Misty Blues - One Louder

Misty Blues may hail from Boston, Massachusetts, and they recorded this, their 11th album, in New York.  But the location that springs to mind most often on One Louder is New Orleans.
The spirit of NOLA is especially present when they get funky, as on ‘Do My Thing’, which twitches along on an appealing, Meters-like groove, embellished by hints of Latino rhythm supplied by the added percussion of Yahuba Garcia.  It’s there too on ‘Freight Car’, with its funk in a second-line vein rather than hard-pumping James Brownism, and in the briskly funky guitar and horns on the bouncy ‘This Life We Live’.
Thing is though, this element ain’t the be-all and end-all of Misty Blues’ sound.  ‘Freight Car’ also 

"Hey Seth, you ready to rock?"  "Er . . . "

factors in a nagging, tumbling riff, bursts of Morse Code horns, and raw slide guitar from the guesting Justin Johnson, all over a thumping beat, before climaxing with a squealing, cat-attacking-a-scratching post sax solo from Aaron Dean.  ‘This Life We Live’ complements the funk with hints of jazz, it also throws some Texas blues-like guitar fills from Seth Fleischmann into the mix to create a real smorgasbord of sounds.  Meanwhile the N’Awlins vibe on ‘A Long Hard Way’ comes from Benny Kohn’s trilling barroom piano, but the song itself is a low-key, gospel-inflected piece, while band leader Gina Coleman delivers a poetic lyric about personal challenges in a conversational style.
The contribution of Coleman is significant, as bandleader and chief songwriter, but also with her distinctive, sonorous voice.  Her deep, deep tones and occasional line-ending yelps may not be everybody’s cup of joe, and truth to tell that sometimes includes me.  But that’s a matter of personal taste, and she still does the business more often than not.  On the moody ‘Birch Tree’, for example, with its slow and steady rhythm and flutters of sax and slide, she delivers a lyric full of intriguing images with delicacy and feeling.  And on the following, Selwyn Birchwood-like ‘Leave My Home’, she rattles out the rhythmic lines with assertiveness against a backdrop of tickling funk guitar and frothy organ.  It’s a track given an additional lift by some call and response sax playing from the aforementioned Dean, in tandem with guest baritone player Chris Rand.
There are two guests bringing extra angles to ‘How The Blues Feels’, a slowie with a hook that evokes ‘Sittin’ On Top Of The World’.  Big Llou Johnson duets with Coleman in a languorous, treacly voice, while Bob Stannard adds some harmonica seasoning and ultimately an elegiac solo.  It’s guitarist Fleischmann who really grabs the limelight here though, with a stinging, reverb-heavy solo.  ‘Seal Your Fate’ brings some zydeco to the table, with the requisite accordion textures supplied by David Vittone over a “shave-and-a-haircut, two-bits” rhythm, while Kohn serves up some rinky dink, jazzy piano, and Fleischmann inserts a playful guitar break.  As elsewhere, they sure pack plenty into four minutes or so.  And on the closing ‘Take A Long Ride’ they make the most of having Joe Louis Walker as a fellow traveller on guitar and backing vocals.  It’s slow and steady, brooding and tense, gradually energised by horn riffing, until Walker cuts loose with a solo that’s by turns teasing, suspenseful, and finally warped and wild, matched at the end by another tempest of a sax break from Dean.
You’ll have gathered by now that while guitar plays its part in the Misty Blues sound, it doesn’t dominate proceedings.  One Louder isn’t, as it were, turned up to 11.  Instead it’s a team effort, drawing on all concerned to create a multi-faceted sound, and with the benefit of Coleman’s imaginative wordsmithery conjuring up something both authentic and all different.
 
One Louder is available now on Lunaria Records, and can be ordered here.

Quickies - Singles from Joanne Shaw Taylor, Jed Potts & The Hillman Hunters, Misty Blues, Wily Bo Walker and E D Brayshaw, and the Curse Of KK Hammond

Today’s Quickies is a round-up of current singles in the blues and roots arena.
 
