Category: Blues (Page 4 of 16)

Anne McCue: Broken Promise Land

July 29, 2010 /


RIYL: Susan Tedischi, Lucinda Williams, Sheryl Crow,

On her second album, Broken Promise Land, Anne McCue delivers a tightly produced group of songs that is well paced and refreshing.  For the record, she’s backed by a rhythm section that consists of Ken Coomer (Uncle Tupleo, Wilco) on drums and Bones Hillman (Midnight Oil) on bass. Together, this trio creates a hard rocking sound that also pulls from the blues, country, and folk. It’s music that McCue calls “cosmic biker music.” On each track, the singer sings with a cool, lovely voice that draws you in. But it’s her killer guitar playing that keeps you coming back for more and her ability to write a catchy song that makes Broken Promise Land so memorable.

Bad ass songs like “Don’t Go to Texas,” “Rock ‘n Roll Outlaw,” and the title track show that McCue is staking her claim in the new blues movement that has made the White Stripes and the Black Keys popular. Elsewhere, on “Motorcycle Dream,” and “God’s Home Number,” a noirish, spooky number that reminds me of late night drives through the city, McCue uses crafty wordplay and a cool, slinky voice to lure you in until she unleashes a killer guitar solo.  Each track on Broken Promise Land flows naturally into the next, making this a complete listening experience and not just another album where you’re looking for the next hit single.

It’s easy to understand why McCue has gained fans in the likes of Nancy Wilson of Heart and Americana queen Lucinda Williams. McCue attacks her guitar on each song with a bevy of blues and classic rock that recalls some of the legends of the ’70s, including Wilson, while her songwriting and singing voice have an urgency and a haunted nature that recall the kind of passionate southern tales Williams has recorded during her storied career. There is a comfortableness about this music that makes it kind of timeless; no matter how many times you hear it, you never get sick of it. It’s the type of music that can form the soundtrack to peoples’ lives.  Broken Promise Land is a great listen and you’ll find yourself coming back to it again and again after your initial time through it. (Flying Machine Records 2010)

Anne McCue’s offcial website

Click to buy Broken Promise Land through Amazon

Ambient, Blues, CD Reviews, Rock

Stone River Boys: Love on the Dial

July 19, 2010 /


RIYL: The Vaughan Brothers, Southern Culture on the Skids, Hacienda Brothers, Los Lobos

Guitarist Dave Gonzalez (Hacienda Brothers) and singer Mike Barfield, the core of Austin’s Stone River Boys, came together in 2008 when Gonzalez recruited musicians for a benefit tour to help raise money for his ailing Hacienda Brothers bandmate, singer Chris Gaffney. Gaffney was battling cancer and Gonzalez recruited musicians from Austin’s fertile talent pool, including Barfield, nicknamed “the Tyrant of Texas Funk.” Sadly, Gaffney succumbed to the disease, but the tour continued with proceeds being sent to Gaffney’s widow. Along the way, Gonzalez and Barfield began writing songs and eventually started laying down tracks while on the road. The good karma from the Stone River Boys’ noble gesture is evident as their debut album, Love on the Dial, is one of the most lively collections of music you’ll hear this season. Perfect for barbecues and games of cornhole; or just hanging out with your baby trying to stay cool (or heat things up) on a hot summer night.

A cover of Stephen Bruton’s “Bluebonnet Blues” propels the album forward like a sturdy old Ford and sets the tone of an album that crosses traditional country music with Texas blues and ’60s soul music for a hybrid  the Boys like to call country funk. The sound is best exemplified in “Can I Change It,” which blends a Steve Cropper guitar lick with a steel guitar playing like a horn section, and “The Struggle,” which brings to mind the Fabulous Thunderbirds in their ’80s heyday.

Elsewhere, the band adopts more traditional country sounds, such as “Lovers Prison” and the lovely “40 Acres,” a heartfelt lament of times gone by. The highlight of the record may be their cover of the Gerry Goffin/Carole King classic, “Take a Giant Step.” Fusing country, soul and a surf guitar twang, they create a magical, dreamlike song, something you’d expect to hear from Chris Isaak or Los Lobos.

The combination of Barfield’s voice and Gonzalez’s guitar playing have created  unique group. Barfield sings with bravado and a sincerity that seems lacking in so much of the slick country music that gets radio airplay. Meanwhile, Gonzalez’s guitar slinging is sharp and economical. When he needs to, he can put on a display of fast fingerwork, but he is such a fine musician that he knows when the song calls for fireworks and when it requires something more subdued. (Cow Island 2010)

Stone River Boys MySpace Page
Click to buy Love on the Dial at Amazon

Americana, Blues, CD Reviews, Country, Funk, Soul

The Derek Trucks Band: Roadsongs

July 12, 2010 /


RIYL: Eric Clapton, The Allman Brothers Band, Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses

The Derek Trucks Band is finally giving way to the overdue and inevitable Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi Band (the pair married in 2001), which perhaps means the end of the road for this phase of Trucks’ career. Trucks is an amazing slide guitar talent and this is a top-rate band, but the highlights are here and there, whereas just about every song with the new Trucks/Tedeschi band is pure magic. But the foundation for the greatness of the Trucks and Tedeschi group comes from what the DTB has been laying down for the past decade. If this is it for the DTB, Roadsongs is a great swan song – it documents what a hot band this has been, while also whetting the appetite for the new band.

