996.[17]
AllMusic wrote that Dixon's "voice had not aged much, his enthusiasm is very much intact and his piano playing (whether on slow blues, medium-tempo novelties or the closing instrumental blues 'Gettin' Ready') is quite jazz-oriented."[11]
