Archive Review: Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials’ Roughhousin’ (1986)

The creation of Roughhousin’ was one of those happy mistakes that sometimes occur in blues music. Invited into the studio to record just a couple of cuts for an upcoming Alligator Records’ compilation of young blues bands, Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials cut loose with the same sort of energy and electricity that they brought to their frequent Chicago-area live performances.

While they might have been studio neophytes facing down the daunting recording process for the very first time, Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials were seasoned veterans of the competitive Chicago blues scene. With better than a decade of performing under their collective belts, Lil’ Ed Williams and crew had forged their houserockin’ sound in the same West Side blues cauldron as such musical idols and influences as Hound Dog Taylor, Elmore James, Magic Sam, and Williams’ uncle, bluesman J.B. Hutto. They may not have known studio etiquette, but they knew how to grab a stage and squeeze out sparks, and that’s exactly what they did one cold January night in 1986. 

Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials’ Roughhousin’

Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials’ Roughhousin’ was born out of a free-for-all studio jam, and it sounds like it. “Old Oak Tree” leaps from your speakers like a saber-rattling buccaneer with plunder on his mind. Lil’ Ed’s rattletrap fretwork is met by a shambling, rambling rhythm that drives away any pretense while Ed’s vocals are almost an afterthought, pleasant but overshadowed by the intense back porch swing of the song. If “Old Oak Tree” sways with the wind, “Midnight Rider” tramples like a runaway freight train. Ed’s rapid-fire vocals are paced by scraps of white-hot guitar, and a locomotive rhythm that is as reckless as it is invigorating. Ed achieves a great guitar tone here, sounding like Hound Dog Taylor mixed with Chuck Berry, and the song could have just as easily heralded from the 1950s rather than the mid-1980s.

The first couple of songs on Roughhousin’ are just a warm-up for the machinegun staccato to follow… “She’s Fine, She’s Mine” is pure swaggering blues Sturm und Drang, a meaty Bo Diddley backbeat married to a dark Delta undertow, Ed’s malevolent vocals complimented by flurries of scrapyard guitar and the meanest drumkit tango you’ll ever hear, courtesy of Louis Henderson. While Henderson smacks the skins like a World War III bombing run, bassist James Young lays down a steel-beam rhythm and rhythm guitarist Dave Weld provides tactical support for Ed’s soaring notes. By contrast, “Everything I Do Brings Me Closer To the Blues” stomps and stammers at a snail’s pace, a potent blues dirge with Ed’s mournful vocals creeping into your ears and down your spine like an icy, windy Chicago morning. While Young and Henderson lay the smackdown on a solid houserockin’ rhythm, Ed lights a fire with some of the smokiest, greasiest, sharp-stick solos that will ever grace your eardrums with their presence.

Mean Old Frisco

“You Don’t Exist Any More” is a modified blues boogie with rock ‘n’ roll undertones, Ed’s vocals taking on a blustery tack, the rhythm section duckwalkin’ recklessly through the performance. Ed’s guitar is somewhat subdued here, a few nasty slide licks thrown in now and then above the fray, but when he cuts loose with a slam-bang solo, he does so with authority, and even second gitman Weld is invited in for a short, sharp shock. A pair of well-worn but inspired covers help round out Roughhousin’, the first being a bluesy, forceful take on Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup’s R&B rave-up “Mean Old Frisco.” Ed’s heartbreak vocals are accompanied by a wall of sound, scraps of Henderson’s shuffling drumbeats and rattling cymbals heard in the thick mix alongside Young’s throbbing bass line. Ed’s slide-guitar mangle here is simply stunning, cutting like the knives you see for sale on late-nite TV, imbuing the song with some non-verbal emotion. 

Memphis soul giant Rufus Thomas’s signature song “Walking the Dog” is provided an appropriately raucous interpretation, the Imperials’ sly, funky rhythms peppered with Ed’s hot guitar licks like a shotgun blast. Young throws in a walking bass solo that kicks serious tushie, Henderson kicks the cans for a short solo, and the band altogether sounds like they’re having as much fun as a Friday night club gig. Nearly hidden in-between the two aforementioned covers is Ed’s original and excellent “Car Wash Blues.” Opening with a bluesy intro that channels every hard-workin’, hard-times Chicago bluesman from Muddy Waters and Elmore James back to Tampa Red and Big Bill Broonzy, not to mention Uncle J.B., Ed’s autobiographical tale of woe is a true streetlife serenade, hardcore West Side blues from a man and a band that have lived them. Ed’s vocals are dramatically anguished, his slippery slide-work sounding as world-weary and defeated as every man and woman who has ever had to get up before the crack of dawn to make a dollar. The band mostly stays out of the way, providing a sturdy foundation for Ed’s powerful performance.   