A top highlight is a sweet 14-minute jam on jazz standard “Afro Blue,” which serves notice on how Trucks is not just a blues master but quite the jazzman as well. There’s great flute work from keyboardist Kofi Burbridge and fantastic jazzy blues riffing from Trucks. Tunes like “Already Free” and “Down in the Flood” from the DTB’s most recent studio album crackle with energy and sweet licks on that slide guitar. Another major highlight is the sensational pairing of “Get Out My Life Woman/Who Knows,” which opens with a fabulously dirty funk groove and deeply soulful vocals from Mike Mattison before segueing into a sick jam on the Band of Gypsys classic. This track has it all – deep electric piano/organ from Burbridge in a Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters style, strong harmony vocals, a monster groove from bassist Todd Smallie and drummer Y’Onrico Scott, and Trucks tearing it up as he blends Duane Allman with Jimi Hendrix.

“Down Don’t Bother Me No More” and “Get What You Deserve” also feature hot bluesy jams, as do most of the tracks. Eric Clapton/Derek & the Dominoes covers of “Anyday” and “Key to the Highway” display the band’s love for and skill with the early ’70s classic rock for which Trucks was named, but they also highlight the DTB’s ceiling. Once you’ve witnessed the uplifting “Anyday” performed with Tedeschi and Mattison sharing the vocals, hearing it without Tedeschi just isn’t the same. It still rocks for sure, but you want more. And that sums up this album – the DTB is dishing out some of the best blues rock available these days, but adding Tedeschi just takes the whole sound to a higher dimension. Still, this is high quality stuff. (Sony Legacy 2010)

Derek Trucks MySpace page

Americana, Artists, Blues, CD Reviews, Jam Band, Jazz

Robert Randolph and the Family Band: We Walk This Road

June 29, 2010 /


RIYL: Ben Harper, The Derek Trucks Band, Jimi Hendrix

Pedal steel guitar maestro Robert Randolph has been known more for his hot live shows than his albums, which comes with the territory when you have such instrumental talent and fit in with the jam crowd. But this album may finally help Randolph break through to a wider audience. T Bone Burnett is the producer, and he’s had a magic touch lately. Randolph says he and Burnett sat down and really examined some music history, which has served to maximize Randolph’s authentically bluesy vibe, as well as leading to some choice covers.

Opener “Traveling Shoes” is taken from an old field recording from the 1920s and finds Randolph and his sister Lenesha testifying over some gospel-tinged roots. The song sets a tone for an album that blends blues, gospel and rock in expert fashion. “Shot of Love” offers a cover of the title track from Bob Dylan’s 1981 Christian-tinged album. It’s well done, though it certainly doesn’t approach Jimi Hendrix’s iconic version of “All Along the Watchtower,” something Randolph says he was thinking about as far as trying to get into Jimi’s head on the process of covering Dylan. But Randolph strikes gold on a vibrant rendition of Prince’s “Walk Don’t Walk” that takes the funky song to a truly higher level. The empowering, feel-good jam featuring more harmony assistance from Lenesha is almost certain to become a new live favorite. There’s also a deep cover of John Lennon’s “I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier Mama,” a well-timed bluesy lament in 2010 as the ridiculous war in Afghanistan surpasses the Vietnam War for Uncle Sam’s longest military engagement.

Another highlight comes with “If I Had My Way,” a modern version of an old Blind Willie Johnson blues that features Ben Harper guesting on guitar and vocals. It’s got an old-timey Delta blues vibe that has Randolph and Harper squaring off with great results. “Dry Bones” also builds off an old blues, which gets pumped up for a tasty workout. “I Still Belong to Jesus” has Randolph playing off his gospel roots, with his liquid steel work shining once more. “I’m Not Listening” delivers some modern blues, with Randolph calling out a century of lies for comeuppance. “Salvation” closes the album with a soulful gospel ballad, featuring piano from Leon Russell and some of Randolph’s tastiest licks.

Randolph and band have been honing their act for an entire decade now and We Walk This Road is their best work yet, as it has a strong flow to it and there’s no desire to skip over tracks. Randolph has evolved from young gun to seasoned master. (Warner Brothers 2010)

Robert Randolph MySpace page

Blues, CD Reviews, Jam Band, Rock

Peter Case: Wig!

June 23, 2010 /


RIYL: The Plimsouls, Robert Plant, Stevie Ray Vaughn

Peter Case recently had a heart attack that required multiple-bypass surgery, and it brought the founder of the Nerves and the Plimsouls to within an inch of his life. But luckily for Case, and for his family and for his fans, the surgery was successful, and he even received financial aid in the form of benefit concerts that brought Case together with old friends like T-Bone Burnett, Dave Alvin and Richard Thompson. After a recovery period in which he listened to a lot of old jazz, Case’s new album, Wig! was spawned from a few songwriting and jamming sessions with his band. The result is a raw, bluesy effort that features Case’s distinctive vocals, but is almost more straight blues than the rock he’s been making most of his life. The live, direct-to-analog sound is reminiscent of ‘60s or ‘70s-era recordings, and the songs, while very much following a straight line in style, are nice – not great, but nice. In fact, it’s so bluesy that fans of the Plimsouls might not take to this effort as much as, say, fans of authentic blues would. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Case has earned the right to make music his way, and he sounds, not surprisingly, exuberant and full of life on Wig! Standout tracks are the blazing “Dig What You’re Putting Down” and the piano shuffle, “Look Out!” (Yep Roc 2010)

Peter Case website

Blues, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Rock

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