Keeping with tradition, Kim Simmonds and Savoy Brown has returned once again to the studio to record another
batch of hot electric Blues for our listening pleasure. The album is called Goin’ to the Delta, and alongside of Simmonds, is bassist Pat DeSalvo and drummer Garnet Grimm.
What I really like about this
disc, besides the music itself, is the cohesiveness of the songs, all penned by
Simmonds, by the way.This is album-oriented music, which is best
heard from beginning to end, unlike the music popularized with the MP3
generation, where the song is the final product, and not the album. Simmonds takes us on a journey fit for
the Blues, which passes through the realms of infatuation, rejection,
loneliness, desperation, and reconciliation.
Simmonds
sets everything up with the first track, “Laura Lee”.It’s fast-paced with a hint of rockabilly. This
is roadhouse Blues at its best.Following with “Sad News”, he brings it down a couple of notches, both
in mood and tempo. If I didn’t know better, I’d say this one, about lost love, was
written in the Thirties.It sounds so timeless
and genuine. Then, there is “Nuthin’ Like
the Blues”, a fun and cleverly written homage to the Blues itself, with
references to howlin’ wolves, rollin’ and tumblin’, as well as dusting brooms.Although the song doesn’t sound like the legendary
classic, “Crossroads”, it certainly makes me think of it when I hear it.
I love the way the
instrumental track, “Cobra” gets my adrenalin flowing.I call this ear candy because of its fast
moving catchy riffs and hit bluesy licks.Then, I like the fun little romp Simmonds
takes us on, as he heads out for a little free-trade non-committal loving, in
the song “Turn Your Lamp On “. He then breaks
out some killer slide on “I Miss Your Love”, as he pines for the woman who left
him for another man.Closing on a
positive note, Simmonds plays his
heart out and raises the mood and energy with “Going Back”, about going back to
his baby because he’s been away too long.
Savoy Brown
has been a mainstay in the Rock and Blues community for the better portion of
fifty years, and I’m so glad to see their legacy continue on with the album, Goin’ to the Delta.
Upon checking out the title, along with the track list, which includes song titles such as“Voodoo Woman”, “Voodoo Voodoo”, “It’s Your
Voodoo Working” , and “Love Spell”, one might be able to identify the recurring
theme of Teeny Tucker's latest album, if hard-pressed.That being said, Teeny Tucker
doesn’t need voodoo to get anyone to love this recording, Voodoo To Do You!She’s got it covered with powerful vocals, down-home blues, choice song selections and a great band which includes
guitarist Robert Hughes, bassist Robert Blackburn, drummer Darrell Jumper, David
Gastel on harmonica and keyboards.
Tucker kicks this thirteen
track album off with a fantastic cover of Koko
Taylor’s “Voodoo Woman”.It’s fast
paced Blues, buttered on one side with her cool raspy vocals, and on the other
side, with Hughes’ killer electric riffs. Linda Dachtyl, sitting in on this one
with her B3, adds a cohesive bonding that nicely pulls the song together.Then without skipping a beat, the intro to Howlin’ Wolf’s “Commit a Crime” gently rolls in.Hughes scores big points on this one as he nicely sets the song in
motion.Introducing new lyrics, Tucker
tackles this one from a woman’s point of view.“Tough Lover” is another cover, with a little modification. This one
isn’t your Etta James’ version. Tucker takes the original and slows it
down a bit, which I think is a great decision. Interestingly, as the tempo increases, Hughes briefly steers the song from
Blues to Rockabilly before bringing it back home again.
One of my favorite tracks on
the album is Tucker’s rendition of “Death
Don’t Have No Mercy”, originally by Gary
Davis, and covered later by the Grateful
Dead.I love the guitar licks Hughes lays down on this dark and
sullen song.I can feel the emotion
pouring off his guitar strings as he plays. This is probably the coolest song
on the album.
Tucker must
have had her mojo working double time when she got the idea for the closer song, “Sun Room”. This upbeat
original, about the history and spirit of the legendary Sun Studios in Memphis,
Tennessee, coincidentally was recorded at the Sun Studios. When this song plays,I feel momentarily transported to the studio
itself.Tucker makes it easy to envision the iconic building at 706 Union Avenue, with
her crafted lyrics.
