#607 : Eric Bibb - Ridin' (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2023 – Stony Plain Records

By Phillip Smith; April 7, 2023

Release Date : March 24, 2023

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

Ridin’ the follow-up album to Eric Bibb’s award-winning Dear America continues to captivate me on a myriad of levels.  His lyrical prowess and instrumental finesse are indeed a powerful combination.  Ridin’ contains fifteen tracks, and an impressive list of guest musicians consisting of Taj Mahal, Jontavious Willis, Russell Malone, Amar Sundy, Harrison Kennedy and Habib Koite.

I knew I was in for a treat as soon as “Family” kicked in.  The rootsy banjo-led track with funky organ licks and a gospel-infused backing chorus is a bodacious listen.  Bibb invites Taj Mahal and Jontavious to join in for “Blues Funky Like Dat”.  This ode to the overlap of blues and church is a fascinating listen.  The way Bibb sings about being a great distance away from home in “500 Miles” is beautiful and heartfelt.  Son House came to one of Bibb’s dream, and “I Got My Own” was written.  I love the hot electric guitar licks Sundy drops in this deep blues track.  Harrison Kennedy (Chairmen of the Board) delightfully joins in with guitar and vocals on the country-blues duet ‘”Call Me By My Name”.

A true poet and balladeer, Bibb scores high marks again with Ridin’.                  

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For more information about Eric Bibb visit his website at :  https://www.ericbibb.com

 

 

ERIC BIBB RIDIN’ TRACK LIST

 

01 Family

02 Ridin’

03 Blues Funky Like Dat (featuring Taj Mahal & Jontavious Willis)

04 The Ballad of John Howard Griffin (featuring Russell Malone)

05 500 Miles

06 Tulsa Town

07 Onwards (Interlude)

08 Hold the Line (featuring Russell Malone)

09 I Got My Own (featuring Amar Sundy)

10 Call Me By My Name (featuring Harrison Kennedy)

11 Joybells

12 Sinner Man with Eric Bibb String Band (Live at Wheatland Festival)

13 Free (featuring Habib Koité)

14 People You Love

15 Church Bells (Interlude)

 

 

#606 : Tony Holiday - Motel Mississippi (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2023 – Forty Below

By Phillip Smith; April 7, 2023

Release Date : April 14, 2023

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

From his Porch Session albums, to his studio releases, I always find the music of Tony Holiday to be abundantly filled with juicy harp performances and swampy grooves.  His latest album, Motel Mississippi fits the bill again, and I really dig it.  When I read the album was recorded at Zebra Ranch in Coldwater, Mississippi, I knew it was going to be special.  With Holiday on vocals and harmonica, AJ Fullerton on guitar, Terrence Grayson on bass, Lee Williams on drums, and Dave Gross on guitars, organs, percussion, snare, and synth, the album has a rich texture.

This eight-track recording rolls out strong in a funky outlaw style with Victor Wainwright at the helm of a Wurlitzer on “Rob and Steal”.  They do a wonderful job of covering this Paul Wine Jones song.  It’s infectious as hell.  The sweet sound of Sixties blues fills the nooks and crannies of Holiday’s original “Trouble”.  Outside the nooks and crannies though, the song is a mind-bending experience loaded with musical psychedelia from Gross on guitar and Wainwright on the wah clav.  Short but really sweet is “She’s So Cold”, clocking in at just under two and a half minutes long, the groove on this one would make a mesmerizing extended jam.  The slide guitar of Aubrey McCrady makes for a fierce solo on “Just As Gone”.  It sounds great up against Gross on the Hammond, and Williams’ driving beat.  “Yazoo River” brings the album to a spirited close.  I really enjoy hearing Tony rip it up on harp.  It doesn’t get more Mississippi than this.

Motel Mississippi is one of those albums one will want to listen to in its entirety.  It is splendid from end to end.

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TRACK LISTINGS

 

1.      Rob and Steal

2.      Get By

3.      Trouble

4.      She’s So Cold

5.      Just As Gone

6.      Nobody But You

7.      You Know Who I Am

8.      Yazoo River

 

For more information about Tony Holiday visit his website at :  https://tonyholidaymusic.com

 

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

#605 : Mem Mods - Vol. 1. (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2023 – Mem Mods

By Phillip Smith; April 7, 2023

Release Date : Feb. 24, 2023

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

Longtime friends Steve Selvidge (Big Ass Truck), Paul Taylor and Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), sons of Memphis music legends Sid Selvidge, Pat Taylor, and Jim Dickinson are now legends by their own right.  It took a pandemic to reconnect these three musicians who played together as kids in the 1970s to make this intoxicating new instrumental recording. With Selvidge on guitar, bass, Rhodes, and drum machine, Dickinson on bass and various keys, and Taylor on drums, percussion, various basses, synth pedals, and soundscapes, the trio drew inspiration from the music they loved growing up in Memphis.  They set the pin in the Bluff City as ground zero, exploded the sound into the outer dimensions, and created a dozen hypnotic, funky, space jams.

