UPDATE (5:40 p.m.): Boondocks' Shawn Bermudez says Little Joe will resume his Tuesday residency at the bar tomorrow night.
Only a few weeks out of the hospital, Little Joe Washington took another step back this past Friday, when he was enlisted by local blues-rocker John Egan to lay down some of his stinging H-Town licks on a couple of tracks from Egan's forthcoming album.
Egan, who describes the album as "me and two drummers," said Washington was a "little weak but glad to be working again" as the 71-year-old recorded with engineer Steve Christensen at SugarHill Studios. Egan recorded the tracks late last year with drummers Paul Valdez and Richard Cholakian, and has been "just listening to them to see if I was still going to like them six months later."
Washington first heard Egan's "The Mississippi Ran Backwards" when he sat in with Egan last year at Under the Volcano. Lightnin' Hopkins is mentioned in the lyrics, and Egan said Washington picked up on the Hopkins reference when they played together and was very complimentary. "It was a natural thing to ask Joe if he wanted to come in and play on that one," Egan says.
When Rocks Off spoke with Egan today, he was driving around listening to rough mixes on his car stereo. He described the album as very close to being finished.
John Egan, "100 Proof" John Egan, "100 Proof"
Washington is also rumored to be ready to resume his Tuesday residency at Boondocks. His first performance since leaving the hospital and a rehabilitation facility was at the Continental Club's 10th Anniversary Party last month, and it was killer.