Joanne Shaw Taylor – ‘Let Me Down Easy’
 
Must confess, I wasn’t greatly taken with Joanne Shaw Taylor’s voice on first acquaintance

Joanne Shaw Taylor, not remotely grief-stricken

Pic by Christie Goodwin

several years back, and now and then I still find her enunciation problematic.  But on this version of Little Milton’s ‘Let Me Down Easy’ her husky, soulful vocal works a treat, right from the opening bars over restrained, twinkling guitar notes, soon augmented by low, moaning horns.  When a performance starts to evoke comparisons with James Carr’s ‘Dark End Of The Street’ – and it did for me - then you’re on to something.
Of course, there will be some JST fans more interested in what she’s doing with her guitar, and in this instance she delivers a ringing, wailing outro that suggests the grief of a failed relationship, let down easy or not.  It’s a bit of a dull “in the studio” video, but as far as the song goes – nicely done, Ms Taylor.
 
‘Let Me Down Easy’ is taken from The Blues Album, Joanne Shaw Taylor’s collection of blues covers produced by Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith, out on 24 September and available to pre-order here.
 
 
Jed Potts & The Hillman Hunters – ‘The Fastest Outlaw’
 
Scottish singer, songwriter and guitarist Jed Potts has a penchant for a plaid shirt now and then, so it was only a matter of time before his blues mojo led him and his Hillmans to the influence of Rory Gallagher, the original Check Shirt Wizard.
And so here they come with ‘The Fastest Outlaw’, which has the stamp of Rory all over its stuttering, ringing guitar riff and ‘Out On The Western Plain’ lyrical theme.  More impressive still are the passages of slide guitar/vocal harmonising on display – a Gallagher speciality that Potts captures brilliantly.  There a scudding, darting slide solo too, to add icing to the cake on this impressive original tune.
Sure, you could call it imitation-Rory, but an hommage this good isn’t just the sincerest form of flattery, it’s also a testament to the talents of Potts and his rhythm section buddies Jonny Christie on drums and Charlie Wild on bass.
 
‘The Fastest Outlaw’ is the latest in a series of original singles from Jed Potts & The Hillman Hunters, available now on Bandcamp and all the usual digital platforms.
 
 
Misty Blues – 'Take A Long Ride', featuring Joe Louis Walker
 

Gina Colman - in the red with Misty Blues

To say that Misty Blues lead singer Gina Coleman has a sonorous voice is putting it mildy.  There’s no ignoring her deep, round, gospel-schooled tones as ‘Take A Long Ride’ ships anchor, accompanied by a Free-like undulating riff and horn remarks that add another soulful angle.  Add in a spacey, psychedelic solo from top-flight guest guitar honcho Joe Louis Walker, ending in a squall of feedback, and later a screeching sax solo from Aaron Dean that I at first mistook for Walker having another shot at the title, and this is a pretty beguiling outing by the Massachusetts combo, suggesting they'll be deserving of further listening.
 
‘Take A Long Ride’ will feature on Misty Blues 11^th studio album, One Louder, scheduled for release on Lunaria Records on 28 January 2022.
 
 
Wily Bo Walker and E D Brayshaw – ‘What You Gonna Do (Welcome To Voodooville)’
 
Wily Bo Walker has reunited with guitar-wrangling compadre E D Brayshaw for a new album to be released later this year, and this single is an early trailer.  This is Walker and Brayshaw at the most primitive I’ve heard them, as ‘What You Gonna Do’ opens with tense, nagging acoustic style strumming and foot-stomping, hand-clapping percussion.
There’s less of a narrative here than on much of Walker’s output, but the song still inhabits his favourite noir-ish terrain of sin and consequence, weaving in chain gang clanking and military paradiddles before a searing solo that’s pure Brayshaw.
 
‘What You Gonna Do (Welcome To Voodooville)’ is taken from the forthcoming album Some People Kill For Passion.
 
 
The Curse Of KK Hammond, featuring David And The Devil – 'The Ballad Of Lampshade Ed'
 
Now and then I trip over this arcane underworld in the British roots music scene, inhabited by folk apparently much taken with the idea of mashing up Edwardian music hall with a demi-monde of freaks, carnies and voodoo from the American South.
And so we have ‘The Ballad Of Lampshade Ed’, a Southern Gothic nursery rhyme penned by the Brothers Grimm after an undocumented tour of revivalist churches in the Appalachians in the 1850s, rediscovered by Tim Burton, and set to music by an English rose with a winsome voice, twanging a Resonator guitar and accompanied by a fella hiding his slide behind an alias.
Actually I made most of that up.  Except the bit about the Brothers Grimm.  But I think you’ll get the idea.

