Tomislav Goluban / Crooked Eye Tommy — “Nashville Road” — Overton Music
It’s not very often that an old-school Croatian harp player hooks up with a West Coast blues band to create an album, but when they do, what else could it be called but “Nashville Road”?
Croatia-born Tomislav (Tomi) “Little Pigeon” Goluban says he owes his passion for the blues harp to the likes of Sonny Terry and Slim Harpo, which gives him a fine head start on the blues. (“Little Pigeon” just happens to be a translation of his last name.) The Crooked Eye Tommy band roars out of Ventura, Calif., with fierce blues-rock intentions. Together, they create a masterful blend, pulsating with music from both their worlds, driving hard on “Nashville Road.”
The album is filled with original material by Tomi, with an assist from Crooked Eye Tommy (Tommy Marsh) on “There Is A Train,” and lyrics by Anamarija Nekić on “Life Is Good.” They share the vocals, while Tommy adds guitar to the mix, with Tomi’s blues-inspired harp. The smartly crisp backers are Eric Robert on keys, Jasco Duende on guitar, Doug Seibert on bass, and Alphonso Wesby on drums.
The opening instrumental, “Hard Run,” lives up to its title, offering a taste of what’s to come with Tomi’s soaring harp runs kicked along by the crackling Crooked Eye band. Tommy opens the vocal duties on “Rock Dog,” chugging along over a percussive beat and wicked harp with an optimistic message: “When the world is dark as night I’ll be your light / When everything is wrong I’ll sing this rockin’ song.”
“Up Is Down” opens with a delicious pairing of harp and roadhouse piano before giving Tomi a gritty vocal turn to explain how “You can knock me down but I’ll get back up / I been through it all, you know I’ve had enough.”
An elegant, jazzy blend of harp and guitar opens “Bad Choices Make Good Stories,” handing the vocals back to Tommy for a philosophical turn: “Sometimes when I’m feeling down / I think about the road I’ve run / I been bad and I been good / But now I’m doing just what I should.”
“Hop Hop Shake” is a throbbing instrumental blues-rock that gives the band a chance to cook up something tasty as an ensemble, featuring a delicious piano break and searing harp lines. “Hard Candy” continues rocking with Marsh letting his sweet tooth do the talking: “Hard drivin’ and heavy drinkin’ / Hard candy, she’s a hard candy / Hard candy from the candy store.” Tomi returns to the mic for the bluesy “Keep On Moving On,” with sensuous harp: “I hope one day I’ll be far away / I don’t care what the people say / Cause I’m moving on, I’m moving on.”
Tommy offers a relaxed, easy-swinging vocal on “Life Is Good,” with a lyrical piano accent and some liquid guitar phrasing: “My days are beautiful, ’cause I’m not alone / And the nights are incredible when you love someone / Yeah life is good.” The closer is the ethereal “There Is A Train” with Tommy’s haunting vocals accented by his lap steel, Grady Clark’s slide guitar, and Bill Gilliam’s upright bass. The finale of this musical journey raises a fitting existential question: “Are you gonna live a life of love and spread good cheer? / Or will you choose he road of desolation? / This train gonna take you to heaven or to damnation.”
It’s most likely musical heaven, as Tomislav Goluban joins Crooked Eye Tommy with straight-ahead, hard-rocking blues on their international journey to “Nashville Road.” You’ll want to make sure you’re along for this joyous ride.
Here’s “Rock Dog” from the album:
Tracklist:
1.Hard Run/2:39
2.Rock Dog/4:03
3.Up Is Down/3:17
4.Bad Choices Make Good Stories/5:08
5.Hip Hop Shake/2:51
6.Hard Candy/3:07
7.Keep On Moving On 3:35
8.Life Is Good/3:27
9.There Is A Train/6:08
Blues Roadhouse 