There are just two pure blues categories in the Grammys these days, with sort of related categories in gospel, Americana, roots and folk music. But since this is the BLUES Roadhouse, we’ll just list those two.
Both categories had worthwhile nominees, but it’s hard to disagree with the winners. Both Cedric Burnside and “Kingfish” Ingram produced excellent albums. In a bit of shameless self-promotion, here’s my review of each: Burnside’s “I Be Trying” and Ingram”s “662.”
Videos of their acceptance speeches are below.
And here’s a list of all the Grammys (the page is being updated throughout the evening).
Best Traditional Blues Album For albums containing at least 51% playing time of new vocal or instrumental traditional blues recordings.
100 Years Of Blues Elvin Bishop & Charlie Musselwhite
Traveler’s Blues Blues Traveler
I Be Trying – WINNER Cedric Burnside
Be Ready When I Call You Guy Davis
Take Me Back Kim Wilson
Best Contemporary Blues Album For albums containing at least 51% playing time of new vocal or instrumental contemporary blues recordings.
Delta Kream The Black Keys Featuring Eric Deaton & Kenny Brown
There are powerful singers with great voices in the world of music — and then there is the majestic voice of Vaneese Thomas.
The written word is often inadequate to describe the emotional qualities of music, and this exuberant album filled with powerful music and gorgeous vocals is one of those times. (But I have to try, otherwise this post would end here!)
It’s tough enough to find just one of those qualities in a musical performance, but Thomas and a stellar group of musicians wrap it up and bring it all home with power and passion on this outstanding album, her ninth.
The powerful arrangements on every song weave an undulating tapestry of pulsating sound that urge Thomas’s rich vocals both higher and deeper. Maybe it helps that she wrote or co-wrote all 12 songs, which can only add to the heightened sense of emotional purpose in each one. I should note here, in case you didn’t realize, Thomas is the daughter of the legendary Memphis singer, songwriter, dancer, disc jockey Rufus Thomas.
The songs themselves? They’re a heady mix of blues, R&B, soul, country and other classic roots music. To her credit, Thomas makes each one sound as though it’s her first musical language.
In order to create this great sound, Thomas enlisted many special guests, including Scott Sharrard (Gregg Allman’s musical director), Bo Mitchell, Lisa Fischer, Tash Neal, along with the Memphis Horns – trumpeter Marc Franklin and saxophonist Kirk Smothers (Drive By Truckers) – and harmonica from Corrin Huddleston, plus banjo by Peter Calo. Bassist Will Lee, drummer Shawn Pelton and more worked on special sessions in Brooklyn, Nevada, and the Royal Studios in Memphis.
Warnecke and guitarist Al Orlo hold down the rhythm section for most of the songs, beginning with the potent opener, “Raise The Alarm,” which does just that for the excellent music that follows.
Next, Thomas’s soaring vocals highlight “Same Blood Same Bone” (a video is below), an emotional ode to the soulful heritage of her hometown, Memphis. After that, Calo’s banjo adds a country flair to “Rosalie,” and that’s followed by the driving “I’m Moving On,” ridden hard and put away wet with Thomas on piano.
There’s not a bad note here, or a lyric out of place. Every song is worth a listen — many listens, in fact. The sheer lyricism is word-perfect.
A few of my other favorites include the hopeful anthem of the title track, with plaintive fiddle by Katie Jacoby and finger-pickin’ good guitar by Paul Guzzone; “Bad Man” is a tough but victorious blues message. The spiritual-like closer, “Lost in the Wilderness,” is simply beautiful, with that gorgeous Thomas voice soaring in front of a choir that adds even more power and passion.
Like I said at the beginning, words can’t really do justice to this level of musical excellence. You’ve got to hear it, absorb it and make Vaneese Thomas’s soulful performance part of your own musical experience.
The great music of rhythm & blues — music that blew in on the strains of jump blues and big band music through the 1940s and ’50s, and then became its own fine self, doesn’t always get the credit it deserves as a vital slice of American music history.
It was, after all, laying the groundwork for soul music, rock ‘n’ roll, and a huge amount of American popular music.
