2014 – American Showplace Music
By Phillip Smith;
Oct 25, 2014
There is something magnificent
about listening to The Alexis P. Suter
Band’s new album, Love the Way You
Roll. It’s raw, swampy, bluesy and
utterly fantastic. Suter takes full command of her microphone, exquisitely belting out
each song as her band, made up of guitarist Jimmy Bennett, drummer Ray
Grappone, bassist Peter Bennett,
and backing vocalist Vicki Bell,
dishes out amazingly tight performances. Also appearing on the album, is John Ginty with his Hammond B3 in tow.
“Nuthin’ In the World” ushers
the listener into this funky energized album heavily steeped in the blues, with
catchy hooks and outstanding musicianship. Suter
and company shine on “Big Mama” as well.
I love it when J. Bennett
breaks out the slide. It sounds so good alongside
Suter’s uniquely styled contralto
vocals.
Title track, “Love the Way
You Roll”, is mesmerizing, as it seems to dip into the well of trance blues. J. Bennett
lets each strum of the guitar hang heavy in the air, adding to the psychedelic
effect created by the hypnotic framework built by Grappone and P. Bennett. It’s
so cool how this song transforms into the oh-so-familiar “Rollin’ and Tumblin’”. J.
Bennett throws down another great performance on “Gonna’ Love You”.
One of the most beautiful
tracks on the album is “Anything”.
Soulful and slow, this one is so full of emotion it pulls on my
heartstrings, much like Otis Redding’s
“Sitting on the Dock of the Bay”. J.Bennett seems to extract tears right
out of his guitar, as Sutter immerses
herself fully into her performance.
I can’t help but smile, when
I hear the cover of Slim Harpo’s “Shake
Your Hips”. It’s such a happy and fun
track to listen to. Love the Way You Roll, nothing short of a masterpiece, is certain
to end up as one of my favorite releases for the year.
