Archive Review: The Nighthawks’ 444 (2013)

Veteran roots ‘n’ blues legends the Nighthawks follow up their 2012 release Damn Good Time with another strong entry in a catalog that’s been 40 years in the making and littered with dozens of great albums. As shown by opening track “Walk That Walk,” the recipe the band used in baking up 444 doesn’t vary much from previous albums – a dash of rockabilly, a teaspoon of twang, and ounces and ounces of pure blues flavoring. The song swings lively, with plenty o’ founding frontman Mark Wenner’s playful harp notes, a dancing groove courtesy of rhythm section Johnny Castle (bass) and Mark Stutso (drums) and scraps of Paul Bell’s electric fretwork.

There’s more to like on 444 than the infectious opening track, though. “Livin’ the Blues,” for instance, displays a brash Chicago style, the arrangement held down by a bold walking rhythm and Wenner’s icy, Little Walter influenced harpwork. The ostensible title track, “444 A.M.,” offers up a cool cats 1950s greaser vibe with Bell’s James Burton-styled chicken-pickin’ and Wenner’s sizzling harp. “Honky Tonk Queen” is the sort of engaging twangfest one used to hear in Nashville’s Printer’s Alley back in the 1960s while “Nothin’ But the Blues” is a smoldering juke-joint romp with Wenner’s gritty vocals, blasts of mournful harp, and subtle guitarplay. 

The band goes deep into the Delta with its cover of Muddy Waters’ “Louisiana Blues,” Wenner growling out the vocals above a lusty harp line, the band’s low-key accompaniment covering the song like kudzu. Like much of the Nighthawks’ underrated back catalog, 444 is authentic American music writ large, delivered the real goods with plenty of heart and soul. Grade: B+ (EllerSoul Records, released June 17th, 2014)