#772 > Piper and The Hard Times - Good Company~ (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2025 – Hard Times Records
 
By Phillip Smith; September 20, 2025
 
Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

About ten months ago, Piper & the Hard Times released their debut album Revelation. It took only one listen to that record for me to fall in love with it. That recording spent two weeks at #1 on the Billboard Blues Chart and landed on my PhillyCheeze Top 25 albums of 2024. Piper & the Hard Times have a new record now called Good Company. It’s no wonder this Nashville-based band pulled down first place at the 2024 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. These guys are one hot and funky blues band comprised of Chairman of Good Times Al “Piper” Green on vocals, Chief Riff Officer Steve “The Conductor” Eagon on guitar, Chief Rhythm Officer Dave “Sexy Boy” Colella on drums and percussion, Chief Soul Officer Amy “The Professor” Frederick on piano, organ, and Rhodes, Chief Groove Officer Parker “Porkchop Funkstick” Hawkins on bass, with Good Company Consultants Eddie Meyer on tenor sax, Lisa Oliver-Gray and Etta Britt on background vocals, Charlie DiPuma on additional saxophone, and John “Hotfingers” Wallum on organ.

 Title track “Good Company”, an homage to close friends, initiates this twelve-track album with a serious driving force. Green’s vocals are strong and fearless as Eagon lays down a smokin’ guitar performance. I love the wafting greasy funk surrounding “Cowboy Gucci”.  Hawkins surely earns his nickname on this infectious track. A fabulously chunky rhythm reels me in the stellar blues-rocker “In the Meantime”. Fueled with psychedelic guitar licks and the swirling sound of keys this track has a vintage Hendrix vibe. Eagon and Green have a distinct way of writing and arranging songs that people are craving to hear. “My Place” is a great example with its bouncy, get-down groove which, more often than not, demands extra replays. The record ends with a song of nostalgia called “Those Days”.  I can certainly identify with Green as he reminisces about the simple days of yore, of being a kid and playing outside with friends. It’s a terrific song.

Piper & the Hard Times have another hit record on their hands with Good Company. It’s the kind of album that one can play from start to finish on repeat and just soak up its goodness.   

  

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For more info on Piper & The Hard Times, visit the website at https://www.piperandthehardtimes.com