Andy Watts - Supergroove

If you haven’t heard of Andy Watts before – and I certainly hadn’t – it’s probably because the guitar-toting bluesman is from Israel.  But Watts has still managed to rack up plenty of collaborations and performances with high profile blues artists, some of whom contribute to his latest album Supergroove – not least Kenny Neal, who co-produced the album for his Booga Music label.  And what they’ve cooked up is an enjoyable collection of soul food blues.
Watts demonstrates his credentials from the off on the title track, a swinging instrumental on which his guitar tone, both rhythm and lead, smacks of Stevie Ray Vaughan à la ‘Crossfire’.  

Andy Watts meets a superfan

With a relaxed groove enhanced by funky horns, Watts delivers some tasty soloing, but also shares the limelight with band members Eyal Klein on Hammond organ and Ioram Linker on baritone sax.  And that sorta-SRV vibe returns on the penultimate track ‘Raw’, its bubbling riff lifted into rockin’ mode by some crunching chords, while Watts adds a twisting and turning solo and Gadi Altman catches the mood with a punchy vocal.
A rather different vocal adorns the best track on the album, with guest Joe Louis Walker behind the mic – and at his soulful best - for the slow blues of ‘Burning Deep’, giving real feeling to the melody over low undercurrents of horns and organ, and some exquisite guitar commentary from Watts.  And on a song previously recorded by Walker, ‘Blues Of The Month Club’, Eliza Neals provides another impressive guest vocal, adding a sly and slinky layer to a typical blues tale of everyday disaster, ironically to the accompaniment of more swinging horns and relaxed lead guitar from Watts.
There’s more variety in the form of the Rick Estrin song ‘Living Hand To Mouth’, a burst of bopping R’n’B suitably embellished by harp from Coastin Hank, and some hop-along bass from Tom Mochiach.  It’s one of three songs delivered by the cracked, groaning voice of Roy Young, the best of which is ‘Don’t Take My Blues Away’, a slower affair on which he draws out the emotion well, augmented by imaginative intertwining of guitar and trumpet from Watts and Gregory Rivkin.  Less successful is the cover of the sometime Freddie King tune ‘Pack It Up’, which feels run-of-the-mill in spite of Klein’s funky clavinet lines.
Rather better are the sunny and easy-going ‘Straight Shooting Woman’ and the soul-lite ‘Don’t You Let Me Down’, both smoothly voiced by Danny Shoshan.  The former contrasts lush horns with a strong, wiry solo from Watts, while the latter tones down a Bo Diddley rhythm and throws some curiously blissed out backing vocals into the mix.
The closing highlight though, is a version of Peter Green’s ‘Supernatural’.  Over the pulsing, semi-Latin rhythm, Watts really steps up with some elegant guitar befitting the tune, backed up by Rivkin’s trumpet as they both get in the reflective zone together, and Klein adds some subtle, halting organ.  It’s a rendition good enough to have left me wanting more.
Supergroove is a well put together, entertaining album, and Watts' playing is often impressive, though the material veers a bit close to the middle of road at times.  But with the benefit of a couple of standout tracks in ‘Burning Deep’ and ‘Supernatural’, it’s an album that should make Andy Watts’ name more familiar to blues fans.

Supergroove is out now on Booga Music in association with the Vizztone label group.

Shirley King - Blues For A King

As the daughter of BB King, Shirley King may have the blues in her blood, but her first career was as a nightclub dancer, and it wasn’t until 1990, when she’d reached her forties, that she took up singing.  And here she is on this latest release, predominantly comprised of covers, still showing some impressive vocal power as she’s backed up by a range of featured guest guitarists.

King’s preferred vocal setting seems to be the kind of R’n’B raunch she heard in her youth from Etta James, which is certainly in evidence on a reading of ‘That’s Alright Mama’, replete with high-revving guitar from Pat Travers.  But the songs on offer here range more widely than that.

