PhillyCheeze's Rock & Blues Reviews: Eric Douglas

Showing posts with label Eric Douglas. Show all posts

Saturday, August 1, 2020

#456 : BillyLee Janey - 20 Dollar Tip

2020 – BillyLee Janey

By Phillip Smith; Aug. 1, 2020

It’s always exciting to hear new material from Iowa Blues Hall of Fame member BillyLee Janey (Truth and Janey). Janey’s bravado is a force to be reckoned with and his brand of electric blues is hard to beat. For his latest album, 20 Dollar Tip, Janey returns to the studio with Dan ‘DJ’ Johnson on bass, Eric Douglas on drums, and Tom ‘T-Bone’ Giblin (Lonnie Brooks, The Dynatones, Mighty Joe Young) on Hammond B3 to produce an engaging, well-crafted record. His son Bryce Janey mixed and mastered the record, and also appears on backing vocals.

Title-track “20 Dollar Tip” takes off in a dazzling fury with a wonderful display of searing guitar licks. Flexing its muscles with a hard-driving rhythm and serious B3 back-up, it’s a great song to kick things off with. Janey infuses a tasty bit of funk in his infectious tribute to delta blues in “Way Down in a Mississippi Town”. This is definitely one of my favorites. If there were a category for Best Soul Blues Song of the Year, “Love’s Gonna Stop That Train” would definitely be a contender. The song is absolutely fabulous. In “Stepping Out with the Blues”, Janey’s performance drips with Chicago-style authenticity, and sounds like perfection. This nine-track album comes to a rollicking close with “Shake My Soul”, making for one hell of a blues jam.

20 Dollar Tip is a splendid listen from start to finish, and highly recommended.

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Saturday, October 5, 2019

#411 : BillyLee Janey - Blues Power

2019 – Billy Rock Music / Stray Dog Records

By Phillip Smith; Oct. 5, 2019

Since moving up here to Iowa in 1992, I’ve been listening to BillyLee Janey. Inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 for Truth & Janey and inducted into the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame in 2012, he is surely a force to be reckoned with when it comes to musicianship and playing the blues. Blues Power, his latest release is a sheer delight. Featuring eleven originals and two cover songs, this album is filled to the brim with hard-driving electric blues that cuts deep to the core. BillyLee leads this trio on guitar and vocals. His son Bryce Janey who also recorded, mastered and mixed the album, appears on bass guitar, with Eric Douglas is on drums.

From the first song, “Who Let the Dog Out”, Janey is already in top-gear, delivering hot-as-hell licks and playing the blues like I love to hear it. He continues to amaze me in “Blues Alright”. “Gimme Some Blues Power” is a monster of a song too. Douglas lays down a stellar beat while Janey carpet bombs the listener with a tantalizing guitar performance. His cover of Buddy Guy’s “Mary Had a Little Lamb” puts a big smile on my face too. Janey makes this one his own.

While revisiting “Mean Ol’ Twister”, a track released on his album Got Them Iowa Blues, Janey adds an additional minute, forty-five seconds to the furious whirlwind simulation he creates with sound. It was a spectacular song to begin with, but this new mix gives it the tornado-infused ending the song deserves. Hearing Janey cut loose the way he does here, is an experience in and of itself.

An absolute must-hear for blues fans, and guitar aficionados, Blues Power delivers high-voltage blues at its best.

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

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Czech Village Blues Festival - Aug 12, 2017

Czech Village

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

All photos by Phillip Smith; Aug 13, 2017

I am more than thrilled to see the return of an annual blues festival here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It has been a long journey to get one going again since the final Bluesmore in 2013. This year the Linn County Blues Society joined forces with the Friends of the Czech Village to bring the blues back to our city. The result was a phenomenal evening of music performed by The LCBS Allstars featuring eight Iowa Blues Hall of Fame inductees, along with headlining act, Joanna Connor.