2018 – Ghost Town Blues
Band
By Phillip Smith;
June 9, 2018
Ghost
Town Blues Band’s Backstage
Pass is one of the best live albums I’ve heard all year. With every listen, I fall head over heels for
its long soulful jams heavily steeped in American blues and roots. From the beloved city of Memphis, Tennessee, Ghost
Town Blues Band is composed of lead vocalist/guitarist Matt Isbell,
guitarist Taylor Orr, Suavo Jones on trombone, Kevin Houston
on sax, Tim Stanek on the Hammond B3, piano and keys, bassist Matt
Karner, and drummer Preston McEwen.
Produced by McEwen, Backstage
Pass consists of nine splendid tracks recorded live at Lafayette’s Music
Room in Memphis on July 29, 2017.
The album breaks out with a smashing cover of The
Beatles’ “Come Together”. This
sounds fabulous with slide guitar and horns. I love the way they weave bits of “Norwegian
Wood” and Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” into the fabric of the tune. I will
be sadly disappointed if this song does not make it on the next Fried Glass Onion compilation series (a tribute
to the music of The Beatles, performed by Memphis bands). They take on the Allman Brothers’
signature song “Whippin’ Post” with true justice and a truck load of responsibility,
bestowing the listener with a beautiful and amazing sixteen minute jam. Isbell’s guitar performance is stellar.
Their cover of George Porter Jr’s
(The Meters) “I Get High” is a bouncy and funky treat loaded with contagious
horn riffs and more head-turning guitar. McEwen is a bodacious drummer, and
keeps everything in check.
“Shine”, drenched in that good ol’ Memphis soul greets
the listener like an old friend whose face has not been seen in a long
time. The Stax sound is
definitely represented here with the swirling organ and those cool little
blasts of horns led by Isbell’s wonderful and gravelly vocals. From their Dust to Dust album, GTBB revisits “One More Whiskey” a blues-soaked
ode to drinking which Isbell tops with a tasty side of harmonica. This is a fun tune indeed.
I had the privilege of catching the band in Memphis
earlier this spring at the Beale Street Music Festival. With cigar box guitar in hand, stretching as
high as Isbell could raise it, Jones proceeded to extend his
trombone to its outer limits, to use the far-most edge as a
guitar slide until that cigar box just plumb gave out. After several attempts at reviving that
guitar with no luck, Isbell put his own creation out of misery with a
mighty rock-and-roll Pete Townsend style bashing. They outshined every act I saw that day, and quite
frankly, most of the other acts I saw that whole weekend. They were truly amazing, as is this
album. It’s ridiculously good.
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| Ghost Town Blues Band live in Memphis, Tennessee at Memphis in May Beale Street Music Festival 2018 Photo by Phillip Smith |
