Everywhere West reviewed by Steve Jones

Everywhere West

Jim Byrnes

Black Hen Music

www.blackhenmusic.com

12 tracks

After Byrne took part in the All Star Tribute to the Music of the Mississippi Sheiks on CD and DVD he released this great solo CD, produced by his cohort Steve Dawson, who appears on every track, adding to the depth and charm of each cut.  Keith Lowe and Geoff Hicks are on bass and percussion, giving the album a good backbeat and solid accompaniment.  Chris Gestrin appears here and there on keyboards and adds some beauty and roundness to those cuts.  But it is Byrne’s vocals that really make this album special.  I love his articulation, growls, whines, howls, and down home approach to singing.

The CD opens with a full out track entitled “Hot As A Pistol” which is aptly titled; the added horn section burns, Gestrin titillates the keys on organ and Byrnes and Dawson picking and sliding make this a truly hot number.   The cuts vary from this heat to the down home sounds of “Bootlegger’s Blues”, where Daniel Lapp on mandolin and fiddle makes you want to get up and dance ,and “Walk On”, where Dawson’s picking on the National steel guitar  and the rest of the accompaniment hearken to simpler times.  Keith Bennett adds an interesting wrinkle to “Take Out Some Insuirance On Me” with his harp work.  The instrumentals on “No Mail Blues” are fast and hot, and Byrnes and the backing vocalists give us more traditional sounds to enjoy.  Lapp on trumpet with Bill Runge and Jerry Cook on sax are solid as a horn section on the  four tracks they contribute to, and especially impressed me with the real depth of sound they provided.

This is a solid album from top to bottom.  I can’t complain about any of the cuts– they are traditional yet fresh and down home yet modern; even the old style covers have new life with Byrnes.  He is a solid vocalist and that is what I enjoyed most about this.  A solidly produced album with a tightly intertwined set of musicians who were equal to the task, but Byrnes just can sing so well with his homespun and down home charm that makes you want to sit on the front porch and listen to him sing and play all day.

Acoustic and traditional blues lovers will like this one a lot, but so will anyone who wants to sample a new and upbeat take on the root sof the blues.  Byrnes is always upbeat and solid and Dawson’s playing and production in support make this an entertaining and enjoyable album to experience.

Reviewed by Steve Jones

An Evening At Trasimeno Lake reviewed by Rick Davis

An Evening At Trasimeno Lake

Ana Popović

Artist Exclusive Co

www.anapopovic.com

www.artistexclusive.com

Europe's Ana Popović is one of the most explosive blues performers to hit the stage since the 60's. When she takes the stage, the electricity and charisma envelop the entire crowd. I have never seen a music group captivate an audience like Ana Popović and her band.

Her latest DVD release, An Evening At Trasimeno Lake, was a concert released during the band's Blind For Love tour on July 25, 2009. Ana is supported by her touring band with Ronald Jonker on bass, Michele Papadia on keys, Andrew Thomas on drums, Cristiano Arcelli on tenor sax, Riccardo Giulietti on trumpet, Sandra LaVille on harmony vocals and Stephane Avellaneda on percussion. It is a two hour plus collection of blues, rock, jazz and funk performed to a mesmerized audience of over 5000, set on location at the 'Rocca Medievale', a medieval castle originally completed in 1247, overlooking the lake of Trasimeno in central Italy. The DVD also includes a up close interview and fabulous acoustic bonus tracks.

Ana opens the concert with her powerful blues voice and fire shooting from her finger tips as she tears into the fret board on "Wrong Woman". She transitions into "Is This Everything There Is" perfectly, captivating her audience with her firey guitar performance. Popović takes slide guitar to whole different level as she continues with "How'd You Learn To Shake It Like That." Her sultry blues voice opens on "U Complete Me" putting the crowd into a total trance. Midway through the song, the total finger control on her guitar solo equals that of the master Stevie Ray Vaughan as she runs the fret board with ease. The concert continues with "Nothing Personal" backed with superb backup vocals by Sandra LaVille and a superlative horn section consisting of Cristiano Arcelli on tenor sax and Riccardo Giulietti on trumpet. Ana's unequaled blues-rock guitar style and great horn section continue with "Shadow After Dark" and "Lives That Don't Exist." Once again Popović's guitar style erupts with the Stevie Ray Vaughan tune "Let Me Love You Babe."

