Sean Chambers - That's What I'm Talkin About

Having been a member of Hubert Sumlin’s band from 1998 to 2003, Florida’s Sean Chambers decided to record a tribute to his mentor with his 2020 album That’s What I’m Talkin About.  But the result is something that follows its own path, rather than being in thrall to Sumlin’s relatively restrained blues style.  Chambers is more of a blues-rocker, and puts his own stamp on the material in entertaining fashion.
Given that Hubert Sumlin was the long-time guitarist for Howlin’ Wolf, the vocals will inevitably be as much a point of comparison as the guitar playing on some of these songs.  The Wolf’s

Sean Chambers doin' the do!

voice was more bear-like roar than lupine howl, and unsurprisingly Chambers doesn’t inhabit that ballpark.  But the snarl-meets-growl that he brings to the opening ‘Howlin’ For My Darlin’’ is convincing in its own right, contributing to a shaken-rattled-and-rolled vibe that’s often redolent, to these ears, of vintage Dr Feelgood.
The aforementioned ‘Howlin’ For My Darlin’’, fer instance, is all jagged, spiky guitar chords and driving rhythm section, supplemented by waves of organ.  ‘Hidden Charms’ rattles along with cracking, cantering drums from Andrei Koribanic and bounding bass from Antar Goodwin as the basis for Chambers’ scratchy riffing and sharp, to the point soloing.  ‘Rockin’ Daddy’ is in a similar vein, with more force and more beats per minute than the loping, swaying Wolf original, all the way to its sudden ending.  And if ‘Do The Do’ is less full throttle, it’s still a shaken’n’stirred cocktail of shuffling, Diddley-esque drums and skating slide guitar breaks.
Elsewhere, there's more of a blues-rock raunch to tracks like ‘Sittin’ On Top Of The World’, with its big meaty chords, thumping drums, and skimming, squealing solo; ‘Goin’ Down Slow’ with its scrabbling guitar fills and waves of organ like Big Surf set to a slow-ish tempo; or ‘Tail Dragger’, which features one of Chambers’ most interesting solos, with a succession of bent notes and sudden jabs, plus some exchanges with swirling organ work.
‘Forty Four’ and ‘Louise’ are the most Wolfish takes.  Chambers and co deliver an excellent rendition of the former, with its spiky, almost wonky riff, rippling piano, and a slamming kick drum at the heart of its slow march rhythm, while the latter is a slow bump’n’grind with ringing, resounding guitar, tootling piano, and a squall of a guitar solo to close.
‘Chunky’ is a surprisingly funky Sumlin instrumental, the drums behind the beat while the bass is busy, leading to a sweeping organ solo and some FX treated guitar work from Chambers.  And the closing ‘Hubert Song’ is a tribute written by Chambers – an uptempo, bouncing boogie, and affectionate if prosaic lyrics.
Never mind that That’s What I’m Talkin About is a Hubert Sumlin tribute, it’s enjoyable fare in its own right.  Sean Chambers and his band bring plenty of energy, oomph and chops to proceedings, rounded out by guest turns from Bruce Katz and John Ginty on keys.  It may not be a showstopper of an album, but it does add a fresh and zesty dressing to some classic ingredients.
 
That’s What I’m Talkin About is out now on Quarto Valley Records, and can be ordered here.

Working with the Wolf - Dave Kelly remembers

Dave Kelly is best known as a stalwart of the Blues Band, and one of Britain's leading slide guitarists.  But at the tender age of 22 he was a member of the John Dummer Blues Band when they got the gig to back Howlin’ Wolf on his May ’69 UK tour.  Before his recent gig in Edinburgh with Paul Jones he recalled the experience of that tour.

“We’d already done one tour with John Lee Hooker, and we were asked if we’d like to back Howlin’ Wolf and we said we’d absolutely love to – even though we never got paid! 

The Wolf - moaning' at midnight

“We loved his music.  You know, he had so many songs, not just 12 bars, things that needed arrangements and needed rehearsed – and we never got to rehearse with him.  The day before the first gig in Sunderland, we’d set up above the Roebuck pub in Tottenham Court Road, and Wolf came in with Roy Tempest the tour manager.  He shook hands with everyone, and told us to play some blues, which we did.  We went two or three times around, and he said “Fine.”  He said “Play me a shuffle beat.”  So we did that, and he turned to Roy Tempest and said “They’re fine,” – and that was it.