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials’ Roughhousin’ lives up to the hype, a career-building debut album that would launch a longstanding career. Lil’ Ed and his crew still crank out righteous, houserockin’ jams on stage and in the studio, but while they’ve made some good-to-great records in the 25 years since the release of Roughhousin’, they’ve never been able to match the sheer electricity of these unfettered performances. Serving as a bridge between the Chicago blues of the 1950s and ‘60s and the contemporary blues scene of the 1980s, Roughhousin’ was the album that proved that blues music knows how to party. (Alligator Records, released 1986)

Archive Review: Michael “Iron Man” Burks’ Show of Strength (2012)

The blues world lost a major talent in Michael “Iron Man” Burks when the 54-year-old guitarist died unexpectedly in May 2012. Burks had all but finished his fourth Alligator Records release at the time of his death, the posthumous release of Show of Strength a reminder that our time here is short, and we have to make the most of what time we have left…a philosophy that Burks evidently lived to his final day.

Burks earned his “Iron Man” nickname by delivering hours-long, physically-demanding performances night after night, his soulful vocals matched by a fierce, unique guitar style that would leave audiences breathless. A charismatic performer, nobody left a Michael Burks show without a smile on their face, and the artist would climb behind the wheel of his van and drive hundreds of miles to his next show. A true blue-collar bluesman, Burks was the real deal...something more than proven by what is sadly his final album.

Michael “Iron Man” Burks’ Show of Strength

Show of Strength opens with an icy cold riff that sounds like Eric Clapton channeling Albert Collins. “Count On You” is a perfect example of Burks’ melding of hard-edged blues and smooth-as-silk soul, the song’s title a deceptive play on words that masks the emotional anguish of the romantic betrayal laid out in the lyrics. Burks, a vastly underrated vocalist, does an unbelievable job of choking back the tears with fierce determination, the words punctuated by the wide slashes of colorful guitar that serve as a vehicle for the song’s anger and frustration. It’s an enormous performance, and while a talented band adds instrumental flourishes in the background – like Wayne Sharp’s ethereal keyboard notes – this is Burks’ show and he commands the spotlight.

While “Count On You” opens the door to Show of Strength with a mean uppercut, it’s by no means the only knockout punch the album has to offer. Burks’ original “Take A Chance On Me, Baby” is a deliberately-paced, slow-to-mid-tempo traditional blues plea, the musical equivalent of a controlled burn as Burks’ fiery vocals are matched by his scorching fretwork and a deep, loping groove that his longtime rhythm section of bassist Terrence Grayson and Chuck “Popcorn” Louden maneuver like a formula one race car. 

Cross Eyed Woman

The guitarist engages in a little call-and-response with the band on “Can You Read Between the Lines?” Burks’ vocals are a little more energetic here, mixing up Memphis soul and Southern rock atop a funky rhythm, his imaginative solos a little more Dixie-fried than usual, his fluid guitar lines echoing Duane Allman more than obvious influences like Albert King. If Burks looked towards the South for that performance, he seems to have looked across the ocean for “Cross Eyed Woman,” a muscular blues-rock barn-burner that sounds more like 1960s-era Free or Cream than like Burks’ typical traditional blues fare. 

Laying down some of the meanest slide-guitar licks that you’ve ever heard, Burks’ blustery performance on “Cross Eyed Woman” is supported by a truly malevolent instrumental backdrop, the band – especially Sharp’s Jon Lord-styled keyboard riffs – flexing like the first winds of a hurricane. The song’s long instrumental lead-out, complete with high-flying Burks solo, will thrill blues guitar fans everywhere, displaying the guitarist’s mastery of the form and knowledge of all facets of the blues.

Feel Like Going Home

After three albums with Alligator, Burks was coming into his own as a songwriter, and nowhere is this more evident than on the autobiographical “Little Juke Joint.” A slow-burning blues jam that benefits from Scott Dirks’ spirited harp playing, the song is based on Burks’ family’s Bradley Ferry Country Club juke-joint back home in Arkansas. Burks plays lively above a shuffling groove, flurries of notes hitting your ears like a boxer’s body-blows as the singer recalls good times – and bad – as he colorfully describes the beloved family establishment, warts and all. Another Burks co-write, “Since I Been Loving You,” is a hauntingly beautiful tale of love and betrayal delivered with a slow-dancing blues tempo, the guitarist’s anguished vocals complimented by his mournful guitar notes and Sharp’s sobbing keyboards. Burks’ textured solos here definitely add to the vibe of the song, his playing full of emotion and muted but apparent strength.

