Teresa James & the Rhythm Tramps — “Bad at Being Good” — MoMojo Records

Teresa James’ sassy-sweet vocals are instantly recognizable, always squeezing every drop of life, love and lusty femininity from her Texas blues-rooted pipes.

Wrap those signature vocals in the razor-sharp backing of the criminally talented Rhythm Tramps, and you’ve got another luminous James album — “Bad at Being Good.”

It’s James and the Tramps at their rhythmic roadhouse best on their 14th album, a smartly crafted session of 12 original songs expertly tailored to fit James’ shape-shifting musical moods.

“This music truly represents our roadhouse and blues roots, but also shows off the band’s soul inspiration and heart,” James says.

The Tramps include the multi-talented Terry Wilson — James’ partner, band bassist, and primary songwriter who contributes their deliciously imaginative repertoire. James plays piano, and of course, sings. Also: Billy Watts (lead guitar), Dean Parks (lead guitar), John Porter (slide guitar), Tony Braunagel (drums), Jay Bellerose (drums), Richard Millsap (percussion), Kevin McKendree (B3, piano, Wurlitzer), Bennett Salvay (piano), Jon Cleary (guests on piano), Darrell Leonard (trumpet), Paulie Cerra (saxophone), David P. Jackson (accordion). (The musicians are listed by track below.)

The fun begins with the easy-rocking “Love’s A Full Time Job” — “Love’s a full-time job, and you’ve got me working overtime.” The achingly tender “Is Anything Alright” is a soulful delight, a slow-dancing blues. “I Got This Thing” is a sultry come-hither invitation to love.

“All About the Benjamins” slyly counts that loving feeling that registers on a strictly cash basis. “Trouble in Paradise” is a smoothly done exploration of love going wrong. “Angel on My Shoulder” rocks gently through a personal message to the love who’s the angel on her shoulder, with McKendree’s B-3 rolling underneath.

“Treat Her Like You Want Her to Treat You” is a sensuous, belt-buckle polishing slow-dance blues, with James’ sultry vocal leaving you weak in the knees. “Bad at Being Good” is a swinging, soulful gem with smart lyrics — “You’re gonna need your own personal Jesus / To make up for all your malfeasance …. You’re so bad at being good.” Cleary adds his tasty piano to the mix.

“Say What You Will” swings in with a jazzy lyricism, before “We Came to Rock” shifts into a rollicking honky-tonk roadhouse gear with the band cranking out great old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll behind James’ soaring vocals. “Anytime is Alright” puts a chunky beat behind James pleading that “Any day, any night … anytime is alright.”

“Close Down the Blues Bar” is a fitting closer — a greasy, slow-drag blues with a warning: “He’s so crazy about that funky beat / He forgot he’s got a wife.”

“Bad at Being Good” is another in a long line of albums from Teresa James & the Rhythm Tramps that showcase a unique ability to create a joyful reunion of their bright new music and its deep roots. The music is perfectly crafted to blend insightful songwriting and whip-smart musical backing with James’ honeyed vocals. The result is your listening pleasure.

As James says, “I am so excited about our new album – even after having already released 13 albums, I feel like Bad at Being Good is the best yet… with great performances by everyone (including some very special guest artists) and some of the best songs ever, this music truly represents our roadhouse and blues roots, but also shows off the band’s soul inspiration and heart,” observes James. “Hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it!”

---

Here’s “Close Down the Blues Bar” from the album:

Tracks and credits:

Track 1 – “Love’s A Full Time Job” (Terry Wilson & Teresa James):
Teresa James (vocals, piano), Terry Wilson (bass, guitars), Billy Watts (lead guitar), Tony Braunagel (drums), Richard Millsap (percussion), Kevin McKendree (B3), Darrell Leonard (trumpet), Paulie Cerra (sax).

Track 2 – “Is Anything Alright” (Terry Wilson):
Teresa James (vocals), Terry Wilson (bass), Billy Watts (lead guitar), Jay Bellerose (drums), Richard Millsap (percussion), Kevin McKendree (B3), Bennett Salvay (piano), Darrell Leonard (trumpet), Paulie Cerra (sax).

Track 3 – “I Got This Thing” (Terry Wilson & Teresa James):
Teresa James (vocals, piano), Terry Wilson (bass, guitars), Billy Watts (lead guitar), Tony Braunagel (drums), Richard Millsap (percussion), Kevin McKendree (B3), Darrell Leonard (trumpet), Paulie Cerra (sax).

Track 4 – “All About the Benjamins” (Terry Wilson):
Teresa James (vocals, piano), Terry Wilson (bass, guitars), Billy Watts (lead guitar), Tony Braunagel (drums), Richard Millsap (percussion), Kevin McKendree (B3).

