****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Last year Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art, Inc. released Big George Brock's latest record, Club Caravan. This CD was cut in Jimbo Mathus' recording studio in Clarksdale and the results were, in my opinion, an outstanding set of authentic Delta & hill country blues. So, I was not at all surprised when I got word that Cat Head was planning the release of a DVD focusing on the life and times of Big George Brock. Titled appropriately Hard Times, the DVD chronicles Big George's life journey from sharecropper in the Delta to boxing (he was good enough to have once knocked down Sonny Liston), father 42 children, perform with Muddy Waters, Albert King, and others and own and manage a series of blues clubs in the St. Louis area.Ultimately, Big George's story is not only one of survival, but one of survival with his dignity intact. Big George comes across as both a proud and humble man who appreciates, at age 73, the opportunity to enjoy some recognition that has largely eluded him most of his adult life (sound familiar?).Big George is such a charismatic individual that whether performing in a night club setting or walking the cotton fields of his youth in the Delta in the film I was frequently transfixed by his engaging personality and entertainment ability.Whether you're a serious blues fan or just someone who really enjoys good music and a good story I highly, highly recommend purchasing this DVD.