Show of Strength closes with a cover of country legend Charlie Rich’s “Feel Like Going Home,” the song taking on an eerie prescience in the wake of the guitarist’s unexpected passing. Burks delivers an incredible, gospel-tinged vocal performance above Roosevelt Purifoy’s tasteful, elegant piano arrangement. Burks’ voice sounds weary, ready to quit this world and prepared to accept the grace offered by the afterlife. His short guitar solos are perhaps, the best that Burks has ever put on tape – strong but not flashy, reverent but loudly vocal, drenched in mixed emotion and resolve, ready to accept the future whatever may come. It’s an incredibly moving and powerful gospel-blues performance by an enormously talented artist.        

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

To his credit, Alligator’s Bruce Iglauer, who co-produced Show of Strength with Burks, chose to leave the album as the two men had intended, as he says in the liner notes, “not as a memorial to a friend and bluesman gone, but as a living, breathing statement, sent straight from Michael’s heart and soul. Although Michael is not here, the music he recorded is indeed his show of his immense strength and spirit. It will live on, confirming forever his status as one of the greatest bluesmen of his generation.” 

The apex of a career cut short far too soon, Show of Strength is a career-making milestone of an album, which makes me all the angrier that it’s also the last music we’ll ever hear from the talented singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Throughout it all, Burks’ performance shines like a supernova, both his singing and guitar playing displaying great confidence, elegance, and melody, the man obviously pouring everything he had into Show of Strength. As a swansong, none could do better… (Alligator Records, released August 21, 2012)

Buy the CD from Amazon: Michael Burks’ Show of Strength

Archive Review: Lonnie Brooks, Long John Hunter & Phillip Walker’s Lone Star Shootout (1999)

By 1999, blues guitarists Lonnie Brooks, ‘Long John’ Hunter, and Phillip Walker were all in their mid-to-late 60s and had enjoyed varying levels of success with their own distinctive takes on blues music. All three men had come up through the rough-and-tumble Gulf Coast blues scene during the 1950s, honing their skills in front of the toughest, most demanding audiences you can imagine in dodgy bars and clubs in cities like Beaumont and Port Arthur, and backwater juke joints along the Texas and Louisiana border. 

Alligator Records founder Bruce Iglauer had the idea to reunite these three talented performers and instrumentalists, all of whom had played together one time or another back in the day. Recording in Austin, Texas with local musicians, Lone Star Shootout was an album that excelled at execution but flopped at the box office. Critically-acclaimed and receiving two W.C. Handy Award nominations – ultimately losing both to a pair of fellow Texans, Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and their In Session album – Lone Star Shootout sold poorly nonetheless. It’s time for blues fans to take another look, perhaps, at the undeniable talents and fine performances of Lonnie Brooks, Long John Hunter, and Phillip Walker on Lone Star Shootout. 

Lonnie Brooks, Long John Hunter & Phillip Walker

The party kicks off with a particularly raucous rendition of Lonnie Brooks’ “Roll, Roll, Roll,” a swamp-rocker that throws a little New Orleans-styled piano courtesy of Riley Osbourn. The three guitarists swap both licks and vocals with reckless aplomb on this vintage 1950s-era rocker, Brooks taking the lead with his smoky voice and wiry solo while Long John shines during the second section with his soulful voice and high-toned, complex solo. Not to be undone by his compatriots, Walker steps out of his role here as rhythm guitar to tear off an impressive solo of his own that lands somewhere in between Brooks’ lightning and Hunter’s thunder.

Long John Hunter comes to the fore for one of the newer tunes on Lone Star Shootout, “A Little More Time” a 1950s-styled R&B romp penned in the manner of Guitar Slim. A mid-tempo semi-ballad with soulful vocals, bluesy lyrics, and a lovely, emotional lead, “A Little More Time” is the perfect fusion of rhythm and blues. The classic “Bon Ton Roulet” represents the New Orleans side of the Gulf Coast sound, the song featuring an infectious foot-shuffling rhythm and a jaunty, Cajun-flavored rhythm. Marcia Ball adds some lively piano fills behind the three guitarist’s imaginative leads, the undeniable influence of Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown lying heavy on the performance.