The album begins with the forward-driving beat and funktafied futuristic sounds of “Capricorn Catastrophe”.  This is a splendid slice of psychedelia topped off with horns.  Soaking in the warm groove of “Congressional Tadpole” is an absolute treat.  When I hear “Knotty Pine Kitchen”, I have visons of disco lights moving slowing across the ceiling and wall.  My brain totally expects to hear the soulful deep voice of Isaac Hayes kick in at some point.  I adore the funky Stax-flavored intro on “Midtown Miscommunication”.  It eventually wanders into Zappa-land.  Growing up in the Sixties and Seventies, one of my favorite toys was the ever-so-strange game of Cooties.  I never played the game; I just built the weird little creatures so my army men would have something to battle with.  “Cootie Party” may not be about that, but I like to pretend it is.  The Mem Mods trip concludes with “Horn Lake Hookup”.  If there is intelligent life out there, this is what they sent back after listening to the Memphis sounds in its heyday. 

I love the Mem Mods Vol 1., and hope there will be many more of these.  They are great!  

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TRACKLIST

 

01 Capricorn Catastrophe

02 Three On The Tree

03 Feather's On A House Cat

04 Congressional Tadpole

05 Harmolodica

06 Knotty Pine Kitchen

07 Midtown Miscommunication

08 Sonoma Smashup

09 Sparkle Skate

10 Cootie Party

11 Perseveration Blues

12 Horn Lake Hookup

#604 : Bob Corritore & Friends - Women in Blues Showcase (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2023 – Vizztone

By Phillip Smith; April 6, 2023

Release Date : March. 31, 2023

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

I’m always looking forward to the next Bob Corritore & Friends album.  His reach is quite long when it comes to his blues connections.  Featuring a dozen recordings with Bob playing harmonica with artists Francine Reed, Carol Fran, Shy Perry, Diunna Greanleaf, Aliya Primer, Barbara Lynn, Koko Taylor, and Valerie June, this Women in Blues Showcase is a huge delight. 

One of my favorite artists today is Valerie June, and I am filled with joy to hear a collaboration with her on the timeless classic “Crawdad Hole”.  Valerie’s angelic vocals paired with Corritore’s perfectly paired harmonica accompaniment is country-blues at its best.  With Bob Margolin on guitar, the growling vocals of the late great Koko Taylor ring loud and fearless on “What Kind of Man is This”.  It’s served on an unescapable groove.  Shy Perry and her father Bill “Howlin’ Madd” Perry pitch a juke-joint “Wang Dang Doodle” that lasts all night long.  I absolutely love this one. Another daughter-father duo Aliya Primer and John Primer busts out some funky blues with “Te Ni Nee Ni Nu”.  John doles out a smokin’ guitar performance and it sounds great.  I really enjoy listening to Diunna Greenleaf, and her horn-infused take on the Willie Dixon-penned “Don’t Mess with the Messer” is a fantastic production with Fred Kaplin on piano, and Jimi “Primetime” Smith on guitar.  The album closes out with Francine Reed soulfully singing the Staples’ hit “Why Am I Treated So Bad”.  Corritore adds a smokey aura to the song on harp while Kid Ramos and Johnny Main add more fuel to the fire on guitar.   

Bob Corritore & Friends Women in Blues Showcase is yet another highly-recommended album from the desk of Phillycheeze.  It hits all the necessary marks.                     