The album opens with the retro soul sound of ‘All Of My Lovin’’, on which she captures the vibe

Shirley King - feelin' alright at the mic

well against a backdrop of chiming rhythm guitar chords, a bumping bass line reminiscent of ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’’, and pinging guitar licks from Joe Louis Walker.  And highlights include the languid blues of ‘I Did You Wrong’, delivered with superb control by King and subtle guitar elaborations from Elvin Bishop that show off his terrific blues feel, and the Steve Winwood song ‘Can’t Find My Way Home’, on which King ventures into soulful Shemekia Copeland territory to the accompaniment of fluid, deliciously-toned pinpoint embroidery from Martin Barre.

There are Latin undertones to another Traffic song, ‘Feelin’ Alright’, on which a stuttering piano motif also manages to swing with the assistance of the rhythm section, while Duke Robillard adds economical injections of guitar to complement King’s muscular vocal.  Meanwhile ‘Give It All Up’ brings strings and subtle horns to bear on a Motown-ish vibe that hangs on a poppy descending riff, augmented by some suitably neat guitar from Kirk Fletcher.  And ‘Johnny Porter’, a Temptations hit that comes over like an ersatz ‘Papa Was A Rolling Stone’, is put across stridently with some effective call and response vocals between King and Arthur Adams.

Some choices seem over-ambitious though.  A straight reading of Nina Simone’s ‘Feeling Good’ benefits from some tasteful guitar courtesy of Robben Ford, but while King’s singing is gutsy it doesn’t carry the assertive clarity of Simone.  The treatment of the old classic ‘Gallows Pole’ lacks the urgency and imagination of the Zeppelin version, despite some Ennio Morricone-esque guitar soloing from Harvey Mandel, while King’s vocal has a tendency to wobble at the bottom end of her range – and in truth there are several points across the album where she hits some wonky notes that should really have been fixed with overdubs.  She’s better though on ‘Hoodoo Man Blues’, inhabiting a suitably bluesy space while Joe Louis Walker delivers another crackling demonstration of electric blues guitar.  The oddity here though, is that Junior Wells also contributes vocally, notwithstanding his death in 1998.  Presumably his vocal track from way back when was exhumed for the purpose, though there’s no trumpeting of that approach.

The album closes with King’s take on Etta James’ ‘At Last’, another bold choice which she delivers adequately, though the sweet strings and simple piano chords aren’t quite matched by King, who remains more comfortable in rasping-Etta rather than yearning-Etta mode.

Blues For A King is an enjoyable album, if somewhat patchy.  Shirley King has been well served by the various guest artists, but I can’t help thinking that a little more care could have been taken over the production of her vocals, in order to show her at her best.  The blues feeling is there, but it could have been captured more effectively.

Blues For A King was released by Cleopatra Blues on 19 June.

Joe Louis Walker - Blues Comin' On

All the rage these days aren’t they, these guest artist album collaborations?  Sometimes I wonder whether there’s much purpose to them, or much clarity of direction.  But it has to be said that recent examples from Mike Zito – in tribute to Chuck Berry – and Dion have certainly cut the mustard.  And now this outing from Joe Louis Walker can be added to that list.

To my mind, Walker is one of the leading bluesmen of our times, an inventive guitarist and songwriter, and with a distinctive, engaging vocal style.  With Blues Comin' On he also demonstrates that he’s an excellent ringmaster, making a satisfyingly coherent album out of a range of different guests and songs from a variety of writers.

Joe Louis Walker - sho' got the blues!

Pic by Arnie Goodman

The title track is a good example of the blend of cool and muscle that’s on offer.  A first verse that combines steely acoustic guitar strumming with a top drawer drawling vocal from Dion – who co-wrote the tune with Mike Acqualina – lulls you into a false sense of security, before electric guitar, piano, drums and guttural bass kick in to generate a big fat groove.  And then further down the line Eric Gales weighs in with a razor-wire solo, while JLW gets down to some whoopin’ an’ hollerin’.  By the time they’re done, after nearly six minutes, it’s a pummelling world away from its beguiling beginning.