Lone Star Shootout

“Feel Good Doin’ Bad” is another new track, penned by Brooks in the style of Lightnin’ Slim’s Louisiana-bred Excello Records releases. Brooks takes the microphone for this one, laying down a blustery vocal take that he supports with an electrifying lead full of energy and gorgeous tone. Hunter holds down the bottom end with his solid rhythm guitar while Mark “Kaz” Kazanoff throws in blasts of icy harp throughout the song, his harmonica ringing as clear as a train whistle. The delightful “Street Walking Woman” features Hunter and Walker, this song itself influenced by the great T-Bone Walker. Walker’s hearty drawl is perfectly suited for the lyrics, and he and Hunter swap hot licks until the finale when the two friends set into a six-string swordfight with rockin’ results.

Although there are only three guitarists listed on the marquee for Long Star Shootout, longtime Gulf Coast bluesman Ervin Charles crashes the party with a pair of great performances. A former early 1950s bandmate of Hunter’s, and the elder musician of the bunch, Charles steps into the spotlight for “Born In Louisiana.” A smoldering, slow-paced blues tune with Charles’ tearjerker vocals and taut, muscular fretwork, assisted by Osbourn’ well-timed piano, Charles delivers a superlative, emotionally-charged performance. A spirited cover of Muddy Waters’ “Two Trains Running” places Charles and Hunter back together again, Ervin delivering haunting vocals above a hypnotic riff and Long John picking out a provocative lead before the two guitars intertwine into a single voice, the sound of Texas blues.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Fans of blues guitar who still haven’t discovered this incredible album, originally released in 1999, owe it to themselves to grab a copy of Lone Star Shootout sooner rather than later. Brooks, Hunter, Walker, and Charles deliver the real goods, the unique sound of the Gulf Coast fusing the roughneck, houserockin’ style of Texas blues with the soulful, R&B influenced sound of the Louisiana swamp. With four talented string-benders in the studio, and fifteen excellent performances, Lone Star Shootout is as close as you’ll get to that Port Arthur juke joint experience without actually travelling back in time. (Alligator Records, released May 25, 1999) 

The Reverend's Winter 2025 Playlist (The Continental Drifters, Old Town Crier, The Big Ol' Nasty Getdown, Tommy Castro & the Painkillers)

It’s cold as a penguin’s patootie outside as I write this – a measly four degrees with a minus seven wind chill here in WNY – so it’s time to crank up the Victrola and spin some hot tunes to melt the ice from your eardrums and push away frostbite for another day. Here’s some of the Reverend’s picks for winter playlists, every one guaranteed to get rid of yer ‘winter blues’!

The Continental Drifters were easily a decade ahead of their time, or maybe a decade too late, depending on your perspective. Featuring a brace of skilled songwriters – Peter Holsapple (The dB’s), Susan Cowsill (The Cowsills), Vicki Peterson (The Bangles), and Mark Walton (Dream Syndicate) – and a slew of talented noisemakers, the Drifters were an ‘80s-era college rock dream band with the jangle to prove it. They released four albums over a decade (1993-2004), their final album actually recorded as their first, and they danced at the intersection of pop and rock at a time when musical culture was dominated by some of the ugliest and most brutal sounds one could capture on tape.

As shown by White Noise & Lightning: The Best of the Continental Drifters (Omnivore Recordings), music this intelligent, creative, and oftentimes beautiful is timeless, a magical talisman just waiting for an audience to find it. With this collection – and the band’s recent biography of the same name penned by Sean Kelly – the door to rediscovery by a younger generation is wide open. Pulling material from all four of the Drifters’ albums, and including a previously-unreleased live track in the form of the electrically-charged “Who We Are, Where We Live,” White Noise & Lightning offers up everything from the gorgeous pop ballad “Mixed Messages” to the hard-rocking “Don’t So What I Did,” as well as the band’s folkish ‘theme song’ “Drifters,” beautifully sung by Cowsill. Dig into the Continental Drifters, the best band you never heard! Grade: A+   BUY! [Omnivore] 

Old Town Crier (a/k/a Jim Lough) has received digital ink here before, notably for the 2023 LP A Night with Old Town Crier, which Lough used to raise money for The Pine Street Inn, a Boston-area non-profit fighting homelessness. The four-song EP Motion Blur (self-produced) was recorded in the winter of 2004, the tape promptly lost, and then rediscovered last year. Keeping with his usual ‘modus operandi’ Lough has released Motion Blur on Bandcamp, with half the proceeds going to the Plymouth COPE Center at bamsi.org, a pretty cool and worthwhile non-profit that is creating “equal opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities and mental and behavioral health challenges.”

