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Worried captures a 10-spot of the visceral Delta blues of the late Asie Payton, impoverished farmer and second-generation weekend country-grocery musician. The crew at Oxford, Mississippi-based Fat Possum Records intended to use these sessions as demo tapes to spark interest, yet they were unable to woo the gifted Payton from his tractor, on which he suffered a heart attack in the spring of 1997. Recorded at Junior Kimbrough's club, "Come Home with me" and "Skinny Legs & All" recall the lusty heat and wobbly cock-of-the-walk pride (minus the lewdness) of label-mate R.L. Burnside. Yet, as he spells out on the trippy progressive blues, "Asie's Jam," Payton's soulful herky-jerky guitar and ragged voice communicate from a place born of hardship, depth, and reckoned gentleness. In the spirit and tradition of Othar Turner's Everybody Hollerin' Goat, Worried becomes not a pity party at Payton's grave, but a celebration. From the top, his wide-open strum kicks off with Sam Carr's gorgeously ramshackle ass-wigglin' drumming, and "I Love You" soars and pops like a bottle rocket bearing a message of good will. --Paige La Grone

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