2017 – Bahool Records
By Phillip Smith;
June 10,
2017
Recorded at Memphis’s
legendary Ardent Studios, Rollin’ With It, the latest album from Australian
singer/songwriter, John McNamara is
chockful of smooth Memphis soul. Boasting
a killer lineup of Stax musicians
featuring drummer Steve Potts
(Booker T & the MGs), guitarist Michael Toles (Bobby Bland, The
Bar-Kays), pianist/organist Lester Snell
(Albert King, Isaac Hayes), who also arranged the album, and bassist James “Jimi” Kinard(Isaac Hayes, B.B.
Kings All Stars), the album is a bodacious musical delight. McNamara, who grabbed a semi-finalist
slot in the 2015 International Blues
Challenge, lays his fabulous voice and bluesy guitar licks down in six
original songs and four wonderful covers.
From the moment, “One of a
Kind” immersed from the speakers, loaded with searing electric guitar, rich
keys from Snell, and the sweet sound
of horns, I knew this album would be a favorite. McNamara
suavely croons as the spoon-fed rhythm of “Under the Weight of the Moon” uncannily
drills itself into my subconscious. That’s absolutely fine with me though.
McNamara
beautifully takes on Bobby “Blue” Bland’s
“Ask Me Nothing (But about the Blues)”.
Drizzled with buttery vocals and wonderful blasts of horns, this one is
sung from the heart. His recording of Otis Redding’s “Security” is second to none
and positively fabulous.
As a huge fan of Stax Records and all the terrific music
which flowed out its doors in the Sixties and Seventies, I have to say, Rollin’ With It ranks as my favorite Stax album not officially on the Stax label. It’s just that good.
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