Motion Blur depicts the imaginative rocker in a different light, with a bit of twang in the grooves and a rockabilly heart. The short, sharp shock of “Back Door” swings on the hinges of a truly reckless guitar lick that eats at your brain like a politician’s promise while evincing a cowpunk aesthetic. The toothier “Rebecca” welds a standard honky-tonk dancefloor rhythm to a slinky Exile-era Stones soul groove with wiry, madcap fretwork and a joyous spirit while “Country Boy” is a hillbilly rave-up with clamorous instrumentation and revved-up vocals that go down like a Mason jar full of ‘shine (smooth, with a finish that kicks yer ass). Closer “Real Good Friend” injects a ‘60s-era garage-rock vibe into the mix, like Sky Saxon riding a mechanical bull at Muhlenbrink’s Saloon in West Nashville, with some mighty fine git pickin’ driving the vox. The EP is a delightfully lo-fi affair but nevertheless displays plenty of heart and soul with its performances. Grade: A   BUY! [Bandcamp]

Any outfit with a name like The Big Ol’ Nasty Getdown is certain to get the Reverend’s attention, and the band’s spicy debut, RepurposE Purpose Vol. 1 (Org Music), lives up to its billing. Masterminded by producer/bassist John Heintz, The Big Ol’ Nasty Getdown has been bubbling under the public’s consciousness for better than a decade, but the seven-song RepurposE Purpose Vol. 1 EP (which delivers all of the energy and cheap thrills of a full-length LP!) should raise the band’s profile and deserves every dollar you throw out for a copy. Digging into a long-lost funk goldmine with a veritable ‘who’s who’ of musical talent, the EP features name players like Jack Irons (The Red Hot Chili Peppers), Angelo Moore & Norwood Fisher (Fishbone), Jimi Hazel (24-7 Spyz), Larry LaLonde (Primus), Leo Nocentelli (The Meters), and Ra Diaz (Korn), among many others. Of course, it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got the swing, and superstar studio party times have been known to go awry before, but it’s all good with The Big Ol’ Nasty Getdown.

Opener “All Together Now” is a solid musical statement, an energetic instrumental with jazzy horns blasting above a hardcore funk rhythm and embroidered by the legendary Nocentelli’s bluesy shards of jagged lead guitar. “Body Magic” offers up P-Funk’s Ronkat Spearman delivering his silky vox above a spry, space-age funk ensemble that mixes brass and percussion with a soul undercurrent to booty-shaking effect. The throwback vibe of the instrumental “420 Ocean Drive” displays echoes of prime ‘70s-era Funkadelic with P-Funk axeman Eric McFadden leading the charge with imaginative and powerful leads, yet still manages to explore new and exciting musical territories. Fishbone’s Moore takes the microphone for the low-slung, raunchy “Spirit Stain” with Jimi Hazel weaving some devastating guitar licks beneath one of the boldest, nastiest, and entertaining cosmic grooves to ever tickle your cerebellum.

The avant garde instrumental “Ten Hits” may be the most intriguing and fascinating cut on the EP; led by Primus guitar-wrangler Larry LaLonde and featuring Fishbone bassist Norwood Fisher and Mike Dillon (from Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade) on vibes and tabla, the performance definitely digs into exotic turf to deliver a gem of a lysergic fever dream. Instrumental versions of “Body Magic” and “Spirit Stain” are as engaging and electric as the vocal versions, but possible with more heft given the change in focus. Blessed by the almighty Godfather himself, George Clinton, The Big Ol’ Nasty Getdown is the real deal, RepurposE Purpose Vol. 1 a stone-cold killer with big funk energy and – most importantly – the undeniable sound of a bunch of musical brethren making a joyous noise just for kicks. Grade: A   BUY! [Bandcamp]     

Tommy Castro has been knocking around the blues world for 30+ years now, but has never gotten the mainstream recognition his status deserves. Since his 1995 studio debut Exception to the Rule (and with the Dynatones before that), Castro has been preserving, yet pushing blues music to new heights. He’s won a slew of ‘Blue Music Awards’ from The Blues Foundation, including the coveted ‘B.B. King Entertainer of the Year” award an unparalleled four times. He’s an electrifying performer, an underrated singer and guitarist, and yet he wouldn’t be picked out of a lineup if he stole a ham sandwich from Carnegie Deli.

