#578 > Herman Hitson - Let the Gods Sing (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

2022 – Big Legal Mess Records

By Phillip Smith; Oct.1, 2022

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

The tale of Herman Hitson’s nearly eighty-year-old life would make for an intriging documentary.  Born in Philadelphia, and raised in Georgia, his past is a ripe forest of juicy stories.  Hitson shared an apartment with Jimi Hendrix and was key in persuading him to sing.  He toured the chitlin circuit with James Brown, The Drifters, Wilson Pickett, Jackie Wilson, Joe Tex, and Bobby Womack.  After going through some rough patches and serving time, Hitson picked up a job in Florida, working the sugar cane fields with a flame-thrower as a snake-clearer.    With Let the Gods Sing, Hitson breathes a new life into several of his most familiar R&B songs and throws in a few brilliant covers as well.  Recorded and mixed at Bruce Watson’s Delta-Sonic Sound in Memphis, Tennessee, this funky and psychedelic nine-track treasure is co-produced by Watson and Will Sexton.  Behind Hitson on vocals and guitar is The Sacred Soul Sound Section comprised of Sexton on guitar, Mark Edgar Stuart on bass, Will McCarley on drums and percussion, and Al Gamble on organ.

Wafts of psychedelia gently roll in for the title-track as preparations are laid out for a grand spiritual rock-and-roll ceremony.  Spacy guitar licks and swirling chords from the organ set the stage for Hitson, in the guise of a musical medicine-man, to stare past the clouds and fearlessly command the Gods to sing.  Hitson’s voice seems to bluntly speak from experience as he covers Willie Dixon’s “Back Door Man”.  Gamble tackles this one like Ray Manzarek of the Doors and peppers this classic blues song with a smidge of the Sixties LA rock.  “Feast of Ants” is a trippy five-and-a-half-minute-long instrumental.  Written by Hitson and The Sacred Soul Sound Section, this delicious jam is drenched in a funky groove and splattered with mind-altered sounds.  The buttery rhythm of “Suspicious” greases up the speakers as Hitson breaks loose on this intoxicating jam often credited to Hendrix by mistake.  “Yampertown Funk” brings this shindig to a close.  This glorious R&B instrumental is soaked in the sounds of Memphis Stax and laced with amazing electric six-string.  

Let the Gods Sing grabbed my attention from the first listen and has not released its grip yet.  Hitson steps up to each and every song with the energy of a young and robust James Brown, as he guides this tight-knit band skyward. 

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 For more information about Herman Hitson, visit this website : https://hermanhitson.com

For more information about Music Maker Foundation, visit this website : https://musicmaker.org

 

#555 > Ryan Lee Crosby - Winter Hill Blues (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2022 – Ryan Lee Crosby

By Phillip Smith; May 21, 2022

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

It was two years ago I first heard Ryan Lee Crosby play at the virtual Juke Joint Fest in Clarksdale, Mississippi.  The annual event was thrown for a spin in 2020 due to Covid 19, so organizers cleverly decided to take the festival online in a virtual sense with free live Facebook streams, and app-driven tip jars.  That was my first time to experience Juke Joint Fest in any capacity, and I was totally captivated.  Crosby’s performance bowled me over with his unique way of playing and his pure blues authenticity.

Produced by the legendary Bruce Watson (R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Robert Belfour), and dedicated to his mentor, the great Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, Winter Hill Blues is a sensational nine-track album of deep-delta acoustic guitar blues.  Eight of those nine tracks are wonderfully-timeless originals penned by Crosby.  Backing Crosby is drummer/percussionist George Sluppick (JJ Grey & Mofro, Chris Robinson), and bassist Mark Edgar Stuart.   

From the beginning notes of “I’m Leaving”, I’m onboard.  I love how Sluppick’s freight-train beat kicks in and Stuart’s bass notes penetrate right to the bone.  Crosby impressively woos me on guitar, declaring “Well I’m gonna leave ya child, I’m gonna leave when the morning comes”.  His genteel delivery of title-track “Winter Hill Blues” is beautifully executed.  There’s a definite Skip James energy surrounding this one, and it sounds wonderful.  The swirling hypnotic rhythm on “Down So Long” pert near puts me in a North Mississippi trance, and I enjoy it immensely.   Continuing along Bentonia blues tradition with songs about the devil, Crosby’s “Was it the Devil” is a poignant and reflective song about his mother’s passing.  Here he sings “It was the devil who made her do that thing, but it was the lord who gave her angel’s wings”.  He takes a hard look at the institutions we are most familiar with in his hard-driving blues anthem “Institution Blues”, and finds a hidden purpose of systematic control when he takes a peek behind the curtains.  The song could’ve been written at anytime within the past hundred years, but its words are ageless.  The album closes with a robust cover of Rev. Robert Wilkins’ “Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down”.  The slide guitar on this track is absolutely fabulous.

