The Gulf Coast Blues scene was at it's peak during the fifties and sixties. Don Robey ran a recording empire in Houston's fifth ward that was the largest black owned record company in the nation until Motown came along. Gatemouth Brown, Big Mama Thornton, Johnny Ace, Memphis Slim, Little Richard, Otis Rush and Bobby Bland are only a few of the artists to record in Houston at that time.

    Some of this was documented by the newspaper columnist, Sigman Byrd, in his novel, Houston. The album takes it's title from a local neighborhood that Byrd referred to as Catfish Reef, but the reef was more than a place. It was a state of mind. Lightnin' Hopkins was probably recording on the Gold Star Label and playing the local taverns at the time Sig Byrd was writing his column about the wild characters of the bayou city underworld and travelling the rainy streets at night, searching for a story.

    The recording process has changed considerably over the years. The modern studio with digital editing capability allows the recording artist to cut and paste and "punch in" overdubs in a way that was not possible a generation ago. In the early days artists were often forced to perform songs from beginning to end. It is arguable that this lent a certain urgency to the sound. All of the songs on this disc were recorded on four track analog equipment and digitally mastered. I hope that you will enjoy listening to it.

x