2015 – American Showplace
Music
By Phillip Smith; Jan 16, 2016
Gonna Die Tryin’, the fourth album from singer/song-writer/blues harpist extraordinaire,
Chris O’Leary digs its claws in deep
and pulls the listener right in. O’Leary delivers eleven tracks of
original smokin’ hot blues with the help of his band, guitarist Chris Vitarello, tenor saxophonist Andy Stahl, baritone saxophonist Chris Difrancesco, bassist Matt Raymond, and drummer Jay Devlin.
One of the things I admire
about O’Leary is the fact that he seems
to puts as much thought into his lyrics as he does his music. When his music takes that slight turn to the
dark side, and he just lets loose on that voice of his, I’m immediately reminded
of music fave, Tom Waits. I love Vitarello’s
tangy blues riffs and Bruce Katz’s barrelhouse
piano on the lead track, “Can’t Help Yourself”. O’Leary’s
badass gravelly vocals and stellar harp playing lead the way on title track
“Gonna Die Tryin’”, a killer track with a hell of a lot of soul. Vitarello’s
suave and tasty guitar licks are greeted by Katz’s groovy keyboard finesse on this one. I dig the horns and funky rhythm on “Hook
Line and Sinker”. This tune seemingly
pays homage to that sweet Memphis soul
music which came out of Stax Records in
the Sixties. The track is very nice
indeed.
I’m pretty much knocked out
by this album. It’s surely one of my
favorite releases this year.