As I find myself listening to
this album over and over again, it’s no surprise to find out Teeny Tucker is nominated for the 2014
Blues Foundation’s Koko Taylor Award this year.I think she deserves it.
Larry Easter, the original sax player for Linn County was in
town recently, and was gracious enough to sit down and share some moments and a
brief history of the band, Linn County with me.Larry now resides in Pasadena, CA, and still plays on a regular
basis.
Linn County, a band originating in Linn County, IA,migrated to Chicago, and then later
transplanted themselves in San Francisco.They recorded three albums in a three year period for Mercury Records
(1968 - 1970).Original members were
Stephen Miller (organ, vocals),Larry
Easter (saxophone, flue), Dino Long (bass guitar), Fred Walk (guitar, sitar),
and Jerry ‘Snake’ McAndrew (drums) who left the band andwas replaced by Clark Pierson.
Phillip: What brought you into the band?
Larry:I went
and sat in with them at a club called the Cougar Lounge.So I got hired on the spot.And then they said well we were going to be
going to Chicago, and I said, “That’s fine“, because I had nothing better to
do, and so I just went up there with them.And what that band did was become the house band of the most prominent
blues venue in Chicago at the time, it was called Mother Blues.We played five or six nights a week from
like 9:30pm to 3:30 in the morning.
This guy Jerry Rubin, does that name ring a bell with
you?He was the guy that was with the
Chicago Seven.The political thing.He comes into the club, and says, “We’re
going to make a riot here… in ChicagoDo
you want to be a part of it?’ And we didn’t want to.We were just a bunch of guys that
played.We weren‘t into that whole
political thing.
Phillip: Were you still the Prophets when you were in
Chicago?
Larry:No,
they had already changed the name.It
was originally called the Linn County Blues Band, then it became Linn County,
because we went past blues, strictly speaking.None of this was my call.I just
played ball, I played saxophone.They
ended up signing with Mercury Records, made three records with Mercury.After we moved from Cedar Rapids to Chicago,
we went on the road a lot.We went to
Detroit, Cleveland,and Montreal,which was really the best one of them.People loved that band in Montreal.
Martin Luther King got assassinated.We left Chicago three days before that
happened, I think, or maybe two.And
so, Chicago burned after that.That
whole club got burned.We got out of
that by the skin of our teeth.
Phillip:So
when you got out of Chicago, were you on your way to San Francisco?
Larry:That’s
right.It was coincidental, but this did
happen.So we got out and just kept
going to San Francisco.
Phillip: That was 1967?
Larry : 1968.We were signed to a record contract by
Mercury Records at the time.We got a
big advance at that time, a lot of money.What happened after that was basically downhill.It was a hell of a good band.When we were in Chicago, everybody loved us,
but you go to San Francisco where the Grateful Dead was, there was a lot going
on, very provincial.They were really
taken with people from San Francisco, and anyone from outside of San Francisco
had a really rough uphill battle.We
played the Fillmore, but it just wasn’t the same.Because prior to that, even going outside of
Chicago in places like Cleveland, Detroit and Montreal, everybody loved that
band.In Montreal, for instance, they’drate the top ten bands.We’re talking about the Beatles, Rolling
Stones, all of that.We were listed
among the top ten.It had that kind of
impact.But when we went to San
Francisco,it wasn’t the same
thing.It was just like we were a year
or two too late.We just couldn’t
crack.I’d say we played onthe same bill with the Grateful Dead four
times.But for whatever reason, we
couldn’t bridge the gap.
Phillip:Which
album was your favorite to record?Did
any one of them stick out as being a lot of fun to record?
Larry:I’m
actually a little frustrated by all of them.Because I was so young at the time, I was like nineteen or twenty when
this was all going on.So as I look back
at my own playing, in terms of what I do now, I am kind of embarrassed by it a
little bit.Most people will tell you
Fever Shot was the best.They might be
right.The first one was called Proud
Flesh Soothseer.That was really
psychedelic.
