2023 – Vizztone Label Group
By Phillip Smith; Aug. 12, 2023
San Diego-based musician Larry Teves aka Chickenbone Slim has returned to Greaseland Studios to record his fifth release Damn Good and Ready. The album is a cocktail of all-original blues and rockabilly with a cool-as-hell vintage sound. It is quite obvious why he was awarded the 2022 San Diego Music Award for “Best Jazz/Blues Recording”. With Christoffer “Kid” Anderson engineering, mixing, and mastering this twelve-track recording, Chickenbone Slim is joined by Laura Chavez (2023 Blues Music Award winner for Best Blues Guitarist) on guitar, Marty Dodson on drums/percussion, Justice Guevara on electric and stand-up bass, and Kid Anderson on everything else.
Loaded with a fistful of musical badassery and a searing blues riff, Teves’ homage to the wonderous lifeforce H2O has me hooked with “Drink Me”. “Rather Be Up” follows up with sweet twangy tones and a western delivery. It’s a beautiful song, and draws me in tight. From the first smokin’ guitar lick Chavez drops, title-track “Damn Good and Ready” is pure unadulterated blues, and sounds absolutely wonderful. With a fearless vocal delivery, Slim belts out “Ice in My Whiskey”. Chavez truly shines on this favorite track. It is songs like “Ty Cobb’s Chiclets” which put a spotlight on Teves’ songwriting mastery. This suspenseful tale of a baseball legend and his false teeth unfolds with a splash of surf guitar, and I dig it immensely.
Chickenbone Slim’s Damn Good and Ready is a one-of-a-kind album and I highly recommend it.
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Note:
I
caught Chickenbone Slim live in Memphis this past May performing at Rum
Boogie Café on Beale Street for the Vizztone Blues Music Award Showcase,
and had the opportunity to speak with him a bit while we were waiting for Uber
rides at the end of the evening. That was very cool. The next evening, I attended the Blues
Music Awards where Laura Chavez was awarded Guitarist of the Year. Being the first female to be honored with that
prestigious award in the forty-four years they have been held, will hopefully begin
a new trend. It was a special moment,
and I am very happy she won.
Visit Chickenbone Slim’s
webpage at https//chickenboneslim.com to purchase Damn Good and Ready.
