“Goose-bump music” is 67-year-old Sleepy Labeef’s immodest if utterly accurate self-description of his craft. A six foot seven, 270-pound behemoth of a man, Labeef hollers like a mountain giant and plays guitar as if his heart were on fire. His CDs, though very fine, have never captured the man’s essence. Labeef is at his best live, especially on his unique, primal medleys, which find him opening up the American songbook and torching every chapter from blues to rockabilly, taking in country, gospel, Cajun and rock in between. Literally one second will elapse between his waltzing across Texas and going down to Big Mary’s. Every bit the equal in talent to the top tier of the 1950s greats, onetime Houstonian Labeef and his 6,000-song repertoire are guaranteed to leave you anything but sleepy. Or, as Nick Lowe once said: “Sleepy speaksย liars tremble.”
This article appears in Apr 1-7, 2004.