Soulful sounds also play a big part in the album though.  Carla Cooke, daughter of Sam, guests on two tracks to marvellous effect.  ‘Someday, Someway’ is a sweet soul duet, on which Cooke makes like Minnie Riperton with some beautiful, pure falsetto singing, echoed by some lovely harp playing from Lee Oskar (once upon a time of War, in cahoots with Eric Burdon).  ‘Awake Me, Shake Me’ is a different kind of soulful, with a sparkling piano intro before La Cooke dips in, this time in a lower, cooler pitch.  Walker shows off his way with a soulful vocal, and the pair turn out some excellent harmonising, while Walker evokes the Commodores with some jazzy guitar. The song drifts from an idyllic, dream-like awakening into some intense guitar and moaning vocals that suggest a couple having woken up and, er, shaken’n’stirred each other.  And just to show that Walker doesn’t need Cooke in order to do soulful, Mitch Ryder turns up on ‘Come Back Home’, which bears little resemblance to the bar-room rock’n’roll of ‘Devil With The Blue Dress’, and a whole lot more like a slice of Southern soul-blues that breezed out Memphis in the mid-Sixties.

But there’s funkiness abroad too, most energetically on ‘The Thang’, a self-penned dance track that promotes “wiggling where you stand”, and is as good an invitation to shake yer booty as I’ve heard in a while.  More than that though, it side-slips into Hendrix-land, with some wacko guitar duelling between Walker and Jesse Johnson of The Time, before giving a deep bow in the direction of ‘Still Raining Still Dreaming’.  And Bobby Rush’s ‘Bowlegged Woman’ is given a loosely funky blues treatment, as Walker asserts that “We go hand in hand, like a bowlegged woman and a knock-kneed man”, while piercing guitar work comes courtesy of Waddy Wachtel – a denizen of the West Coast who's played with everyone under the sun, co-writing ‘Werewolves Of London’ along the way.

And there’s still room for plenty more. There’s the opener ‘Feed The Poor’ for a start, a co-write with Mick Jagger’s son Gabriel that’s soulful but gritty, with a fuzzy riff that gets more assertive as the song progresses.  There’s the semi-acoustic bar-room blues of ‘Old Time Used To Be’, a dance tune for warm summer nights with your baby, with plenty of tootling harp from John Sebastian of the Lovin’ Spoonful and stinging slide guitar from the ubiquitous Keb’ Mo’.  There’s the simple gospel fun of ‘Lonely Weekends’, and the catchy pop of ‘Seven More Years’, which evokes The Pretenders in their heyday, and features delightful, shimmering lead guitar from Albert Lee, as well as great drumming from Byron Cage.

Walker even gets into garage rock mode with the closing cover of Love’s ‘7 & 7 Is’, all urgency over scattergun drum rhythms, with surf guitar-like injections from Arlen Roth, before downshifting sharply into a blast of harmonica from Charlie Harper of the UK Subs (of all people), and a crunching mid-paced guitar solo.

With 12 tracks that all do more than stand up to scrutiny, Blues Comin' On is sure as hell good value for money.  More than that, it reinforces my view that while there may be bigger blues names out there, Joe Louis Walker is one of the very best around.  And if you aren’t familiar with him, you need to put that right - now.

Blues Comin' On was released on Cleopatra Blues on 26 June.

Dion - Blues With Friends

Dion Dimucci is 80.  Let me say that again.  Dion, of ‘The Wanderer’ fame, is 80 years old.  But you wouldn’t know it, listening to Blues With Friends.  He is never betrayed by the quavering pipes of an old codger, but instead owns the songs with the delivery and phrasing of a guy who has kept his primary instrument in full working order.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure I was going to like this album.  But like Topsy, Blues With Friends has growed and growed on me, and I suspect I’ll be returning to its charms on a regular basis.  The tone is set well by the opening ‘Blues Comin’ On’, which shuffles along in easy-going fashion with Dion communicating the vibe perfectly.  Meanwhile Joe Bonamassa does a sterling job as the first guest start turn, adding subtle moanin’ an’ groanin’ slide guitar that fits the character of the song.  Then the following ‘Kickin’ Child’ is a bright but laid back affair that rolls along effortlessly like something from JJ Cale, with twinkling guitar embroidery from Joe Menza.

Dion Dimucci - the smile that comes with a job well done

Pic by David Godlis

These tracks set the tone for the guest guitar contributions that follow on the bluesy tracks that form the spine of the album.  These range from the restrained but effective sparkle-and-twang Brian Setzer adds to the skipping ‘Uptown Number 7’, to the clear-toned Joe Louis Walker breaks that flit around the tune on the Van Morrison duet ‘I Got Nothin’’, the biting and gnawing Sonny Landreth slide on the swaggering ‘I Got The Cure’, and the hand-in-glove conversation between Dion and Samantha Fish’s wiry, expressive playing on ‘What If I Told You’.  This last, in particular, is a blues tune that offers more than your common-or-garden melody, enhanced by Dimucci’s excellent phrasing.