The concert takes a surprise about-face with two acoustic jazz numbers "Doubt Everyone But Me" and "Blind For Your Love." Popović shows her audience how versatile she is as a performer with both sensational jazz vocals and an unsurpassed acoustic guitar style on both numbers. Ronald Jonker adds his own bass solos and Michele Papadia intermittent keyboard solos on "Doubt Everyone But Me." These tunes were well worth the price of the show.

This blues-rock enchantress continues her familiar electric guitar style with tunes "Get Back Home To You" and "Recall The Days." She finishes her show with the funky tunes "Love Fever" and "Hold On" featuring again Cristiano Arcelli on tenor sax, Riccardo Giulietti on trumpet, and Sandra LaVille adding her backup vocals. After viewing this electrifying concert, fans would have to agree it equals and even surpasses her first DVD "Ana Popović Ana." Hopefully, Ana and her band will entertain audiences for years to come.

Reviewed by Rick Davis

Ain’t Got No Troubles reviewed by Losa Palmeno

Ain’t Got No Troubles

Eden Brent

Yellow Dog Records

http://yellowdogrecords.com

www.edenbrent.com

12 tracks

Pianist/Vocalist Eden Brent draws the listener in quickly on “Someone to Love,” the first song on Ain’t Got No Troubles. A juke joint piano and simple, plaintive vocals and lyrics immediately capture the light-stepping blues/jazz blend typical of the New Orleans sound. Part Billie Holiday, part Janice Joplin subdued, Brent’s take on the Big Easy is authentic and original, with 12 tracks placed in a nice succession.

Right after “Someone to Love’s” happy little lament, the title song, “Ain’t Got No Troubles” lists a bunch of things the author doesn’t have to worry about (i.e. doesn’t have); a boss man, a job, a chance of getting one, two nickels to rub together, etc. It’s a cute and fun song about chucking it all and being happy about it.

“Blues All Over,” “Later Than You Think” and “Right to Be Wrong” all follow with relaxed, danceable tempo and upbeat themes. “Leave Me Alone” slows down and gets deeper into just the blues, with subtle guitar riffs from Colin Linden, broader phrasing and more vocal depth from Brent.

On “Let’s Boogie Woogie” Brent takes a sharp turn from the blues funk of the last song as her piano starts jumping with dance hall music, and the song just keeps making you want to dance. Like most of the songs on the CD, the boogie woogie is a lot of fun to listen to, and pleasant – just the kind of music that makes everyone wish “quittin’ time” would come just a little bit sooner, or draws them in when they walk by a joint.

A few songs of the songs were written by other artists, including “Right to Be Wrong,” written by Tom Hambridge (Yvonne Schmidt; Susan Tedeschi); “Later Than You Think,” by Guitarist Colin Linden; “Beyond My Broken Dreams” (Carol Ann Brown Jones); and “Goodnight Moon” (Will Kimbrough, Gwil Owen).

All the others are Brent’s originals, fresh tunes that hearken back to an earlier era, or two, that are very worthy of at least a few spins on the disc player. Those who like Bonnie Raitt and Maria Muldaur will probably find her style to their liking. She’s got a firm handle on American roots music and songwriting, in addition to having an enjoyable alto voice that can ring high and clear or growl deep and low, with a bunch of other techniques to boot.

Unlike many blues songstresses, there’s no “male bashing” on this collection. Quite the opposite; she warns a man to be careful of a sweet young thing who is “in love with your wallet, not your personality.” She also carries on at length in “My Man,” discussing someone’s finer qualities. Even “Leave Me Alone” ends on a not-so-somber note.

Then, “Good Night Moon” finishes the CD with a more modern folk-music feel and quiet, feathery piano notes that fade out into the night.

Also featured on the album are: George Porter, Jr. on electric bass; Bryan Owings, drums; Tracy Griffin, trumpet; Emile Hall, alto sax; Jeff Albert, trombone; Jon Cleary, Hammond B3. The CD was produced by Colin Linden and recorded by Colin Linden and Wesley Fontenot at Piety Street Studios in New Orleans.

Reviewed by Lisa Palmeno

Reclamation reviewed by Steve Jones

Reclamation

Vincent Hayes Band

North 61 Records

www.vincenthayes.com

11 tracks

I was working at the Blues Blast Music Awards back in October and Vincent Hayes handed me this disc and asked me if I’d review it.  I said sure, embarrassed not to know much about him or his music.  I’d heard a song once over the summer on Sirius/XM and that was about it.  A  20 year music veteran, Hayes is new to the blues mainstream (whatever that is), but he has put together a very tight band and an amazing CD.  I listened to it several times and asked myself repeatedly, “Where has this guy been?”  And after listening to this and writing my review, it was nominated for a Blues Music Award, so I started the review over again!