Winter Hill Blues is a wonderful album of traditional blues and it deserves all the future accolades it will receive.        

 

 

 

For more information about Ryan Lee Crosby, visit this website :  https://ryanleecrosby.com

 

 

 

Ryan Lee Crosby on Bandcamp

#494 : Elizabeth King - Living in the Last Days

 

2021 – Bible & Tire

By Phillip Smith; April 4, 2021

It’s been forty-five years since Elizabeth King walked away from the recording business to raise her fifteen children.  King has returned to the studio to share her dynamic voice with a brand-new album of uplifting sacred soul called Living in the Last Days.   With Bruce Watson producing, King is backed by The Sacred Soul Sound Section comprised of guitarists Will Sexton (Dale Watson, Nicki Bluhm, Amy LaVere) and Matt Ross-Spang (Al Green, Jason Isbell, John Prine), bassist Mark Stuart (Alvin Youngbood Hart), and drummer/percussionist George Sluppick (Albert King, Chris Robinson Brotherhood).  Also appearing on this record are The Vaughn Sisters Vocals, The D-Vine Spiritualettes Vocals, organists Al Gamble (St. Paul & the Broken Bones), and Rick Steff, vocalists Chris and Courtney Barnes, with Art Edmaiston and Jim Spike on horns, and William Graves on vocals and Wurlitzer electric piano.

This eleven-track album leads off with “No Ways Tired”.  King’s steadfast vocals are accented with a deep buttery bass, and a sweet twangy guitar.  I love the title-track “Living in the Last Days”.  Complete with hand-clapping and beefy organ accompaniment, it becomes quite the glory-hallelujah hymn.  “Call on Him” is an exquisite taste of Sixties soul wrapped around southern gospel.  It’s musical gold.  Drenched in a swampy Mississippi blues, “You’ve Got to Move” brings the album to a close.  With a superb performance, King expresses just how closely the musical paths are between the blues and church music.                   

The world could use more music like the ones Elizabeth Kings brings to Living in the Last Days.

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For more information about the artist, visit this website : www.bibleandtire.com

#437 : Dedicated Men of Zion - Can't Turn Me Around

2020 – Bible & Tire Recordings
By Phillip Smith; March 21, 2020


The Dedicated Men of Zion’s latest release Can’t Turn Me Around is plainly put, music for the soul.  The four men whose magnificent harmony make this record such a stand out is Anthony Daniels, Antwan Daniels, Dexter Weaver, and Marcus Sugg.  This eastern North Carolina gospel quartet was formed in 2014 as a quintet, but with the passing of founding member Trevoris Newton, the departure of Darren Cannon, and the addition of Sugg, the group was rebuilt as four.  Anthony, who has backed up Elton John, Toni Braxton, and Bebe Winans, is Antwan’s father, and Sugg’s father-in-law.  Produced by Bruce Watson of Fat Possum Records, and recorded in his Delta-Sonic Sound Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, the record comes to life, enlisting Watson’s all-star studio band.  With Will Sexton on guitar, George Sluppick on drums and percussion, Mark Stuart on bass, and Art Edmaiston on horns, the music is infused with that easily identifiable Memphis soul sound I often crave.

“I Feel Alright” is definitely reminiscence of the sounds coming out of the Stax studios on East McLemore Ave in the sixties.  Anthony’s velvety lead vocals sound fantastic backed the all-star band.  I love the hypnotic riff running through title-track “Can’t Turn Me Around”.  Anthony’s voice shines brightly, while Sexton lays down some funky psychedelic licks on guitar.  It sounds great.  The harmonies on the up-beat “You Don’t Know” are delightfully uplifting.  A fitting song for the times ,“It’s a Shame” is southern gospel soul at its finest.  

I’d encourage anyone to check this album out.  It’s the real deal.

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