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TRACKLIST

 

1		“You're Gonna Be Sorry” feat. Barbara Lynn	2:46
2		“I Just Need A Friend” feat. Carol Fran	2:34
3		“Crawdad Hole” feat. Valerie June	2:45
4		“What Kind Of Man Is This” feat. Koko Taylor	4:15
5		“Wang Dang Doodle” feat. Shy Perry	3:14
6		“Be For Me” feat. Diunna Greenleaf	4:04
7		“Te Ni Nee Ni Nu” feat. Aliya Primer	3:58
8		“I Needs To Be Be'd With” feat. Carol Fran	3:13
9		“Don't Mess With The Messer” feat. Diunna Greenleaf	2:51
10		“You Don't Have To Go” feat. Barbara Lynn	3:00
11		“Walkin' Slippin' And Slidin'” feat. Carol Fran	3:09
12		“Why Am I Treated So Bad” feat. Francine Reed	5:20

 

 

For more information about Bob Corritore, visit his website at : https://bobcorritore.com

 

Check out other PhillyCheeze reviews for Bob Corritore at : https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/search?q=bob+corritore

 

 

 

#603 : Until the Sun - A Night at the Rhythm Room (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2023 – Independent

By Phillip Smith; April 1, 2023

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

Until the Sun’s impressive live album A Night at the Rhythm Room is absolutely delightful.  This Arizona-based band comprised of guitarist Brandon Teskey, singer Alyssa Swartz, drummer Chris Tex, and bassist Jay Zarecki is one hell of a tight-knit unit.  The album, recorded at the legendary Rhythm Room in Phoenix contains elements of rock, blues, jazz, and psychedelia poured into their music.  They certainly have their own unique sound, and I like it a lot.

I’m lulled in to “The 4^th Turning” with a beautiful melodic introduction to be wowed by Swartz’s lovely yet powerful voice.  Teskey’s guitar prowess is downright amazing when he shifts into Jimi-mode on this hypnotic rocker.  The band serves up a nice greasy dish of downhome blues with “Hell of a Thing”.  Swartz’s vocal performance oozes with feeling and emotion and I love the tone Teskey gets out of his instrument.  His musicianship really shines.  The heavy-fuzz infused “Diamonds in the Dust” is felt right down to the bone.  Zarecki’s bassline adds to the weight of the song while Tex brings his own brand of thunder to this infectious rocker. 

Out of the ten tracks on this album, all are original except for two.   The first cover is a exquisite take on Etta James’ “At Last”.  The focus rightly turns to Alyssa on this track with good reason.  She has a phenomenal voice.  The second cover is a brilliant performance of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”.  Swartz sounds great singing it, and Teskey’s licks light up like fireworks.  With that song, the show ends on a high note leaving me wanting more.  

I highly recommend this record.  Now that Until the Sun is on my radar, I am going to keep a keen eye out for further releases.                            

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TRACKLIST

 

1. Battle Cry

2. The 4th Turning

3. Hell Of A Thing

4. Death In Disguise

5. Diamonds In The Dust

6. Unborn

7. At Last

8. Arisen

9. Burning Home

10. Whole Lotta love

 

For more information about Until the Sun, visit their website at :  https://untilthesun.com/

 

#602 : Dyer Davis - Dog Bites Back (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2023 – WildRoots Records

By Phillip Smith; March 25, 2023

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

There is a new favorite blues-rocker on the block, and his name is Dyer Davis.  This twenty-three-year-old from Florida is a master of guitar and hosts a tremendously soulful voice.  A sense of comfort flows through me knowing the future of this treasured genre is in very good hands.  Davis’ songs are soaked in blues and delivered with a punch.  His debut album Dog Bites Back is co-produced by Stephen Dees and Billy Chapin.  With Davis on vocals and guitars, the record features David Weatherspoon on drums, and Jacob Barone on bass.  Also appearing on the record are guests Victor Wainwright on piano and vocals, Stephen Dees on bass guitar, Billy Chapin on guitars and organ, Patricia Ann Dees on tenor sax, flute and vocals, and Billy Dean on drums.

In true rock and roll fashion, Davis boldly kicks the record off with a smashing cover of Jeff Beck’s “Let Me Love You”.  The groove is dirty and funky with Dean keeping a furious beat on drums.  “Walk Away My Blues’ follows up immediately afterwards for a tasty serving of slow blues written by Dees and Wainwright.  Wainwright pounds the hell out of the keys as Davis unleashes a searing guitar performance.  It sounds fantastic.  “Water into Wine” is a beautiful ballad constructed with religious imagery topped with an infectious hook which sports a strong Larkin Poe vibe.  As Davis switches into crooner mode, he pours his whole self into “Cryin’ Shame”.  Bursts of brass load the track with a gob of delicious Stax-flavored nougat.  Wainwright steps in on mic and keys for the spectacular southern-rocker “Long Way to Go”.  The slide guitar Chapin brings to the song adds a swampy texture.  I slip into a hypnotic state when title-track “Dog Bites Back” kicks in.  Davis sings the song with absolute fearlessness as it unfolds in a way which reminds me of a favorite band of mine Whiskey Myers.  It sounds so damn good.

