#608 : Nick Schnebelen - What Key is Trouble In? (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

What Key is Trouble In?

2023 – Vizztone

By Phillip Smith; April 8, 2023

Release Date : March 10, 2023

 

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

I’ve been a fan of Nick Schnebelen’s work for twelve years.  His guitar mastery and song-writing make for some exciting electric blues.  Schnebelen’s fourth album for Vizztone What Key is Trouble In was co-produced by BMA winner Chris Hardwick, featuring Nick being backed by drummer Adam Hagerman, and bassist Cliff Moore.  Guest appearances from keyboardist Red Young, saxophonist Buddy Leach, and organist Aaron Mayfield lend their talent to this extraordinary thirteen-track album of all-original songs.

Title track “What Key is Trouble In?” rolls in on a funky BB-King inspired tide, and I dig it a lot.  The beauty of “Blues Night” is in the moody atmosphere Schnebelen crafts.  It’s surely a standout song.  I love how the slow buttery groove of “Hard Driving Woman” pulls me right in to the pocket with Schnebelen filling it with rich tones and smoldering licks.  I can’t help but think of SRV when “Poor Side of Town” begins.  This is a wonderful serving of slow-paced Texas Blues.  Boogying down with an infectious hill-country-blues-flavored riff, “Throw Poor Me Out” flows like moonshine from a mason jar.  It a wonderful jam.   

What Key is Trouble In? is surely an album blues fans will want to own.  Schnebelen just keeps getting better and better.    

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TRACK LISTINGS

01.  Ten Years After, Fifty Years Later

02.  What Key Is Trouble In?

03.  Love In My Heart

04.  Blues Nights

05.  Hard Driving Woman

06.  Will I Stay

07.  Pain Aside

08.  Poor Side Of Town

09.  Johnny Cheat

10.  Big Mean Dog

11.  Over The Cliff

12.  Throw Poor Me Out

13.  People Worry About Me

 

 

For more information about Nick Schnebelen visit his website at :  https://www.nickschnebelenkc.com

 

Check out other PhillyCheeze reviews for Nick Schnebelen at :  https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/search?q=Nick+Schnebelen

 

 

 

#381 : Nick Schnebelen - Crazy All By Myself

2019 – Vizztone

By Phillip Smith; Mar. 16, 2019

I’ve been a fan of Nick Schnebelen since reviewing Trampled Under Foot’s 2011 release Wrong Side of the Blues for Blues Revue Magazine’s online zine BluesWax.  I remember being in such awe of great talent when I saw the band perform live at Riverside Casino in 2012.  Schnebelen’s Live in Kansas City album, released in 2017, was outstanding, and this brand-new record Crazy All By Myself is absolutely terrific.  Producer/drummer Tony Braunagel (Taj Mahal, Robert Cray), along with heavy hitters, organist/pianist Mike Finnigan and bassist Hutch Hutchinson form one hell of a rhythm section.

I love the groove Braunagel and bassist Reggie McBride pour over “It Ain’t Me”. Smooth and intoxicating, it washes over me, like a fine bourbon.  Hearing Schnebelen let loose on guitar is pure joy.  Finnigan absolutely cooks on piano for “Ain’t Got Time For the Blues”.  The song is a massive dose of adrenalized blues with more stellar guitar from Nick.  Another song that grabs my full attention is “Alter of Love” which happens to feature one my favorite harp players, Jason Ricci.  This is one positively fabulous.

Schnebelen breaks out some wonderfully delicious slide guitar as he expresses his fondness for Harley Davidsons in the double-entendre loaded bike song “I’m a Fat Boy”.  With “Soul Magic”, the lovely Heather Newman appears on backing vocals, as Nick reveals his prowess as an R&B singer.  “Holding On”, beautifully performed and featuring the great Davy Knowles on guitar, is another favorite. 

Focused and fierce, Schnebelen has taken his music up another notch. Crazy All By Myself is definitely a record for blues fans to take notice of.

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For more information about the artist, visit the website :  www.nickschnebelenkc.com .

Nick Schnebelen - Live in Kansas City

2017 – Vizztone Records

By Phillip Smith; May 20, 2017

I’ve been a fan of Nick Schnebelen since hearing Wrong Side of the Blues, a 2011 release from his band Trampled Under Foot, which was cofounded with his siblings, Danielle Nicole and Kris.  That album was one of my favorites that year, and I was fortunate to have reviewed it for Blues Review Magazine’s online magazine, Blues Wax.  Nick now leads his own band, a high-energy power trio with Cliff Moore on bass and Adam Hagerman on drums.  Live in Kansas City captures a riveting concert from this band who took the stage at Knuckleheads Saloon in Kansas City on December 3, 2016. 

Leading off this killer ten track album, is the spectacular “Fool”.  Schnebelen’s vocals, soaked in the blues, are powerful and smooth.  The captivating sound of his guitar rings with spirit and emotion.  I love the funk-infused rhythm on “Herbert Harper’s Free Press News”.  Catchy riffs and high-octane drums fuel this one.  The guitar mastery demonstrated in “You Call That Love” is second to none, and sounds absolutely amazing. Chills shoot up and down my spine when they break into a quite superb cover of Johnny Winter’s “Mean Town Blues”.  Schnebelen takes no prisoners as he plays this wonderful piece on slide.  The album closes with “Conformity Blues”, an exquisite instrumental guided by a propelling rhythm and intricately laced up with an exhilarating guitar performance.

Nick Schnebelen Live in Kansas City is an outstanding album of fortified electric blues which hits the ground running and plows through right to the very end.

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