The yardstick for measuring his success at the microphone was, perhaps, his fourteen years of continuous service with that station, during which time he talked, played records, and often turned 10 his living-room piano to give avid listeners a taste of "live" performance. Throughout the few decades between 1936, the year, he claims, that he made his first recording as accompanist to guitarist Blind Willie McTell, and today, Red has continued in one way or another to keep his name in the limelight. No doubt his dynamic personality has been as much responsible for the fact as has his raucous piano playing and coarse singing. Nevertheless it remains that he has continued to generate sufficient interest in himself that he is still provided generous exposure even at this late date in his musical life.

Though Willie "Piano Red, Dr. Feclgood" Perryman's name is not now nearly so widely recognized as it was when he was under contract to RCA, it remains a fairly potent one in and around the Atlanta area where Red has been a fixture for these past several years. One of the Underground Atlanta night-spots has kept him in work regularly for seven of those years, and Red in turn helps sec that the place remains the liveliest along Underground's busy pedestrian thoroughfare.

Southland has in its archive, a session recorded by Rufus "Speckled Red" Perryman, Willie's now-deceased older brother, who provided one of the driving forces in bringing a facet of early folk-style piano playing to the attention of older record buyers. It naturally followed that Southland would also entertain an interest in the younger Mr. Perryman's creations; and so it was that this current session was arranged and recorded, thereby providing those who are interested with yet another glimpse into the unique musical form known as blues. For Red, this session was an opportunity to stray afield from the more recognizable material for which he became known during the days of his former immense recording successes. It supplied him an opportunity to search back into his past and record some of the early sounds that had helped shape his later musical identity. Here then is Piano Red, reliving memories of an era when fine blues performance was the rule, not the exception.

Red has told us that he is proud of what he recorded for this album. We, too, arc proud of this presentation, and are equally pleased as well ... to add Red's name 10 those others of the illustrious Southland fraternity.

-John Bentley

Southland is pleased and honored to have the artistry of Piano "Dr. Feelgood" Red added to its important roster of great and distinguished blues artists. Piano Red has been an important blues artist all of his life and as blues historians know he is the younger brother of the legendary "Speckled Red." We at Southland arc proud that we were able to record Speckled Red in his very last recording session just before his death, John Bentley travelled to St. Louis for Southland to record this blues giant.

Southland Records is dedicated to the documentation of pure rural blues and we would also like to recommend some of our other superb blues artists for your listening pleasure and enlightenment such as Drink Small, Roosevelt Sykes, Furry Lewis, Robert Pete Williams, William Robertson, Willie Guy Rainey and others.

-George H. Buck