Originally released in 1972 on Vanguard Records, Bob Frank’s self titled debut album took elements of Dylan, Johnny Cash, and Ian Tyson and filtered it through a pot-smoked haze infused with Frank’s long-time friend, Memphis guru Jim Dickinson. Dickinson and Frank shared a mutual admiration that ran so deep that on Dickinson’s own 1972 debut album Dixie Fried (released on Atlantic Records) he recorded one of Bob’s songs, “Wild Bill Jones” Despite the Dickinson/Memphis connection, Bob Frank’s only LP for Vanguard has remained a forgotten, hard to find vinyl relic.
As Dickinson once deadpanned, ÒBob went to Vietnam and Nashville. I don’t know which was worse. It was also an itinerant period, when Frank spent many a stoned evening staggering alone through the mid-south urban gothic landscape of church steps and sleaze bars, with his guitar glued to his arm, if not an actual extension of it. Songs would emerge from dreams or drunken visions. But this was not artless acid folk, but a series of picaresque, well-sketched vignettes delivered in a clearly-enunciated vernacular, and all very much in Frank’s own style.
Tracks
1. Wino - 2:21
2. She Pawned Her Diamond For Some Gold - 2:43
3. Waitsburg - 2:01
4. Cold Canadian Pines - 3:28
5. Judas Iscariot - 3:19
6. Before The Trash Truck Comes (Bob Frank, Cletus Haegert) - 1:13
7. Way Down In Mississippi - 2:21
8. Jones And Me - 1:51
9. Layin' Around - 2:08
10.Return To Skid Row Joe - 3:00
11.The Deer Hunter - 1:28
12.Memphis Jail - 2:01
Music and Lyrics by Bob Frank except track #6
Personnel
*Bob Frank - Vocals, Guitar
*Eric Weisseberg - Guitar, Dobro
*Charlie McCoy - Harmonica
*Russell George - Bass
*Buddy Spicher - Fiddle
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