2024 – Blind Pig Records
By Phillip Smith; Mar. 23, 2024
Release Date : Mar. 22, 2024
Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com
I was very excited to hear there was a new release on the way from
Milwaukee’s hardest working bluesmen Altered Five Blues Band. This seventh
and latest release Testifyin' absolutely cooks. With five all-original
tracks of smokin’ blues, this EP is hitting the scene with quite an impact. With
Jeff Taylor on lead vocals, Jeff Schroedl on guitar, Mark
Solveson on bass, Steve Huebler on keys, and Alan Arber on
drums, A5BB plays the blues with feeling and conviction. The EP was
produced, mixed and mastered by Grammy award-winner Tom Hambridge. To
sweeten the pot, the super-talented, multi-award-winning Jason Ricci also
appears with harp in hand on three of the five tracks.
Testifyin’ kicks off with “Don’t Tell Me I Can’t” delivered with a funky rhythm topped with a smokin’ guitar performance from Schroedl and a sweet horn accompaniment from Max Abrams on saxophone and Julio Diaz on trumpet. They roll into “Whiskey Got Me Married” a smoldering blues track that sounds great sung by Taylor’s husky voice. Ricci totally wails on the harmonica and sounds amazing. “Brand New Bone” is an outstanding track which seems to begin in the Delta and wrap up in Chicago. With Ricci in the mix, this track is a genuine winner. They slow it down to a gentle sway to sing about hard times in “I’ve Got Scars to Prove It”. Schroedl plays every note with an emotional approach. Testifyin’ wraps up in a lively positive light with “You Can’t Win (If it Ain’t Within)”. It is upbeat, uplifting, and a sheer delight to hear.
Every song is a keeper on Altered Five Blues Band’s Testifyin’. It’s a record that I keep on heavy-rotation for a long while.
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For
more information about the artist, visit this website : https://www.alteredfive.com/
For
other PhillyCheeze reviews regarding Altered Five Blues Band, follow this link:
https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2021/10/521-altered-five-blues-band-holler-if.html