R&B is supposed to have gotten its name in 1948 from Jerry Wexler, a Billboard magazine writer who in 1953 became a partner in Atlantic Records, although the phrase rhythm and blues was actually used in Billboard as early as 1943. It replaced the term “race music.” In June 1949, at Wexlers’s suggestion, Billboard changed the name of its Race Records chart to Rhythm & Blues Records.
But I digress. I just wanted to note that by 1948, rhythm and blues had earned its name.
Robillard reaches back into that era for much of the music here, including “Fools Are Getting Scarcer,” a Roy Milton swinger from 1955, and Hammond’s deep, dark takes on Lil Son Jackson’s 1949 “Homeless Blues” and Howlin’ Wolf’s 1954 “No Place To Go” (both done in more of a classic blues style).
But the album actually kicks off in traditional R&B fashion with the easy rocking “Here I’m Is” by Chuck Higgins, one of six tracks featuring the band’s big-voiced singer, Chris Cote. This is the stylish music that Robillard has been creating since 1967, when he and pianist Al Copley started what would become the great jump blues band, Roomful of Blues.
By the way, this is an unusually long album, with 18 songs — an hour and seven minutes of swinging musical pleasure.
Robillard himself steps up with an original song, “Outta Here,” cut with a touch of horn and organ-laced soul that swung in after R&B. It also shows that the Duke can still make excellent use of his guitar skills, as he does all through the album.
One of my favorite tracks is Cote’s scorching version of Freddie King’s “Someday After Awhile,” but everything here is very worth your while. There are tasty turns by all the vocal guests: John Hammond, Kim Wilson, Sue Foley, Sugar Ray Norcia, Michelle Willson and Chris Cote.
The album ends with, “Swingin’ for Four Bills,” an original instrumental by Robillard as a tribute to Bill Jennings, Billy Butler, Bill Doggett and Wild Bill Davis. And it is a swinging affair.
This is a truly enjoyable album, enthusiastically executed — for its music, its singers and its musicians. It all makes for a delicious trip down memory lane, making great old music new again.
A video of “No Good Lover”
Cast and credits:
John Hammond, Kim Wilson, Sue Foley, Sugar Ray Norcia, Michelle Willson, Chris Cote, Bruce Bears, Marty Ballou, Mark Teixeira, Doug James, Mike Flanigin, Mark Earley, Doug Woolverton and Matt McCabe.
Duke Robillard – guitars, vocals Chris Cote – vocals Bruce Bears – piano, organ Marty Ballou – acoustic and electric bass Mark Teixeira – drums Doug James – baritone and tenor sax
Track list:
Here I’m Is – Chris Cote – vocal
No Good Lover – Duke Robillard – vocal; Sue Foley – vocal and guitar; Mike Flanigin – organ
Fools Are Getting Scarcer – Chris Cote – vocal
Tell Me Why – Kim Wilson – vocal and harmonica; Matt McCabe – piano
Rambler Blues – Sugar Ray Norcia – vocal and harmonica
The Way You Do – Chris Cote – vocal
Champagne Mind – Michelle Willson – vocal
Homeless Blues – John Hammond – vocal and guitar
Outta Here – Duke Robillard – vocal, Anita Suhanin – vocals
In The Wee Wee Hours – Chris Cote – vocal
Someday After Awhile – Chris Cote – vocal
She’s My Baby – Sugar Ray Norcia – vocals and harmonica
Trouble In Mind – Michelle Willson – vocal
No Place To Go – John Hammond – vocal and guitar
The Things I Forgot To Do – Kim Wilson – vocal
I Can’t Understand It – Chris Cote – vocal
Eat Where You Slept Last Night – Duke Robillard – vocal
Swingin’ For Four Bills – Duke Robillard, Sue Foley – guitar; Mike Flanigin – organ
If you enjoy listening to the historic roots of the blues we hear today, here are a couple of recent releases that should give you an earful of some great music.
Edward James “Son” House Jr., or Son House, was a unique figure in blues history. His highly emotional vocals and slide guitar playing combined to give him a powerful, sometimes almost otherworldly, sound.