Track 5 – “Trouble in Paradise” (Terry Wilson):
Teresa James (vocals), Terry Wilson (bass, B3), Dean Parks (lead guitar), Richard Millsap (percussion), Kevin McKendree (Wurlitzer).

Track 6 – “Angel on My Shoulder” (Terry Wilson & Teresa James):
Teresa James (vocals, piano), Terry Wilson (bass, guitars), Billy Watts (lead guitar), Tony Braunagel (drums), Richard Millsap (percussion), Kevin McKendree (B3).

Track 7 – “Treat Her Like You Want Her to Treat You” (Terry Wilson & Teresa James):
Teresa James (vocals), Terry Wilson (bass), Tony Braunagel (drums), Richard Millsap (percussion), Kevin McKendree (B3), Bennett Salvay (piano), Darrell Leonard (trumpet), Paulie Cerra (sax).

Track 8 – “Bad at Being Good” (Terry Wilson):
Teresa James (vocals), Terry Wilson (bass, slide guitar, background vocals), John Porter (slide guitar), Tony Braunagel (drums), Richard Millsap (percussion, background vocals), Kevin McKendree (B3), Jon Cleary (piano).

Track 9 – “Say What You Will” (Terry Wilson):
Teresa James (vocals), Terry Wilson (bass, guitars), Billy Watts (lead guitar), Tony Braunagel (drums), Richard Millsap (percussion), Kevin McKendree (B3, piano), Darrell Leonard (trumpet), Paulie Cerra (sax).

Track 10 – “We Came to Rock” (Terry Wilson & Teresa James):
Teresa James (vocals, piano), Terry Wilson (bass, guitars), Billy Watts (lead guitar), Tony Braunagel (drums), Richard Millsap (percussion), Darrell Leonard (trumpet), Paulie Cerra (sax).

Track 11 – “Anytime is Alright” (Terry Wilson):
Teresa James (vocals, piano), Terry Wilson (bass), Jay Bellerose (drums), Richard Millsap (percussion), David P. Jackson (accordion).

Track 12 – “Close Down the Blues Bar” (Gary Nicholson & Terry Wilson):
Teresa James (vocals, piano), Terry Wilson (bass, guitars), Billy Watts (lead guitar), Tony Braunagel (drums), Richard Millsap (percussion), Darrell Leonard (trumpet), Paulie Cerra (sax).

(This post has been republished to update now that the film is available again. It’s a timeless look at blues history.)

Most blues fans have probably heard about, and even heard, the primitive and powerful Mississippi Hill Country blues style. If you haven’t, you’re missing a primeval blues experience.

It’s a rhythmic, hypnotic, drum-and-guitar-heavy style that grew up in the Mississippi Hill Country and almost never left home. Most of its practitioners rarely or never left the areas where they were born and raised. A few were found and recorded by Fat Possum Records.

Some, like R.L. Burnside, recorded and toured and became, if not exactly household names, well-known to blues fans. In fact, Burnside’s 2009 album, “Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down” on Fat Possum, was named the second best blues album of the preceding decade by the old Blues Revue Magazine.

Mostly these bluesmen lived their hardscrabble lives in rural towns and played their blues in jukes and on front porches, where they made music for the simplest and best of reasons — for their own pleasure.

All of this was brought back to me a while back when, whilst perusing the interwebs for music, I ran across the 2002 documentary on this Hill Country music, “You See Me Laughin’.” The film features artists Asie Payton, Cedell Davis, David Cardwell, Johnny Farmer, Junior Kimbrough, Kenny Brown, R.L. Burnside and T-Model Ford.

Davis, who suffered crippling polio, played his guitar with a butter knife as a kind of slide, Ford saying how he “can’t read, can’t write, can’t spell nothin’, but I can play this guitar when I have to.”

Fat Possum co-funder Matthew Johnson hovers around, trying to get gigs and record these men. “I don’t want my guys to die unknown,” he says near the end of the film. If you watch this film, he will have at least partly succeeded.

The film was directed by filmmaking newcomer Mandy Stein, who described her work for the website Stay Thirsty:

“My first documentary was titled, You See Me Laughin’ (2002) where I followed the last of the Hill Country Bluesmen.  The idea was sparked in early 1999, from a Mike Rubin article in Spin Magazine about the Bluesmen.  So I went on and called Mississippi where the label (Fat Possum) was based.  I had no education in the field and never attended film school. The funding came from borrowed money from my grandfather, and I just went down there, figured it out and created a documentary.”

It’s an excellent look at the music lives that these men lived, and how and why they made their music. There’s power and beauty in the music, but a poignant undercurrent throughout of struggles to survive, to live. And to create music.

The movie was unavailable for a time, but seems to be accessible again.