But the departures from the soulful blues core hit the mark too.  ‘Can’t Start Over Again’ may be adorned with some exquisite guitar filigrees from Jeff Beck, but it’s the song that really catches the ear, a simple slice of Americana that Dion interprets beautifully.  ‘Stumbling Blues’, regardless of its title and reliance on a blues progression, sounds like Great American Songbook fare, as Dion croons his way through the lilting, woozy closing time vibe to the hazy accompaniment of Jerry Vivino’s sax.  ‘Song For Sam Cooke (Here In America)’ is an acoustic-led singer-songwriter style duet with Paul Simon on which their voices combine delightfully, complemented by graceful violin breaks from a party I’m not able to credit right now.  And ‘Told You Once In August’ is an absorbing, stripped down folk blues on which John Hammond and Rory Block interweave chiming and moaning acoustic slide over a simple beat, and Block adds some minimalist but spot-on backing vocals.

Not everything is perfect.  ‘Bam Bang Boom’, on which Billy Gibbons guests, feels like it needs a kick in the ass in order to get going, though the groove does generate some toe-tapping in the end.  And the Christian folk leanings of ‘Hymn To Him’ leave me cold, regardless of its pretty tune and the involvement of Patti Scialfa and Bruce Springsteen.

But hey, the strike rate of the material on Blues With Friends is mightily impressive.  Producer Wayne Hood deserves credit too, for the simple, uncluttered sound of the album, and for drawing all those guest contributions into a coherent whole.  The end result is the kind of relaxed but polished affair that’s perfect for kicking back with a beer and chilling out.

I think Bob Dylan puts it best though.  He doesn’t appear on the album, but he does contribute to the liner notes.  "Dion knows how to sing, and he knows just the right way to craft these songs,” says Bob.  “He’s got some friends here to help him out, some true luminaries. But in the end, it’s Dion by himself alone, and that masterful voice of his that will keep you returning to share these Blues songs with him."  Yeah, what he said.

Blues With Friends is released by KTBA Records on 5 June, and is available for pre-order at KTBArecords.com.

Joe Louis Walker - 100 Club, London, 16 January 2018

Seeing Joe Louis Walker play live means having a good time.  Simple as that.  Hotshot blues rock guitarists abound, but few of them bring the sense of playfulness to electric blues that Walker displays.  Schooled in church music, he still includes a big chunk of gospel in his live set, and makes it such a pleasure that I could almost be persuaded to get religion myself.  Almost.

And so it is from the off at this busy 100 Club gig as part of London Blues Week.  Opening with ‘I’m Not Messin’ Around’, he and his band lock into a big groove, founded on vibrant drumming from Byron Cage, that slams the FUN into funky.

Joe Louis Walker - ain't messin' around

A slow blues instrumental follows, but one imbued with mischief, as Walker sets out teasing with controlled feedback that eventually melts into pizzicato picking before heading back the other way, while guest ivories man Stevie Watts gets to launch the first of several big organ solos.

‘Don’t Let Go’ is the first of the gospel outings, featuring vocal harmonies that he reveals were originally delivered by the Jordanaires when he recorded it on Hornet’s Nest.  But ‘Wade In The Water’ swings on another level entirely.  Lenny Bradford – a man of a thousand facial expressions, most of them variations on a big grin – contributes nimbly subterranean bass runs as he, Walker and Cage gear up for some blindingly funky interplay underneath another Watts solo.  The way they chop up the rhythm and turn it inside out, in total synch, is something to behold.

‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, recorded for the 2002 Beatles tribute The Blues White Album, is delivered with absolute conviction, before ‘In The Morning’ transports gospel into the realms of sunrise soul.  Conjuring up a season of warmth and mellow fruitfulness, it shifts with ease into a hi tempo ending.