After a stint as a preacher in his early 20s, House performed and recorded from the mid-1920s to the mid-’40s, when he gave up music and moved to Rochester, N.Y. He was rediscovered in 1964 and enjoyed a revival of his career during the ongoing folk-blues years until he retired again in 1974 for health reasons.
After he was rediscovered in 1964, he recorded what would become his seminal album, “The Legendary Son House: Father of Folk Blues,” in 1965 on Columbia Records.
But, as it turns out, he was recorded earlier, at a November 1964 performance at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind., by Dick Waterman. who has had tapes of that show stashed away for the past 60 years. Waterman was one of three blues fans who tracked House to his Rochester home and then helped to revive his career.
Now, material from the Wabash concert has been released by Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound record label.
The recordings come from a Nov. 23, 1964 performance Son House gave at Wabash in Crawfordsville. Five months later, the blues legend cut the Columbia album, which introduced him to a new, wider audience.
The album contains new versions of seven songs House later recorded for Columbia — including a new rendition of “Preachin’ Blues.” The title track had never been recorded, but was played at his live performances.
Here’s a fine album of tracks recorded by Bob Corritore between 1995 and 2012 in Phoenix, Ariz., at Corritore’s club, the Rhythm Room.
This is another one of the excellent classic blues recordings in Corritore’s “From the Vault” series, recorded as performers passed through his club.
This 13-track album includes some great blues by Honeyboy Edwards, T-Model Ford, Henry Townsend, Big Jack Johnson, Robert “Bilbo” Walker, Smokey Wilson, Tomcat Courtney, Dave Riley, Pecan Porter, and Al Garrett.
If classic blues is your thing, give these albums a listen.
Tim Gartland — “Truth” — Taste Good Music (March 18)
For his fifth solo album, singer/songwriter/harp player Tim Gartland brings up an intriguing musical concept — the truth.
Maybe it comes from his perspective on songwriting, and the blues:
“The blues is essentially a genre in which the singer is having a cathartic experience. If you write about themes that are meaningful to your experience, you will create something new,”Gartland says.
And that’s definitely the vibe coming from all of the 11 original songs on this smartly written and produced album. It’s full of razor-sharp lyrics and crisp music. The creative writing comes from Gartland, whose name is on every track, with a capable assist here and there from some talented partners in song.
Then there’s the style. It starts with Gartland’s world-weary, hint of late-night whiskey baritone that he uses to frame all these finely crafted lyrics. Then there’s the music: “Truth” was produced by Grammy winner and keyboardist Kevin McKendree, a Delbert McClinton veteran, with Kenneth Blevins on drums, Steve Mackey on bass, Robert Frahm on guitar and Ray Desilvis on acoustic slide. Bryan Brock provides percussion and Top Ten finalist on “The Voice”, Wendy Moten offers background vocals.
And here’s the thing: This band is tight, but the music rolls as loose as it should, rocking with purpose on the opener with Gartland’s strong harp work out front (“Don’t Mess With My Heart,” written with Pat Gartland) or swinging with ease (“Leave Well Enough Alone”). Gartland’s harp, by the way, digs deep into every arrangement. Another favorite is “Cloudy with a Chance of the Blues,” written with McKendree, pushed along by his piano, coupled with Gartland’s harp. “Outta Sight Outta Mind” shares the same pairing, but with a sparkling, jazzy vibe.
Then there’s the title track, “The Thing About the Truth,” written with Karen Leipziger, which neatly sums up the philosophy here of the value of truth, with the following observation that really pulled me in:
“A world that’s lit by gaslight casts a shadow of doubt….”
And there’s a lot more, all equally worthy of filling that hole in your soul with honest, rootsy, bluesy music. It’s an excellent, finely crafted album that effortlessly pulls together intelligent songwriting, smooth vocals and inspired musicality.
You want the truth? You should check out “Truth.” Honest.
If you love piano blues (I’ll admit to my own crush), here’s a new album from an old piano master that should satisfy any craving you might have.
Wayne has been one of the premier boogie-woogie practitioners for years — he’s 77 and still tormenting the ivories here with considerable pleasure.
For this set, however, Wayne decided to focus more on some standard blues. Or as he put it:
“Many of my friends, around the world, have told me that they miss the sound of piano blues and this album will feature just that….”
