The Afternoon Sessions - Edinburgh Blues'N'Rock Festival, 30 July 2016

A confession.  Although Safehouse have been mainstays of the Edinburgh music scene for a loooong time, I have never actually seen them before.  Well, my loss evidently, judging by the way they stormed the citadel with this performance.

Actually, I say they’re from Edinburgh, but from their opening number ‘Hey Grandma’ it sounds like Edinburgh by way of Macon, Georgia.  Amid blasting guitar from John Bruce and a sandpaper vocal from the hyperactive Chris Peebles, the immediate impression is of Southern rock á la the Allman Brothers or maybe the Black Crowes.

Chris Peebles stands still for a mo

They keep up the good work with the Big George Watt classic ‘Take A Walk In The Wilderness’, this time featuring on-the-money piano from Ali Petrie in addition to a gritty, rolling guitar solo from Bruce as they give the tune a Strolling Bones feel.

There’s even more grit in Bruce’s rhythm guitar as they belt through some rousing Southern fried boogie, executing some welcome shifts in tempo along the way to vary the pace.

There’s a Jim Morrison feel to Peebles' vocals on what I’m guessing is ‘Travellin’ Light’, a strutting, funky effort with an insistent bass pattern, with Petrie and Bruce doubling up again to deliver boogie woogie piano and howling guitar.

They close by rocking the joint with ‘One Way Out’, joined by Gary Martin to lend some harp authenticity to Sonny Boy Williamson’s song even as they serve it up in Allmans fashion.  All in all a banging set, bringing a bit of rock to the roll for the first time in the afternoon.

They’re followed on to the stage by The Rising Souls, who since the launch of their Yardbird album early in the year have metamorphosed from a semi-acoustic three-piece playing bass, guitar and cajón to a full-on four-piece, with Joe Catterson on electric guitar and Reece Braid on drums.

Right from the off Catterson’s influence is apparent, as he brings fuzzy guitar tones to ‘I’m

Joe Catterson and Dave Archibald feel so alive

Feeling So Down’, which features satisfying use of dynamics.  Another new song finds singer Dave Archibald strapping on his acoustic once again to augment the shimmering electric sound Catterson produces, big on whammy bar.  It also has a sweet melody of the kind Rod Stewart might well appreciate.

‘I Feel So Alive’ has a pulsing start and a heavy chorus, with Archibald getting into his best Paul Rodgers vocal mode, before indulging in a burst of scat singing as a bridge to a scuzzy solo from Catterson.  After another haunting new song, ‘Feeling Like I’m Falling Down’, they wheel out ‘Don’t Say You Love Me’, from their self-titled mini-album, its field holler opening over bass drum now supplemented by jangling guitar chords, while Archibald gets into some serious testifyin’ at the conclusion.

Hearing ‘I Need You’ for the first time, with its echoes of ‘Roadhouse Blues’, restrained verses and big chorus, it seems that Catterson’s electric guitar has given the Souls a whole new weapon.  What’s more, he himself has come out of his shell big time since first appearing with them for a couple of songs at the Yardbird launch.

Neil Warden bends some Weissenborn notes

The Souls have a new EP scheduled to come out in November, and it’ll be interesting to see if they’ve managed to bottle their bigger sound in the studio.  Hopefully though, they can also manage to adapt some of the gripping songs from their early repertoire to the four-piece format – it’d be a shame to lose them.

The afternoon opened with the subtler strains of Gary Martin/Neil Warden – Blues and Beyond.  And I’ll say it again guys, get a snappier monicker, will ya?  Joking apart though, they bring a slinky, jazzy vibe to the post-lunch kick-off.  The Peggy Lee feel of ‘You Don’t Have To Hang Round Here No More’, with some great harp from Martin, is underlined by their smoky, offbeat take on Ray Charles’ ‘Ain’t That Fine’.

Sandwiched between these two songs is Tam White’s ‘Stonemason’s Blues’, delivered with conviction by two former Tam White alumni.  And they close with a spare version of Curtis Mayfield’s ‘People Get Ready' – an unfamiliar arrangement for sure, but one that is soulful and full of feeling, with Warden putting his Weissenborn guitar to terrific use with both a bending slide intro, and later a beautiful, chiming solo.

The Al Brown Band follow, opening with an instrumental that shows off Brown’s warm and bright guitar tones.  They swing nicely, and there’s good interplay between organ and

Al Brown has a natural ball

Brown’s rhythm guitar.  There are shades of both BB and Freddie King, and Brown makes good use of tension and release.