After some squealing slide on ‘Soldier For Jesus’ the delicate opening of ‘Black And Blue’ ushers in quiet little flurries of notes from Walker, building towards a big finish.  Giles Robson pops up to guest on harp and lend extra wailing to the chugging boogie of ‘Young Girl Blues’, and then it’s time for the riotous set closer that is ‘Too Drunk To Drive Drunk’.  Chuck Berry-like in feel to the point that at one point Bradford sets off on a duck walk, and with Stevie Watts giving it some rock’n’roll piano into the bargain, it features an interlude that breezily flings in riffs from ‘You Really Got Me’, ‘All Day And All Of The Night’ and ‘Daytripper’, and probably more besides, to bring the house down.

With the crowd baying for an encore as the band mosey offstage, Walker stays put and

Lenny Bradford - "Whaddya mean, man of a thousand faces?"

straps his mother-of-pearl decorated guitar back on to deliver ‘Where Jesus Leads Me I Will Follow’ on his own, before welcoming his compadres back for a final outing.  Introduced with a funny story about working with Peter Green, it’s Mac’s ‘One Sunny Day’, covered on latest album Everybody Wants A Piece.  With Bradford giving it large on the song’s big bass figure, Walker wrenches plenty of torque from the descending guitar riff, and delivers a jaw-dropping solo for good measure.

Joe Louis Walker is an electric blues delight, and here’s hoping he gets back to these shores soon.  When he does, get your ass along to see him, and have yourself a damn good time.

The cheerfully unassuming King Size Slim is deserving of a mention for his solo support slot, consisting entirely of unamplified tri-cone resonator guitar and vocals – and some thunderous foot stomping when required.  With a frequent twinkle in his eye he manages to weave some Sarf coast rapping into acoustic Delta blues, and engages the audience to assist him in re-tuning his guitar through “the collective consciousness of thought” – the best line I’ve heard on the subject since Jimbo Mathus declared “Fuck it – tuning is a decadent Western concept anyway”.

But amid the laughs Slim also produces stirring guitar and nice dynamics on the catch ‘Love Divine’, and constructs a tuneful singalong on ‘May We Find A Way Out Of The Storm’.  He may not actually be King Size, but Slim still manages to make an entertaining mark.

The Blues Enthused Christmas Stocking 2016 - Part 1

'Twas the night before Christmas, and time to concoct a winter warmer of blues, as a thank you to everyone who’s found their way here to Blues Enthused, and to all the bands and artists who made it possible.

Stevie Nimmo gets gallus in Glasgow

So let’s start by giving it up for Stevie Nimmo, who delivered my favourite studio album of the year with Sky Won’t Fall.  It’s got variety, it’s beautifully produced by Wayne Proctor and his House O’Tone chums, but above all it’s emotionally real.  The Stevie Nimmo Trio also delivered the goods on the road, and it was a delight to catch them in Glasgow and later Edinburgh, where they were joined at the end of the night by Stevie’s brother Alan.  Check out this performance of the mesmerising 'Running Back To You' from his run of Spring UK dates.

Another top drawer album this year was Dust And Bones, from Gary Hoey.  To be honest I’m not sure I gave Dust And Bones enough credit when it was released, because in retrospect it stands up damn well alongside the cream of 2016 albums.  Hoey sure as well knows his way around a fretboard, and his album does due diligence on a range of blues styles.  And as luck would have it, he also likes a festive ditty, so here he is a few years back giving big licks to ‘The Twelve Days Of Christmas’.  (We’ll forgive him the haircut.)

There was lots of good stuff going on in the middle of the year, not least the visit of Joe Louis Walker to these shores.  I was lucky enough to be able to do a short interview with JLW, before seeing him deliver a belter of a show at Dingwall’s in London – it was a privilege to see such a premier performer of electric blues, accompanied by his crack band.  From the same set of UK dates, here they are playing ‘Young Girl Blues’ during a soundcheck for their gig at The Convent.

The summer also gave us the first Edinburgh Blues’N’Rock Festival, one of the highlights of

Joe Louis Walker delivers day-glo blues!

which was the set by the Bernie Marsden Band, who rocked the joint good and proper – check out this version of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Oh Well’, complete with Bernie’s typically humorous introduction.  Not content with that, Bernie formed an alliance with fellow Festival performers Safehouse, and returned to Edinburgh for a unique night of Southern rock meets blues-rock under the banner of 'SnakeHouse' that was a blast for all concerned.  Here they are doing ‘Trouble’, with Safehouse vocalist Chris Peebles demonstrating that he could give a certain Mr C a run for his money.