These tracks are focused on the late 1950s and early ’60s, specifically on the music created when the great blues singer-songwriter Willie Dixon joined with piano great Memphis Slim (Peter Chatman) on a world tour. Thus the title, “Blues from Chicago to Paris.”
Wayne explains: “Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon were a team, and their styles worked great together.” “Out of many other blues piano players I’ve listened to, I found a unique playfulness between these two men, unlike the many other great blues pianists.” This inspiration was based on Dixon’s early years when he was Willie Dixon and the Big Three Trio.
The result is the 17 songs on this smartly conceived and enthusiastically executed album by Wayne and players he calls his “two buddies,” Russell Jackson on acoustic bass and Joey DiMarco on drums.
Yes, there’s some tasty boogie woogie here (“Rock and Rolling This House,” “Just You and I”), but Wayne’s piano work is mostly more subtly attuned to the flavor of the songs he’s chosen, and the result is sensual and bluesy (“Messin’ With the Blues,” “Got You On My Mind,” “Pigalle Love,” “Stewball”).
Every song is a minor gem of blues piano work, with Wayne’s husky vocals (Jackson adds some, too) adding depth and well-aged smokiness.
The is a fine and fun album by one of remaining giants of blues piano. Goes down smooth late at night with the proper adult beverage. Enjoy it soon and often.
“Stewball” from the album:
Tracklist and credits:
1, Rock and Rolling This House, Peter Chatman, Memphis Slim Music
2, The Way She Loves A Man, Willie Dixon, Helios Music Company
3, New Way To Love, Willie Dixon, Hoochie Coochie Music
4, Reno Blues, Willie Dixon
5, African Hunch, Willie Dixon, Helios Music Company
6, Just You and I, Willie Dixon, Helios Music Company
7, Messin’ Round (With The Blues), Peter Chatman, Conrad Music
8, One More Time, Willie Dixon, Hoochie Coochie Music
9, Somebody Tell That Woman, Willie Dixon, Hoochie Coochie Music
10, Stewball, Peter Chatman, Arc Music
11, After While, Willie Dixon, Hoochie Coochie Music
12, Got You On My Mind, Willie Dixon, Hoochie Coochie Music
13, Don’t Let The Music Die, Willie Dixon, Hoochie Coochie Music
14, Pigalle Love, Peter Chatman, Sony / ATV Songs LLC
15, I Aint Gonna Be No Monkey Man, Willie Dixon/Leonard Caston, Hoochie Coochie Music
16, I Got A Razor, Willie Dixon, Hoochie Coochie Music
17. Wish Me Well, Peter Chatman, Memphis Slim Music
All Tracks:
Kenny Blues Boss Wayne – Piano/Vocals
Russell Jackson – Acoustic Bass/Vocals
Joey DiMarco – Drums
Producer – Kenny Wayne
Engineers – Adam Wittke & Peter Kilgour
Liner Notes – Bill Dahl (Yes, I know you can’t read them here, but the man writes great liner notes.)
At the top of the first page of this band’s website, it says their new album is “showcasing Murray at the peak of her mastery of American roadhouse music.”
Well. If an album of fine roadhouse music doesn’t deserve mention here in the Roadhouse, where else?
Roadhouse music, by the way, is a catchphrase that describes an assortment of musical styles good for things like listening, drinking or dancing (or all three) — and it can put its lovin’ arms around country, blues, ballads, and just about any music that could also be called rootsy, or maybe Americana.
But that’s just all a bunch of words. Maybe it’s better to describe the music by its performers. And that’s where Kathy Murray comes in.
At first glance, Kathy, plus the Kilowatts, is a bluesy Texas songbird, backed by a crisp combo making fine music. Well, they are that. But they are much more. Murray is a talented singer-songwriter with an expressive honey-layered Southern voice (must be a Texas thang!). Her bandleader and partner, Bill Jones, leads the way with expressive guitar that matches the many moods of the music and Murray’s vocals.
Since this is very much a Texas band, the opener is a traditional Texas shuffle, “Expense of Love.” That’s followed by “My Mistake,” a torchy blues with appropriate guitar and the Texas Horns for good measure. The road (and roadhouse) song “Changing Lanes” revs things into a higher gear.