“He never told us what he was going to play, he never told us what key – he’d give us a count, and we’d start.  Over the two and half weeks, mostly things were in the same key that he’d done them the night before.  One night at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, he started the riff for 'Somebody Walking In My Home'.  So John Dummer comes in on drums, we all start playing that riff, and then the Wolf goes “Whoa-oh, Smokestack Lightnin’” – he just changed the song, it was wonderful!

“His voice was wonderful, absolutely wonderful.  The best gig was the City of London Polytechnic in the West End, where everybody turned up, there were loads of faces, an enormous crowd turned out.  That was in the first week, and he just . . . tore it up.  Crawling around the stage on all fours, lying on his back and howling – he put on such a show.  Another great one was the El Rondo in Leicester, which was quite late on, and he’d spoken to his wife on the phone and I think he was feeling homesick.  And he sang 'I Hurt Your Feelings, I Didn’t Mean To Do You No Wrong' [aka 'Tell Me What I’ve Done'].  There were a lot of young people there, a lot of students, and he had them sit down on the floor, and he went amongst them, and went down and sang on one knee, and it was so intense.  You know, missing his wife, and then he did that and just poured it all out.

Dave Kelly - British slide guru

“He was a powerful man, and a powerful singer.  I don’t know how often he wore out his harmonicas, but a hell of a lot of air went through them!  A big man, big lungs, and he used them.  Of course we didn’t have monitors in those days, it was just the PA.  So he said “Put those speakers behind me so I can hear you.”  We had to be careful with feedback, so we got them sort of in between, in front of us.  So he wasn’t as loud to us as out front, though we could hear him.

“It was a pleasure to back him.  It kept you on your toes, because you didn’t know what song he was going to do, or what key he was going to be in – it was a great learning curve, a pleasure and an honour.”

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Dave Kelly’s latest album, Solo Performances: Live in Germany 1986 to 1989 is out now via Hypertension.

Ian Siegal - The Cluny, Newcastle, 24 March 2015

Now here's a thing.  Listening to his just released live album One Night In Amsterdam, you could be forgiven for thinking that Ian Siegal is content to delegate the limelight to hot shot guitar sidekick Dusty Ciggaar.  Well, anyone catching Mr Siegal on his current UK tour with Ciggaar and his Rhythm Chief pals will realise this is far from the truth.

Ian Siegal and Dusty Ciggaar play dem geetars!

Let there be no doubt, in the flesh the main man is Ian Siegal.  This isn't to damn Ciggaar and co with faint praise, because they do some heavy lifting.  But essentially Siegal is a modern day itinerant troubadour, disseminating songs that resonate with him, whether his own material or that of others, sometimes culled from across generations. And while his band may be fellow conspirators in that project, it's evident that Siegal is the driving and guiding force.

Part of that troubadour mentality, I think, is an interest in the words as much as the music.  There's no doubt that Siegal is a student of musical styles, ranging across blues, country, folk, gospel and god knows what else.  But he also trades in stories, characters, dramatic monologues, paradox and metaphor.  All of these Siegal may conjure for himself, or conscript from others, interpreting them with a remarkable, gravel-laden voice, which he can bend to the styles of Howlin' Wolf, Tom Waits and others at will.

Tonight's set in Newcastle is based around the live album, but some of the highlights come in songs that don't feature on that release, such as 'Revelator (John The Apostle)', into which he inserts a chunk of the Wolf's 'Back Door Man'.  This follows on from the excellent hill country blues of 'She's Got The Devil In Her', dedicated to Mississippi bluesman Robert Belfour, who Siegal knew personally (“we drank moonshine together”) and who died last month.

These songs rather give the lie to Siegal’s contention that “we’re not really a blues band”, but of course the set does range more widely.  ‘Gallo Del Cielo’, now in an electric incarnation, features Ciggaar making use of a baritone guitar (my muso pal confidently tells me) to lend a suitably Hispanic tone to his two solos.  His boss, meanwhile, delivers some tasty slide on ‘Early Grace’, and funks up ‘Hard Pressed’ to great effect.

Not to be outdone, young Dusty saves possibly his most blistering solo for the final encore, ‘Take A Walk In The Wilderness’.  As a climax to the show this is more than just a guitar solo however.  Dedicated it to its writer and another of Siegal’s friends, the late Glaswegian ‘Big George’ Watt, its gorgeously yearning chorus epitomises the spirit that imbues Siegal’s work, both live and on record.

I only have one question: why is this man playing in such small venues?  As great as it is for punters like me to see him play in such intimate surroundings, he deserves to be heard by a much bigger audience.