Hayes is a veteran axe man who has a superb tone.  He gets off on long riffs and yet still has good phrasing and respect for the empty spaces between the notes.  He slings his gun well but with the proper respect for the music.  He wrote all the songs here and produced the album in conjunction with Glenn Brown from the Lansing studio he recorded this at.

He begins with solid vocals and guitar on “Hit Me High, Hit Me Low”, a jumping number that highlights his skills quite well.  The notes flow well off his fingers and the duo backing him are right on as is Steve “Doc” Yankee on piano (his solos are excellent!).  David the Butcher Alves is on bass and Donnie Hugley is on percussion, a super rhythm section.  Christian VanAntwerpen is solid on all the various organs and he first gets highlighted on the next track, “Insecurities”. Two songs of slow blues come in at about 10 minute long but neither seems to drag or labor due to the great guitar and piano solos in “I’ve Got a Right to Change My Mind” and guitar and organ in “Some Kind of Fool”.  While the guitar solos are long, Hayes shows restraint in his playing and sells these long solos well.  The one instrumental on the album, “Sticky Thigh Jive”, bounces back and forth with guitar and B3 in a beautiful groove.  He ends with a flame thrower, “You Can Take Your Troubles. He really can burn it up!

Hayes is a great guitar player and impressed the heck out of me with this CD,  The band and other players with him are equally good and they certainly are worthy of the praise they are getting for this CD– highly recommended!

Reviewed by Steve Jones

BB Wolf and the Three LPs reviewed by Mark Thompson

BB Wolf and the Three LPs

JD Arnold – Writer

Rich Koslowski – Artist

Top Shelf Productions

www.topshelfcomix.com

Graphic Novel – 96 pages

The Lost Recordings

B B Wolf & the Howlers

Companion recording

7 tracks/20:03

This is a neat little package that adopts a blues theme for a graphic novel that turns the traditional tale of the Three Little pigs inside out. Dedicating their work to the memory of Emmitt Till, the authors cast BB Wolf as a farmer and part-time bluesman struggling to provide for his family. One fateful day, the evil pigs show up on their doorstep, flexing their legal muscles and threatening to tear apart the Wolf family’s world.

From there the storyline mixes elements of music, racism and underdog status into a chilling tale as BB’s world spins out of control, ultimately leaving him seeking revenge and retribution. Without giving away any key details of the plot, Wolf’s journey takes him from the Mississippi delta to the upper Midwest and his final reckoning.

Koslowski’s artwork is very well done. He is very adept at drawing the main character and conveying his emotional turmoil from frame to frame. And as you would expect from a work in this genre, there is plenty realistically render violence. The tale Arnold spins keeps things moving but doesn’t leave a lot of room to develop any characters in this drama other than BB. But readers will marvel at his dark, twisted re-inventing of the classic children’s tale.

Top Shelf offers a package through their website that includes a brief musical soundtrack, recorded by a group of Milwaukee-based musicians. Three tracks are presented as vintage tracks of BB Wolf and his band, the Howlers. Chad Lundgren handles the vocals with his gruff voice and gets support from a full group on “Rip It Up” featuring James Wagner on slide guitar.  Lundgren is joined by Lance Dobersek on guitar and Paul Martin on harp on “Freight Train” while “Sweet Baby Elle” is performed by the duo of Lundgren and Dobersek. Both are creditable country blues styled tracks that make a fitting soundtrack for the novel.

The other tracks are “modern” versions of the same tunes that crank the guitar volume and sport a rock beat. The updated “Freight Train” ventures into heavy metal territory while Justin Rolbiecki delivers a haunting performance of “Sweet Baby Elle”, playing a variety of instruments behind his singing. Koslowski gets a chance to display his vocal skill when he shares he limelight with Lundgren on a bonus take of “Rip It Up”.

If you are looking for a different view of blues music – and life – then you should make a point of checking out this product. The hardcover graphic novel can be ordered through Amamzon.com or from the Top Shelf website, which is the only source for the package with the cd soundtrack.  Enjoy !!

Reviewed by Mark Thompson

Ten Shades Of Blue reviewed by David Stine

Ten Shades Of Blue

Joe Pitts

www.joepitts.com

Kijam records

10 tracks/44:25 min.