There is much more. All excellent listening. Murray’s vocals shift gently from song to song, but never lose their essential expressiveness — she pulls you into each song, especially more thoughtful musings such as “Wash Away The Pain” and one of my favorites, the melancholy country-flavored “Breakup Breakdown.” And she casts her own sultry vocal spell on the old Irma Thomas track, “Anyone Who Knows What Love Is.” And can rock out hard and fast, as in “Get Ahold of Yourself,” behind a pounding piano.
Another favorite is her effortless sensuality on the classic Tampa Red version of “It Hurts Me Too.” If you want to take an interesting side trip into the blues, both Red (Hudson Whittaker or Woodbridge) and the song itself have long and colorful histories. After you’ve listened to Murray’s music, come back and check those links. After all, they’re included free of charge, along with this blog, also free of charge.
This is an excellent album by a talented singer and songwriter, with impressive credentials: Along with co-songwriters Christoffer ‘Kid” Andersen, Rick Estrin and Frank Bey, Murray wrote the title cut on Frank Bey’s album, “All My Dues Are Paid,” posthumously nominated for “Best Traditional Blues Album” in the 63rd Grammy Awards, and for “Song of the Year” in the 2021 Blues Music Awards. Murray received the 2003 “Songwriter of the Year” award from the Australian Blues Music Awards and two Silver Medals from the 2018 Global Music Awards.
So have a listen. It’s cool, smart and smooth Texas music from cool, smart and smooth Texan Kathy Murray.
Here’s a video of “The House That Freddie Built” from the album:
Another libation tip (yes, I actually do this): It’s Famous Grouse Smoky Black blended Scotch.
After playing as a sideman on more than 30 Delmark record releases over the years, bassist Bob Stroger finally gets his chance to strut his bluesy bass work as a band leader for the label, at the age of 91, on the album “That’s My Name.”
He does so in front of the Headcutters, a snappy blues quartet from Brazil.
Stroger’s vocals are still smooth and ripe with his feelings for the music. The Headcutters sit back behind the vocals and make their own tough statement, but don’t overwhelm. It makes for fine blues listening.
The Headcutters are Joe Marhofer (harmonica and vocals), Ricardo Maca (guitar), Arthur Catuto (acoustic bass) and Leandro Cavera (drums). They add the special talents of guests Luciano Leaes on piano and organ,, and Braion Johnny on sax.
Stroger has written five of the 13 tracks; the rest are covers of some fine blues chestnuts. The opener is “What Goes On In The Dark,” with its a down-home vibe, followed by Eddie Taylor’s sturdy “Just A Bad Boy,” with a punchy harp, and then the classic “C.C. Rider.” All vintage blues that go down as smooth as good whiskey.
Then Stroger adds a pair of his own: the slow-dragging “I’m A Busy Man,” followed by the bluesy bounce of “Come On Home.” Then Stroger’s version of another classic blues, “Move To The Outskirts of Town,” followed by Jay McShann’s “Keep Your Hands Off Her.”
There are more, all featuring Stroger’s still warm, almost honeyed voice that lends the authority and presence of his 91 years.
He pulls it all together at the end with his own track as some Hammond B3 walks in the closer, “That’s My Name” — “You can call me Bob Stroger, you can call me anything you choose, but my real name is the blues…… I am the blues…”
It’s a shame we had to wait so long to put Stroger out front with his classy, classic blues vocals, but this is an excellent set of good old-fashioned blues from one of its oldest living practitioners. It’s also a tribute to the universality of the music that a Brazilian blues combo seals this real deal.
Here’s a short live take of one of the album tracks, “Pretty Girl”
Track list:
01 What Goes On in the Dark 3:49 (H.PARKER JR.) 02 Just A Bad Boy 3:19 (EDDIE TAYLOR) 03 CC Rider 4:19 (MA RAINEY) 04 I’m A Busy Man 4:34 (ROBERT STROGER) 05 Come On Home 3:44 (ROBERT STROGER) 06 Move to the Outskirts of Town 5:32 (CASEY BILL) 07 Keep Your Hands Off Her 3:25 (JAY McSHANN) 08 Something Strange 3:21 (ROBERT STROGER) 09 Stranded in St. Louis 4:55 (H. PARKER JR.) 10 Pretty Girls 3:05 (EUGENE CHURCH) 11 Talk to Me Mama 4:07 (ROBERT STROGER) 12 Just A Dream 4:54 (BIG BILL BROONZY) 13 That’s My Name 4:18 (ROBERT STROGER)
Libation note: This review was, of course, inspired by this great music, but partially fueled by some excellent Old Grand-Dad, laced with a lovin’ spoonful of Benedectine.