Lucky Losers — “Arrival” — MoMojo Records

I’m a little behind on a few fine new releases from the last couple of months — no excuses, just late. Rest assured that those responsible have been placed on a severely reduced libation ration.

One of the best of those albums, reaching way back to its long-ago release date of Nov. 7, is “Arrival,” from the dynamic West Coast blues duo, The Lucky Losers.

The San Francisco-based Losers, a five-piece, six-time Independent Blues Award-winner, are more-than-lucky winners here, fronted by the soulful vocals of Cathy Lemons and the harmonica wizardry of Phil Berkowitz, who shares in their wide-ranging, always spot-on, vocal stylings. “Arrival” is the group’s sixth album, and their debut on the MoMojo label (a division of Nola Blue, Inc.), home to a growing collection of vital, independent roots artists.

Of these 11 original songs, five were written by Lemons (co-writers: Kid Andersen and Chris Burns) and five by Berkowitz (co-writers: Danny Caron and Chris Burns). The criminally talented Andersen also produced and engineered this sparkling session.

Adding to the musical magic are Doug James on tenor sax, Mike Rinta on trombone and John Halbieb on trumpet, Burns and Andersen on keys, Simon Govan Smith on guitars, Edgar San Gabriel on bass, and Jon Otis on drums.

Lemons says: “Arrival” is our breakthrough album, and the most personal music I’ve ever written. Out of the 11 tracks, I contributed five songs that pushed me to take real risks. For example, ‘I Believe Her (Because I Am Her)’ confronts childhood sexual abuse. The line, ‘I believe her, because I am her—who don’t believe me, my own mother,’ comes directly from my life. “Pig Iron Tough” reflects on the ‘made-of-steel’ resilience it takes to survive touring. That song is rooted in my childhood when I moved 15 times before the age of 17; ‘got no friends, always new in town, until you move again.’

Berkowitz adds: “Looking back, I wasn’t supposed to be a musician. I grew up in a not so typically dysfunctional 60s/70s suburban household in New Jersey.  My mother died when I was ten years old.  I was sent off to camp for nine consecutive summers, diagnosed with ADD HD, long before the term became a household word, and sent to therapists.  I guess the song ‘Misfit Kids’ comes straight from my life. ‘Sunday Stroller’ is probably my best work because people instantly respond to it …. When I wrote these songs with Danny Caron and Chris Burns, these stories came so naturally. These songs are personal reflections and characters I created. “Arrival” has brought my songwriting full circle.”

All of that finely crafted personal songwriting sparks an album rich with human experience, enthusiastically delivered by Lemons and Berkowitz, flowing effortlessly through a variety of genres from folk to funk.

It all kicks off with some of that funky feeling from Lemons in “S-C-A-M,” a contemporary warning to the unsuspecting and a special shoutout to Elon Musk, all kicked along by a furious horn section. “Sunday Stroller” finds Berkowitz rocking a bluesy message about a “big high roller” with his vocals and sharp harp.

An album highlight is Lemons’ rich, soulful vocal on “Pull on The Rope,” with its deep gospel feel. “Play It From the Heart” is a sweet uptempo ballad with Berkowitz and Lemons blending vocals with love and a gently swinging vibe. The sultry blues of Lemons’ “I Believe Her (Because I Am Her)”-delivers her angry tale of the sexual abuse of young women, with mournful harp embellishment by Berkowitz. . “Sorry Brother” highlights Berkowitz on harp, and “My Father’s Son” is another thoughtful personal tale from Berkowitz.

“Pig Iron Tough” brings back a funky beat pairing Lemons’ soaring vocals with Berkowitz’s horn-like harp, weaving a message of personal toughness. “Don’t Let It Slip Away” is a horn-fueled R&B slow dancer with Lemons’ torchy vocal polishing this soulful gem of a song. Berkowitz’s autobiographical “Misfit Kids” is a bouncy tale of life emerging for just that — a misfit kid.

“Ain’t The Marrying Kind” is the whimsical countrified closer, a Berkowitz-Lemons penned duet with Andersen on acoustic guitar and Berkowitz on harp. It adds a sweet touch of front porch intimacy to this jaunty finale.

The Lucky Losers are indeed arriving as talented winners in “Arrival,” with their thoughtful personal songwriting, engaging vocals and infectious musicality. Put them on your list for the new year!

---

“Pull on the Rope” from the album:

Tracklist:
01. S-C-A-M
02. Sunday Stroller
03. Pull on The Rope
04. Play It From the Heart
05. I Believe Her
06. Sorry Brother
07. My Father’s Son
08. Pig Iron Tough
09. Don’t Let It Slip Away
10. Misfit Kids
11. Ain’t The Marrying Kind