''Superstitious Blues'' is an album by the American musician

Country Joe McDonald Joseph Allen "Country Joe" McDonald (born January 1, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter and musician who was the lead vocalist of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Country Joe and the Fish.Richard Brenneman"Country Joe McDonald Revives Anti ...

, released in 1991. Although McDonald had played then-recent anti-

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

rallies, the album is made up of personal, not political, songs. McDonald considered making ''Superstitious Blues'' his final album; it was his first album in 12 years to be distributed by a label other than his own.

Production

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 196 ...

played guitar on the album;

Sandy Rothman Sandy Rothman (born January 30, 1946, Miami, Florida) is an American, San Francisco Bay Area bluegrass multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He plays mandolin, dobro and banjo, and he also sings. Rothman was a friend and colleague of Grat ...

contributed dobro. "Eunecita" was written in 1971, but remained unrecorded for almost two decades. "Clara Barton" is a tribute to the founder of the

American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...

; "Blues for Michael" is about

Mike Bloomfield Michael Bernard Bloomfield (July 28, 1943 – February 15, 1981) was an American blues guitarist and composer. Born in Chicago, he became one of the first popular music stars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrume ...

. McDonald was supposed to sing at the 1991 American Red Cross annual convention, but was uninvited due to his Gulf War protest. McDonald, in contrast to some of his peers, was happy to employ digital recording during the making of the album.

Critical reception

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' called the album "both uneven and surprising," but acknowledged that the McDonald-Garcia "guitar team-up on the pretty country-folk tune 'Standing at the Crossroads' is a blissful pleasure." ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' wrote that, "in backing McDonald, arciareturns to fluid acoustic musings that evoke the Dead's ''American Beauty'' and ''Workingman's Dead''." The ''

Sun Sentinel The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its Nameplate (publishing), masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, ...

'' determined that "the shift from broader politics to personal themes reflects McDonald's maturation both as an artist and an activist." ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

'' called the album "poignant, pretty and powerful, yet almost understated... Its songs range from the moody, moderately psychedelic instrumental 'Tranquility' to 'Standing at the Crossroads', a country waltz." ''

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'' concluded that "the beauty of this disc is its simplicity ... McDonald combines those old bay area psychedelic sentiments with deep-rooted blues."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

deemed it "an excellent comeback album."

Track listing

References

{{Authority control Country Joe McDonald albums 1991 albums Rykodisc albums