It’s always a pleasure to find a new release from harp-master Bob Corritore’s treasure trove of great old blues music — his “From the Vaults” series.
This time he celebrates the unique blues guitar stylings and prolific songwriting skills of the too-often overlooked Louisiana Red.
Red, whose real name was Iverson Minter, was something of a blues vagabond, although in his younger years, he lived where his family took him. He was born in Bessemer, Ala., and his mother died of pneumonia shortly after his birth. His father was lynched by the Ku Klux Klan in 1937, when he was five.
He was then raised by relatives in various places, including Pittsburgh, where he reportedly learned to play the blues. The Pittsburgh Music History website describes those years:
“In his teens Iverson moved to Canonsburg, Pa., (south of Pittsburgh) to live with an aunt and uncle. He moved into the city of Pittsburgh with his grandmother in the late 1940’s. One day in Pittsburgh, Red heard blues guitarist Crit Walters playing on his porch. Walters (also known as Boy B) serenaded passers-by every day with down home blues. Red asked Walters to teach him the blues. Red also studied wtih another Pittsburgh bluesman named Mr. Cash. After learning the basics from Walters and Cash, Red and his friend Orville Whitney formed a three-piece band composed of a washboard player, a washtub bass player, and himself on bottleneck guitar. They performed on the streets of Pittsburgh for pennies, earning $5 dollars on a good night. Red’s 1995 release “Sittin Here Wonderin'” features his song “Pittsburgh Blues.”
And in an interesting sidelight to that, I remember seeing Red at the The Decade, a long-gone but musically vital club in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, probably in the late ’70s, shortly before he moved to Hanover, Germany, in 1981, where he lived until his death in 2012.
Red’s music was usually an old-style acoustic, down-home blues with a fierce slide and lyrics that told stories often taken from his past, if not his wonderfully fertile imagination. He lived a little too late to be considered with the early pre-war acoustic players, and he didn’t adopt the electric blues combo style that came to dominate the post-war blues years. So his creative songwriting and stinging slide often got lost in the blues world. But Red recorded 50 albums and carried his music around the world until he died.
This album was recorded at seven different sessions between 2000 and 2009 with Corritore, who became Red’s close friends during their Chicago years. Other musicians involved in these tracks include Chico Chism, David Maxwell, Bob Margolin, Little Victor, Buddy Reed, Johnny Rapp, Chris James, Patrick Rynn, and Brian Fahey.
All this is to introduce, or re-introduce you to the music of Louisiana Red. This album is tough, old-fashioned blues, played by Red with a passionate guitar attack combined with an evil-sounding slide, which could range from angry to ethereal.
About that name: It was a nickname given to him as a child by his grandfather because he really liked “Louisiana Red” hot sauce.
This is truly classic blues material, a hot sauce in its own way. Enjoy it and thank Bob Corritore for preserving it.
“New Jersey Blues,” from the new album:
“Thirty Dirty Woman” from a concert in Switzerland in 1986, to give you an idea of Red’s guitar work:
Track list:
01. Mary Dee Shuffle (05:01) 02. Early Morning Blues (03:59) 03. Alabama Train (03:32) 04. Caught Your Man And Gone (04:55) 05. New Jersey Blues (05:30) 06. Freight Train To Ride (03:56) 07. Tell Me ‘Bout It (04:09) 08. Earline Who’s Been Foolin’ You (03:24) 09. Edith Mae (04:29) 10. Bessemer Blues (04:51) 11. Bernice Blues (06:15)
And why not? He’s covered just about every bluesy style from old-school Chicago to heart-wrenching soul to thoroughly greasified funk ‘n’ stuff.
