Friday, October 4, 2024

Archive Review: Nick Gravenites’ Bluestar (2009)

Nick Gravenites' Blue Star
His name might not be familiar to the average blues fan, but you really can’t challenge Nick Gravenites’ credentials. He was part of a circle of blues-loving white musicians in Chicago during the early 1960s that included Paul Butterfield and Mike Bloomfield. He was schooled by some of the biggest names and talents in the city, including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Otis Rush. His songs have been recorded by folks like the Wolf and James Cotton, and his classic “Born In Chicago,” performed by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, earned him his ticket into the Blues Hall of Fame.

One of the reasons that Gravenites is not the best-known of Chicago’s young blues turks is because he recorded so infrequently on his own. Gravenites released his solo debut, My Labors, in 1969 between touring and recording with Big Brother & the Holding Company. He didn’t get around to releasing his sophomore album, Bluestar, until 1980. Working with a band that included some of the San Francisco Bay area’s best talents, including bassist Pete Sears (Jefferson Starship), harmonica player Huey Lewis, and his Gravenites-Cipollina Band collaborator John Cipollina (Quicksilver Messenger Service), Gravenites delivered a stellar set of rockin’ blues tunes.   

Nick Gravenites’ Bluestar


Gravenites’ “Junkyard In Malibu” is a good measure of the artist’s songwriting skills, a sly song that posits a junkyard in the high-priced enclave of Malibu, California that serves as an analogy for a love gone bad. Gravenites’ gravel-throated vocals are complimented by a funky, swaggering rhythm while he and guitarist Cipollina swap Southern-fried licks back and forth. The mid-tempo “I’m A Bluesman” draws the Mississippi Delta roots out of the Chicago blues to deliver a down-and-dirty declaration that is supported by some fiery fretwork and Huey Lewis’s surprisingly supple harp playing.

The smoldering “Blues Back Off” is a slow dance across the history of the blues, Gravenites’ soulful vocals bolstered by Sears’ subtle keyboard flourishes, drummer Joey Covington’s steady beats, and a blistering guitar solo slightly more than two minutes in that channels decades of R&B soul into six strings and several measures of gorgeous tone. By comparison, “Who’s Out There” is a good old-fashioned Chicago blues styled romp, with the rhythm section kicking out a rapid, foot-stomping pace and Lewis blasting out a wild harp riff. The guitar solo here – I’m guessing that it’s Gravenites – sounds like Buddy Guy in his prime, full of energy and passion.

Remembering The Southside


The wild boogie-rocker “My Party” takes its cue from John Lee Hooker with a mesmerizing rhythm, walking bass line, and swamp-blues flavored vocals while the semi-autobiographical “Southside” is Gravenites’ account of those raucous early ‘60s nights in Chicago’s blues clubs. With a deliberate beat and staggering rhythm guitar, the song is as entertaining as it is boastful.

Of the three bonus tracks included on this first-time CD release of Bluestar, the slippery “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” is the best, its somber vocals and serpentine slide-guitar matched by a dark-hued ambiance and driving rhythm. What the live “Rattlecan Man” lacks in sound quality it more than makes up for with pure reckless energy, the mid-tempo traditional blues number benefiting from a swinging rhythm and shocks of sharp-edged guitar.  

The Reverend’s Bottom Line


Because he’s working in a traditional blues medium that has changed little in 50+ years, there’s a lot on Nick Gravenites’ Bluestar that will sound familiar to the experienced blues fan. On the other hand, it’s exactly for this reason that much of Bluestar sounds as fresh and contemporary today as it did in 1980. Gravenites’ guitarwork is solid and, at times, downright scary good, while his songwriting is never anything less than entertaining. This is timeless blues and blues-rock music, and if you’ve never heard of Nick Gravenites, or you’ve heard of him and always been curious, you’ll find Bluestar to be a pleasant surprise. (Renaissance Records/It’s About Music, 2009)

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