Red to Blue

The album was produced by Beryl Handler and Redbone.{{cite magazine |title=Reviews |magazine=Billboard |date=Feb 8, 1986 |volume=98 |issue=6 |page=72}} David Bromberg accompanied Redbone on the cover of the Bob Dylan song "Living the Blues".{{cite news |last1=Ayers |first1=Chuck |title=Leon Redbone |work=The Morning Call |date=31 Jan 1986 |page=D1}} Hank Williams Jr. provided a spoken part for the cover of his father's version of "Lovesick Blues".{{cite news |last1=Quill |first1=Greg |title=A rambling conversation with crooner/beer-booster Redbone |work=Toronto Star |date=29 Aug 1986 |page=D17}} Biréli Lagrène played guitar on "Whose Honey Are You?"{{cite news |last1=Rense |first1=Rip |title=Redbone still around — and still sentimental |work=The San Diego Union-Tribune |date=25 July 1986 |page=C17}} The Roches contributed backing vocals; Dr. John played piano.{{cite news |last1=Conan |first1=Neal |title=The Roches Perform Live in NPR's Studio 4A |work=Talk of the Nation |agency=NPR |date=Dec 10, 2007}}{{cite news |last1=Gettelman |first1=Parry |title=He's a Bud man |work=Orlando Sentinel |date=21 May 1989 |department=Calendar |page=17}} The album title comes from a Jelly Roll Morton quote that describes the transition from Spanish musical styles to blues-based ones.

{{music ratings

|rev1 = AllMusic

|rev1score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite web |title=Red to Blue Review by Cub Koda |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/red-to-blue-mw0000192921 |website=AllMusic |access-date=5 May 2024}}

|rev2 = MusicHound Folk: The Essential Album Guide

|rev2score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite book |title=MusicHound Folk: The Essential Album Guide |date=1998 |publisher=Visible Ink Press |page=656}}

}}

The New York Times wrote that "Leon Redbone carries to a peak his mixture of jazz-filtered old pop songs, blues and 'contemp-folk' with the assistance of a pool of traditional jazz and folk-jazz musicians who light momentarily like hummingbirds in these performances, then take off again."{{cite news |last1=Wilson |first1=John S. |title=Jazz-Pop Album of the Week |work=The New York Times |date=14 Feb 1986 |page=C26}} The Columbia Daily Tribune said that the album "saunters and shuffles like an old hepcat, past his prime but still jiving along at his own unhurried pace."{{cite news |last1=Rose |first1=Forrest |title=Leon Redbone album another bluesy classic |work=Columbia Daily Tribune |date=Apr 6, 1986 |page=64}}

The Vancouver Sun determined that "Redbone's almost hallucinogenic, sweeping you up in the gentle swing of his music and transporting you back to a '30s dance hall."{{cite news |last1=Mackie |first1=John |title=Leon Redbone: Red to Blue |work=The Vancouver Sun |date=Apr 19, 1986 |page=D4}} The Atlanta Journal-Constitution deemed the album "his standard fare—barely intelligible vocals that get so loooow, clarinets, coronets, guitars, banjoes and tuba."{{cite news |last1=Yandel |first1=Gerry |title=Record Reviews: Jazz |work=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |date=Jun 6, 1986 |department=Weekend |page=34}} Likewise, the Detroit Free Press considered it "the same old hambone."{{cite news |title=Red to Blue |work=Detroit Free Press |date=Jun 8, 1986 |page=5E}}

AllMusic praised "the usual Dixieland backing augmenting his tasteful fingerpicked guitar work."

{{Track listing

| all_writing =

| title1 = Diamonds Don't Mean a Thing

| writer1 = Leon Redbone

| length1 = 3:02

| title2 = Lovesick Blues

| writer2 = Cliff Friend, Irving Mills

| length2 = 2:44

| title3 = Reaching for Someone and Not Finding Anyone There

| writer3 = Walter Donaldson, Edgar Leslie

| length3 = 2:08

| title4 = Somebody Stole My Gal

| writer4 = Leo Wood

| length4 = 2:08

| title5 = Steal Away Blues

| writer5 = Redbone

| length5 = 2:34

| title6 = Aw You Salty Dog

| writer6 = Redbone

| length6 = 3:18

| title7 = Border of the Quarter

| writer7 = Owen Davis

| length7 = 3:01

| title8 = Someday Sweetheart

| writer8 = Benjamin Franklin Spikes, John Spikes

| length8 = 2:37

| title9 = Whose Honey Are You?

| writer9 = J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie

| length9 = 2:11

| title10 = Living the Blues

| writer10 = Bob Dylan

| length10 = 2:22

| title11 = Nobody Cares If I'm Blue

| writer11 = Harry Akst, Grant Clark

| length11 = 2:41

| title12 = Think of Me Thinking of You

| writer12 = Charlie Abbott, Johnny Marvin, Dale Wimbrow

| length12 = 3:23

}}

{{div col}}

• Leon Redbone – guitar, vocals
• Dr John – piano
• Arnie Kinsella – drums
• Giampaolo Biagi – drums
• Hank Williams Jr. – vocals (track 2)
• Eddie Davis – guitar
• Eric Weissberg – steel guitar, pedal steel guitar, pedal steel banjo
• Steve Fishell – steel guitar
• David Bromberg – dobro, vocals (track 10)
• Howard Alden – guitar, banjo
• Gary Peacock – bass (upright), vocals
• Vince Giordano – bass, bass (upright), drums, percussion, sax (bass), tuba
• Alvin E. Roger – violin
• Richard Hendrickson – violin
• Richard Maximoff – violin
• Andy Stein – violin, backing vocals
• Biréli Lagrène – guitar (track 9)
• Big Jonny Dong – tuba
• Dan Barrett – trombone
• Joel Helleny – trombone
• Scott Black – cornet
• Ken Peplowski – clarinet
• Charlie Wilson – clarinet
• Bobby Gordon – clarinet
• Joe Muranyi – clarinet
• Terry Waldo – piano
• The Roches – backing vocals

{{div col end}}

{{div col}}

• Leon Redbone, Beryl Handler – producers
• Doug Epstein – engineer
• Victor Deyglio, Bruce Smith – assistant engineers
• Michael Tarsia – dialogue engineer
• Greg Calbi – mastering engineer
• Emmett Miller & His Georgia Crackers – arrangements
• Joe Renzetti – string arrangements
• Michael Horen – cover art
• Leon Redbone – cover drawing

{{div col end}}

{{reflist}}

{{Leon Redbone}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Leon Redbone albums

Category:1986 albums