Phillip: Of all the bands you shared a stage
with,does any one strike you as one you
really liked to work with?
Larry:That’s
a tough call. We did the Grateful Dead a bunch of times.Quicksilver Messenger Service, I liked those
guys.And they liked us too.Steve Miller was a guy in our band, but there
was another Steve Miller too.And he
would sit in with us.A lot of people would
sit in with us, James Cotton, Paul Butterfield.
Phillip:Is
there any particular live performance that stands out the most?
Larry:The
thing is that the best ones are not the ones that would jump out at you.There was a place in Montreal Canada called
the Penelope, it was just a coffee shop, but Frank Zappa played there.The Mothers of Invention… Paul Butterfield...
there was a whole circle that played at that particular club.Anyway, we were really popular at that particular
venue.That’s what sticks out in my
mind.We played the Fillmore East with
Eric Burdon and the Animals and Sly and the Family Stone.
Phillip:You
played both Fillmores.Which one, if you
had to pick,one was your favorite?
Larry:Well,
we only did the Fillmore East one time.That was in New York City, and that made it special in and of
itself.
We played in Detroit with Led Zeppelin.A funny thing happened at that show.Our bass player, Dino was playing this Hofner
Bass like Paul McCartney played., and the neck breaks off, so he had to borrow
the bass from Led Zeppelin.Our band
manager who is still alive and a dear close friend, got it into his head to get
us all these psychedelic clothing items to play this thing.And so we are playing on stage, and they’re
shrinking.
Phillip: Reminds me of George Costanza’s cotton
baseball uniforms.
Larry:You got
this guy, Steve Miller, who is six foot four, and all the buttons had popped
off everybody, and he was so mad.You
can’t believe this, but it did go down.We played, and our clothes shrunk on us during that performance, and
none of us wanted to wear that crap in the first place because we just wanted
to wear jeans, and shirts.
Phillip:Is
there possibility in the future of any of your albums being re-released on CD
Larry:It’s
obscure. But believe it or not, there are CDs of us out there, but not a
lot.
Phillip:Larry, I want to thank you for taking the time to talk with me.I really appreciate it.Your stories have been very informative and
enlightening.It’s been a real pleasure
talking to you.Thank you.
Damon Fowler’s latest solo
album, Sounds of Home is a grab-bag
of Americana at its best.Soon after finishing
the tour with the band, Southern
Hospitality, which released one of my favorite albums last year, Easy Livin’, Fowler returned to the
studio with bassist Chuck Riley and
drummer James McKnight. Tab
Benoit not only produced, recorded and mixed this eleven track album, but
he sits in on several songs as well, pitching in on vocals, acoustic guitar,
and pedal steel.
The album is a heavy mix of
Country and Blues music. Fowler breaks out some really thick slide, on opening
track “Thought I Had It All”.This one
gets the energy flowing, as Fowler makes his slide scream. It almost borders on Southern Rock.
Title track, “Sounds of Home”
puts a smile on my face, as the guitar riffs bring to mind Steve Cropper, while the backing rhythm is very reminiscent of
those cool early days of Stax Records.
Big Chief Monk Boudreaux also makes
a guest appearance here, pitching in on vocals and tambourine.
Fowler tackles Elvis Costello’s “Allison” with a
slightly different approach as he brings a little country twang to the vocals
and melody, and an outstanding guitar solo on the bridge. While on the subject of outstanding guitar and
cover songs, Fowler brings it on again with a very swampy bluesy rendition of Johnny Winter’s “TV Mama”.It’s so fun just to hear him play guitar,
especially on songs like this.
Fowler digs deep and goes
really ‘old school’, as he dusts off the classic spiritual, “I Shall Not Be
Moved”, and plays it in a very traditional sense as he is joined by Benoit on acoustic guitar and harmonizing
vocals. Beautifully played, I thought
this was a cool song to close the album with.
Albums like “Sounds of Home”
are so welcome to hear, as it allows the artist’s raw talent to shine through,
and not be muddled by special effects and over-production.This album is a “keeper”.