The lovely and “old timey” artwork on Joe Pitts’ CD is a bit deceiving considering what’s inside. One would believe that a photo of an old shack with a metal bodied guitar placed front and center would contain some acoustic blues. Other than song 10, a mediocre reading of Peter Green’s “The World Keeps On Turing” from Fleetwood Mac #1 (the only version the Fleetwood Mac band worth listening to, in my humble opinion), the rest is standard blues fare these days. Pitts, like so many others these days, cherry picks set list of ten songs--none originals--and delivers them in what my artist friend would describe as the new standard in standardness. Pitts sings from the throat in a limited range, his vocals leading only to a guitar solo enhanced with an overdrive pedal. Even with a pretty good backing band (Jimmy Lynn is a standout bassist) the songs are delivered as if they were being performed on the Lawrence Welk Show--for you old timers. Safe for white consumption is what I’m saying.  And not a white “blues” audience either. So sanitized, what’s the point?

The CD begins with “Breaking Up Somebody’s Home.“ Any version you’ve ever heard is probably better that this version. Song two didn’t convince me that that this is more than a going-through-the-paces CD. Muddy Water’s “Crosseyed Cat” is on it’s tenth life here. Walter Trout’s “Clouds On The Horizon” seems to be what Pitts is really all about and the rest of the songs become sort of luke warm hats off to the masters. Luther Allison would roll over in his grave to hear Pitts delivery of his “Pain In The Streets.“ Luther was all fire--here, the fire is doused. “Freedom From my Dreams” is a T-Bone Walkerish slow blues that goes on WAY to long and with TOO much OD on the guitar. Downright painful. This is may be the most predicable blues song I have ever heard: you can guess the next verse and hum the next note of the guitar solo. Shame on you Joe Pitts for taking up 7:27 of minutes our time! If you like Elmore James, you‘ll be saddened by Pitts reading of “I’m Worried.“ Again, no fire , no raw pushing the limit vocals. I as why pick songs by Elmore James, Albert Collins,  Luther Allison, or even Albert King if you’re just gonna play it safe? John Mayall’s Mick Taylor-era “Walking On Sunset” is over without a glimmer of quirky vocalist Mayall or trickster Taylor.

The Joe Pitts Band CD is like many others out there--it’s OK, not great; not terrible. The musicianship is fine; the vocals passable. I know I’ll get nailed for not being open and “modern,” but I have to call ‘em as I see ‘em.

Reviewed by David Stine

Midnight Memphis Sun reviewed by Steve Jones

Midnight Memphis Sun

JW Jones

Ruf Records

www.jw-jones.com

www.rufrecords.de

12 tracks

I had heard a few cuts from this CD on XM radio and was happy to see this arrive in the mail to review.  Jones is a bright, young bluesman from Canada who records on the German Ruf Record label.  Recorded at the legendary Sun Studios in Memphis and JDub’s House in Ottawa, the CD is a bouncy and fun ride that features Charlie Musselwhite and Hubert Sumlin along with Jones’ stellar guitar and vocals.

The tune that first caught my attention on the radio was “Kissin’ in Memphis”, a bright and sprightly original number with a nice tune, some cool guitar solos and Mr. Musselwhite filling in perfectly on harp.  Charlie also appears on the Sonny Terrie and Brownie McGhee tune “Burnt Child” and Jimmy Reed’s “I Don’t Go For That”.  The former sounds like it came right out the Delta with wicked harp licks and a down home vocal sound where the latter offers up some greased up Chicago style hot licks and blowing.

The eminent Hubert Sumlin also appears on a trio of original Jones songs.  “Born Operator” showcases some beautifully traded off sets of licks between Sumlin and Jones.  They go sans singing on the instrumental cut “Howlin’ With Hubert”, again trading off mean licks between the old and new guard.  The CD closes with “Games”, where the majority of the midsection of the track gives us the two doing what they do best on the guitar.

The CD offers up mostly new songs, but the other two covers are quite fun.  Lowell Fulson’s “Love Grows Cold” and fellow Canadian Bryan Adams’ “Cuts Like a Knife” get treated to well done covers by Jones.  Fulson’s cover track is really jumping and the Bryan Adams cover jacks up the tempo and sound in an original manner.  The other original tracks vary up and down in tempo and give us a good look at this young artist and what he can do.  The vocals are clean and cool, the guitar is never overstated or overblown.  JW is a talented young man who has produced a fine CD here.  This is really one to go out and buy and add to your collection soon!

Reviewed by Steve Jones