Let’s hear it for the ladies too, with a nod to American vocalist Sari Schorr.  Having paid her dues over the years, Schorr got together with producer Mike Vernon and guitarist Innes SIbun to deliver her impressive debut album A Force Of Nature.  They’ve followed up with a lengthy stretch of well-received gigs by Sari Schorr & The Engine Room, which will hopefully reach venues near more of us in 2017.  Meantime, here’s a snippet of the album, and some chat from the winning Ms Schorr.

Let’s close for now by taking a look forward to the New Year.  I didn’t get round to reviewing Chicago blues man Toronzo Cannon’s album The Chicago Way, but it’s an up to the minute take on the classic Chicago seam of the genre, ranging from social commentary in ‘The Pain Around Me’ to relationship humour in the likes of ‘Bad Contract’.  Cannon is coming to Britain for the first time in the humour for a short run of dates – catch him if you can.

That’s all for now folks, except just for a festive laugh here's David Coverdale reading 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas' - honest!  Part 2 of the Blues Enthused Christmas Stocking will be with you soon.  Meantime - Merry Christmas!

Toronto Cannon's UK dates are:
19 January - Edinburgh Blues Club
20 January - Goin' Up The Country, Overton, Wrexham
21 January - The Great British Rock & Blues Festival, Skegness

Stevie Nimmo is touring France in February and the UK in March 2017.

Sari Schorr is touring Europe and the UK in early 2017.

Joe Louis Walker - Dingwall's, London, 9 June 2016

There are three good reasons for enjoying Joe Louis Walker.  For one, while he sits firmly in the tradition of electric blues, he likes to innovate.  For another, he’s at home in a variety of blues styles.  And last but not least, he has a tremendous sense of fun.

JLW - all kinds of blue

All these traits are in evidence throughout this London gig kicking off a series of UK and European dates.  The swinging credentials of his band are evident from the off, on the R’n’B of ‘I’m Not Messin’’, and reinforced on ‘T-Bone Shuffle’, a song which goes back to Walker’s contribution to BB King’s Grammy-winning Blues Summit album of 1993.  Walker’s exhortations to ‘let your hair hang down and have a natch’l ball’ hit the nail on the head, as he shows off his guitar chops with a witty, wonky guitar solo.

A subsequent slow blues instrumental underlines the jazzy quality to his playing.  But where jazz stylings often end up sounding studied and self-indulgent, in Walker’s hands the result is entertainment not ego, full of unexpected twists and turns and playful tones that regularly brings laughs from bassist Lenny Bradford.

Walker has a background in gospel music, and it continues to play a large part in his work, making good use of his strong and expressive voice.  Here he cranks up some chunky rhythm guitar on ‘Soldier Of Jesus’, but the real highlight is the classic ‘Wade In The Water’ from his latest album Everybody Wants A Piece, which takes off into a heavy funk workout with Travis Reed delivering a belting organ solo.

Kat Pearson payin' dues

Meanwhile Walker comes over all Chuck Berry on a blistering run through ‘Around And Around’, before highlighting teasing slide on Earl Hooker’s ‘Blue Guitar’, and some more meaty riffing under another Reed keyboard solo.  All the while Bradford on bass interlocks tightly with Reed’s keys and Byron Cage on drums, with Cage also following his leader’s guitar to punctuate the solos.

By the time we get to ‘One Time Around’ a dance vibe has taken hold, and it’s party time for sure on the encore of ‘Too Drunk To Drive’, with its ‘Peter Gunn’-ish theme embellished by forays into the riffs of ‘You Really Got Me’ and ‘All Day And All Of The Night’.

All round it’s a performance that demonstrates Joe Louis Walker is one of the leading lights of modern electric blues, as well as a connection to its past.

Openers Kat & Co start their set in quiet fashion but gradually hit their stride, with Kat Pearson’s resonant vocals and Francesco Accurso’s piercing guitar well to the fore.  By the time they’ve rattled off a ‘Rollin’ An’ Tumblin’ variant and got stuck into ‘Payin’ My Dues’ they’re getting well into it, and arousing plenty of audience interest for the rest of their brief set.