Dog Bites Back is rock solid from start to finish.   Dyer Davis is an artist to keep your eyes and ears on.   He’s going to move up the ladder fast.

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Track List

1. Let Me Love You 4:35

[Jeff Beck/Rod Stewart]

2. Walk Away My Blues 5:27

[Stephen Dees/Victor Wainwright]

3. Water Into Wine 3:58

[Dyer Davis]

4. Cryin’ Shame 4:48

[Billy Chapin/Stephen Dees/Dyer

Davis]

5. Train Wreck 2:58

[Billy Chapin/Stephen Dees/Dyer

Davis]

6. Lifting Up My Soul 3:27

[Stephen Dees]

7. Long Way to Go (feat. Vic[1]tor Wainwright) 4:37

[Stephen Dees]

8. Wind is Gonna Change 4:45

[Dyer Davis]

9. Dog Bites Back 3:56

[Stephen Dees/Billy Chapin]

10. Angels Get the Blues 5:19

[Stan Lynch/Billy Chapin/Stephen

Dees]

11. These Walls 4:03

[Dyer Davis]

12. Don’t Tell My Mother 3:52

[Dyer Davis]

13. AKA 4:44

[Stephen Dees/Dyer Davis]

 

For more information about Dyer Davis, visit his website at :  https://dyerdavismusic.com

 

#601 : GA-20 - Live in Loveland (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2023 – Karma Chief

By Phillip Smith; March 18, 2023

Release Date : March. 17, 2023

 

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

GA-20 ranks right up there among my favorite blues bands playing today.  I have absolutely loved their previous two studio albums, Crackdown, and Does Hound Dog Taylor.  The records are magnificent.  GA-20 has a way of filling every nook and cranny of their music with a timeless vintage sound and raw fearlessness.  Live in Loveland, their first full-length live album, was recorded direct-to-tape on a Tascam 388 in Loveland, Ohio at Plaid Room Records.   It features previously unrecorded tracks along with songs from Crackdown and their 2019 debut album Lonely Soul.  The musical chemistry shared between vocalist/guitarist Pat Faherty, guitarist/producer Matthew Stubbs, and drummer Tim Carman is sheer electric and fortified with true grit.

The album kicks off with a pair of deep-cuts paying homage to Harold Burrage’s “I Cry For You”, and Little Walter’s “My Baby’s Sweeter”.  They transport me through time and space to a smoke-filled juke joint tucked away somewhere in Chicago’s South Side.  “Lonely Soul” is a fireball of a song which clocks in at less than two minutes.  Carman keeps a riveting beat for this blues-meets-surf rock title-track.  I’m happy to see “Dry Run” from Crackdown was included.  That puts a smile on my face.  GA-20 knocks this fifties-era rockabilly original out of the ballpark with Faherty’s suave crooner vocals and Stubbs’ deliciously twangy guitar sounds. 

When I first heard “My Soul”, it took a while for me to process where I had heard this song before.  My experience with this funky track has only been through hearing it countless times from another favorite band of mine Phish.  I had never hunted down the original zydeco version from Clifton Chenier.  I have now though, and whether performed by Chenier, Phish, or GA-20, “My Soul” is a cool song in every case.            

Following in the footsteps of New York punk rockers The Ramones, GA-20 packs a massive amount of energy into a small amount of time.  “Hold it One More Time” is an excellent example.  This previously un-recorded original is a magnificent blues explosion which lasts just a smidge over two minutes.  Live in Loveland comes to a smashing end with lots of cheers when they close the show with “By My Lonesome”.   It’s a stellar song that leaves me wanting hear more after all the dust has settled.  

GA-20 is on my short list of bands I must see.  This recording just makes me want to see them even more.       

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LIVE IN LOVELAND TRACKLIST

1. I Cry For You

2. My Baby's Sweeter

3. Lonely Soul

4. I Let Someone In

5. Dry Run

6. Double Gettin'

7. My Soul

8. Just Because

9. Hold It One More Time

10. Crackin' Up

 

 

For more information about GA-20, visit their website at :  https://ga20band.com

 

Check out other PhillyCheeze reviews for GA-20 at :  https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/search?q=GA-20