It may be indoors on a warm summer’s afternoon, but they do a good job with ‘Early In The Morning’, with a relaxed, Latin feel and some funky bass, while the following James Harmon song ‘Lock Doctor’ evokes the third blues King, Albert.

Things can get too smooth at times though, even if Brown is always capable of producing some fiery, angular licks.  A slow blues finds Gary Martin jamming on some squawking, moaning harp – the man gets everywhere – while Brown digs into a biting solo.

Brown encourages the audience to make more use of the dance floor, which to these ears and feet would feel more natural if he introduced a bit more oomph into the equation.  But to be fair a number of couples do get up and shake their hips to a neat reading of Albert King’s ‘Let’s Have A Natural Ball’.

Al Brown’s set is just one of several sides to a multi-faceted line-up that makes for a stimulating inaugural Edinburgh Blues’N’Rock Festival though.  So who’s up for next year?

Lil' Jimmy Reed - Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, 17 September 2015

Set lists?  For wimps.  Song titles?  Nah, knowing what key it’s in enough.  Saying Lil’ Jimmy Reed has a back to basics approach is putting it mildly.  But you know what?  This show was a classic example of the elemental power of Mississippi blues - a tour de force of less is more that had this observer grinning from ear to ear.

Lil’ Jimmy, if you didn’t know, is a vintage Louisiana bluesman, real name Leon Atkins.  He got his stage monicker because his breakthrough arrived when he stepped in for the real Jimmy Reed at a gig back in the fifties, his hero being overly tired and emotional.  His chief partner in touring crime is London boogie woogie pianist Bob Hall, a founding member of The Groundhogs and in his time sideman to John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf and a list of others the length of your arm.

Lil Jimmy Reed and pals - not your average young gunslingers

They get the show on the road here with a cranked up ‘TV Mama’, from new album Blues In Paradise, with biting slide guitar from Reed, and great interplay with Hall’s keys, played out over a chugging rhythm.  It’s the start of a set that features originals and a smattering of blues classics.  On the slow groove of ‘Tell Me Baby’ Reed adds the proverbial wailing harp to the mix, before shifting into ‘Big Boss Man’ from Jimmy Reed the Elder.

There’s a lengthy debate about the next song, which seems to establish nothing more than that “it’s in G”.  How this helps drummer Simon Pooley is anyone’s guess, but it’s a belter of

"It's in G!"

a track nevertheless.  Reed kicks off with sparse, skidding licks, before Bob Hall demonstrates that he knows precisely what’s what, intuitively complementing Reed’s guitar fills as the song resolves into ‘When You Leave Don’t Take Nothin’’, also from the new album.  Playing without a pick throughout, Reed’s long, spindly fingers work their magic on something that might or might not be titled ‘Down In The Jungle’, as a prelude to a blistering solo from Hall.

On (big) Jimmy Reed’s ‘Can’t Stand To See You Go’ the combo conjure up a simple groove and plunder it to the hilt.  The drive and swing in that groove is remarkable, produced by just guitar, drums, piano and Hilary Blythe’s short-scale acoustic U-Bass.  ‘Hoochie Coochie Man’ features ringing guitar, before Reed goes down dome different roads with his licks on a slowish blues, showing the value that can be extracted from what might be regarded as bum notes.  (I seem to remember reading about Captain Beefheart telling someone that he tried to find every wrong note he could.)

The set closes with a stonking version of ‘Every Day I Have The Blues’, concluding when Reed “retires hurt”, as Bob Hall puts it, with a cramp in his left hand.  Such are the challenges for a veteran bluesman, who can still show younger generations a thing or nine.

Support act the Al Brown Band are a mite too jazzy for these ears, but that’s just personal taste.  They’re an accomplished outfit, and turn out a good version of Louis Jordan’s ‘Early In The Mornin’’, working around a jungle-like rhythm. On the slow blues of ‘Jelly Roll’ Brown

Brian Carpy and Al Brown - jammin'

on guitar and Matthew Bell on keyboards combine naturally, and Brown’s solo never lets the melody get entirely out of earshot.  But mellow is very much the name of the game.

When Glasgow chum Brian Carpy, now emigrated to Chicago, gets up to jam on Freddie King’s ‘Sidetracked’, it provides a welcome shot of electricity.  Brown immediately raises his game, Carpy fires a solo in from unexpected angles, and even Bell gets off his stool, presumably to follow more easily what the two guitar players are up to.  ‘T-Bone Shuffle’ similarly demonstrates how the challenge of jamming can charge a set with additional energy.