Border Town Legend

Border Town Legend is an album by the American musician Long John Hunter, released on January 30, 1996, by Alligator Records. The album title refers to the many years Hunter spent playing in El Paso and Ciudad Juárez nightclubs. Border Town Legend was one of the most played albums on blues radio the year of its release and was nominated for a W. C. Handy Award. Hunter supported it with a North American tour.

Production

Produced by Tarry Owens and Jon Foose, Border Town Legend was recorded at Gem/Lone Star Studio, in Austin. Hunter wrote nine of the album's twelve songs. He was most influenced by B. B. King, rather than Texas blues musicians, but tried to find his own sound; he considered himself more an entertainer than an accomplished musician. Hunter used a horn section on many of the tracks. "John's Funk" is an instrumental. "Everybody Knows" is a cover of the O. V. Wright song.

Critical reception

The Los Angeles Times said that Border Town Legend "reveals Hunter as a raw, feral talent bursting with energy... His vocals are high and joyfully reedy, his guitar playing alternately restrained and flashy." The Chicago Tribune called it "a simmering pot of hot, R&B-grooved Texas-style blues, distinguished by Hunter's smooth crooning and bell-toned, Albert Collins-ish guitar leads." The Michigan Chronicle noted that "Hunter's secret weapon is a funky baritone sax ace by the name of Kevin Brown." The Chicago Sun-Times labeled the album "tough music for grownups."
The Dallas Observer deemed it "a travelogue of Hunter's eccentric life—the barrooms of Beaumont, the sparkling lights of Marfa, and the fields of Arkansas—set to a boogie-blues beat." The Kansas City Star praised "Hunter's spare-but-spunky songwriting, engaging vocals and infectious guitar stylings." The Post-Tribune considered Border Town Legend "a good guitarist's blues album, and Hunter writes nine fast-paced songs that loosely mirror his influences, T-Bone Walker and B. B. King."