What makes it all sound so good is that he doesn’t just cover the music, he creates it, after filtering it through his finely tuned musical sensibilities honed as a young man growing up in Boise, Idaho, not normally known as fertile soil for the blues.
To be fair, this isn’t the first pairing of Németh with the very fine Love Light Orchestra. They recorded a set at Bar DKDC in Memphis in 2017 that crackled with all the electric enthusiasm that a live show generates.
Now they’ve released this excellent studio recording, and it’s still electric. This group (you can find its impressive membership list at the end of this post) is big-band sound at its best. It stomps, it swings, it jumps with style and substance from the opening bars to its final echoes. And when you wrap this glistening sound around Németh’s stunning vocals, the result is a magical visit to a musical era that once defined the shape of American music.
The music itself is almost all original, composed by Németh or guitarist Joe Restivo or arranger/ trumpeter Marc Franklin. And the thing is, they’ve created new music that reflects all the great qualities of the original, performed to perfection. And the one cover they do, the scorching blues of “3 O’Clock Blues” by Lowell Fulson, fits right in.
But the most notable work here might well be from Németh himself, who hoses away most of that funky grease to reveal pipes that sparkle and shine with the essence of the big-band shouter.
From the swinging opening notes of the first track, Restivo’s “Time Is Fading Fast,” Németh’s vocals open up with a richness, depth and soulfulness usually associated with the likes of Jimmy Rushing or Big Joe Turner. Fast company, for sure, but John sounds like he was born into this family. “Come On Moon” by Németh swings up next, soaring on the wings of a pulsating Love Light rhythm section. “Give Me A Break” by Franklin follows, driven by the punchy riffs of the band’s razor-sharp horns.
There are seven more fabulous tracks here, each one a minor masterpiece of vocal prowess and musical invention by masters of their craft. I could tell you how much I like each one by name, but then you would just have more stuff to read before you get to listen to this music.
So yeah, I love this album. It’s damn fine music; some of the most enjoyable I’ve heard in a long time.
By the way, Bobby “Blue” Bland’s 1961 hit “Turn On Your Love Light,” was the inspiration for Restivo and Franklin giving the band its name.
Here’s “Come On Moon”:
Tracklist and credits
Artist Highlights · John Németh – 2-time Blues Music Award winner and 23-time nominee; soul blues vocalist, songwriter, harmonica player and international touring artist. · Joe Restivo – international recording and touring artist with the Bo-Keys; jazz DJ on WEVL, performed regularly with Mose Vinson (RIP) and Charlie Wood, · Marc Franklin – co-founder of The Bo-Keys, arranger, and trumpet player; (session artist for Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, William Bell, Booker T & The MGs; performed with Bobby “Blue” Bland, Gregg Allman). · Paul McKinney – trumpeter and member of Memphis R&B Allstars, · Jason Yasinksy – trombonist on both albums, · Art Edmaiston – international performing saxophone player (Bobby “Blue” Bland, Levon Helm, William Bell, Hi Rhythm Section, Jason Isbell, The Bo-Keys, Dr. John, The Allman Brothers Band). · Kirk Smothers – international performing saxophone player (The Bo-Keys, Buddy Guy, Don Bryant, Jason Isbell, Vaneese Thomas). · Tim Goodwin (RIP) – University of Memphis Professor Emeritus, recipient of Memphis Chapter NARAS’s Premier Bassist Award (2002). · Matthew Wilson – international touring artist (Nick Moss Band, John Paul Keith, The Blue Dreamers), · Gerald Stephens – U of Memphis masters in piano performance; professor of Jazz Piano at Rhodes College; 20+ year Memphis area performer. · Earl Lowe – U of Memphis alum; drummer on both albums. · Al Gamble – Hammond B3 organist and pianist (The Bo-Keys, Marc Broussard, John Paul Keith, St. Paul and The Broken Bones) (NOT BAND MEMBER). · Scott Thompson – GRAMMY-winning trumpet player (Robert Cray, Otis Rush); U of Memphis masters in jazz pedagogy; session and touring artist (Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Rufus Thomas) (NOT BAND MEMBER).
Blues Roadhouse 