It doesn’t matter, tho’, because what pop music ignores, blues fans heartily embrace and, as shown by Castro’s latest effort, Closer To the Bone (Alligator Records), the man still has a lot to say. As usual, Castro’s guitar playing in the grooves is sharp, clean, and concise, reminding of B.B. King but with a little toothier bite to his solos. Even after decades of shouting the blues, Castro’s vox remain strong, soulful, with a touch of grit. “One More Night” is a swinging, Texas-flavored blues romp a la Stevie Ray, but with less six-string pyro (but still some…) while “Keep Your Dog Inside,” a duet with the multi-talented Deanna Bogart, evinces Elvin Bishop’s sense of humor while still managing to sizzle like a steak on a hot grill (and name checks the jocular Bishop in the outro).

“Ain’t Worth the Heartache” rides an exotic backing rhythm and Billy Branch’s harmonica wizardry to nirvana while on “Freight Train (Let Me Ride),” Castro channels Johnny Winter with his wicked Resonator play. The old-school, West Coast jump blues of “Bloodshot Eyes” jumps right out of the speakers and grabs you by the ears and, really, all of Closer To the Bone is pretty much guaranteed to put a smile on the face of any blues fan. Castro is more of a traditionalist than, say, Joe Bonamassa or Walter Trout, but neither is he afraid to mix a little rock or jazz into his blues sound. Neither is he hesitant to call upon his influences (B.B. King, Albert Collins, Stax Records) when needed to make a point. As such, Closer To the Bone is both an amalgam of everything that has come before in the blues world with Castro still managing to put a contemporary spin and energy to the sound. Grade: A   BUY! [Alligator]

Hot Wax: Albert Collins, Robert Cray & Johnny Copeland’s Showdown! (1985/2024)

Esteemed blues label Alligator Records has been reissuing a truckload of hot-off-the-griddle flapjacks this year, culminating in this superstar collection of head-cutting axe-wranglers. Originally released on vinyl in 1985, Showdown! features seasoned blues veterans Albert Collins and Johnny Copeland spanking the strings alongside (relatively) new guy Robert Cray. The results are enough to warm the heart of even the most diehard blues traditionalist, then and now. While Stevie Ray was forging his own blues pathways during the ‘80s, this trio of talented cats were showcasing their own considerable skills for the hottest label in town. Showdown! earned the trio a Grammy™ Award for “Best Traditional Blues Recording” and the record has since become considered a classic of blues guitar.

Bluesmasters Albert Collins, Robert Cray & Johnny Copeland

Texas-born Albert Collins, a/k/a ‘The Ice Man,’ was the old head in the studio, the guitarist making his bones by playing juke-joints and dive bars in the rough ‘n’ tumble Southeastern region of the Lone Star State while still a teenager with his band the Rhythm Rockers. After a few years of banging around Houston, Collins – then only 22 – was joined in the Rhythm Rockers by 17-year-old Johnny Copeland, who soon split out on his own to record singles for labels like Duke, Mercury, and Golden Eagle Records. Many of Copeland’s early releases, regional hits like “Rock ‘n’ Roll Lily” and “Down On Bending Knees,” spotlighted his soulful vocals above his fiery guitarplay. It wasn’t until Copeland signed with Rounder Records and released albums like 1981’s Copeland Special and 1985’s Bringin’ It All Back Home, that Copeland’s six-string skills really came to be appreciated by blues fans.

Collins released his own first single, “Freeze,” in 1958 for the regional indie Kangaroo Records, but it was his 1964 recording of “Frosty” that would become the guitarist’s signature song. Collins’ various singles were collected on his first album, 1965’s The Cool Sound of Albert Collins. A friendship with boogie-rockers Canned Heat led to the guitarist’s relocation to California, where he found a modicum of success in the rock ‘n’ roll world, touring with bands like the Grateful Dead and contributing his fretwork to albums by artists like Ike & Tina Turner. It was his association with Alligator Records that propelled him to blues stardom, however, albums like 1978’s Ice Pickin’ and 1980’s Frostbite placing Collins squarely in the center of the ‘80s blues revival.

Robert Cray, the youngest of our three six-string wizards, was a good two decades behind his mentors when he launched his own individual voyage into the blues. Inspired by seeing Collins perform at his high school graduation party, Cray formed his namesake band in the late ‘70s with fellow legend Curtis Salgado. Cray appeared in as the uncredited bass player with the fictional Otis Day & the Knights band in the 1978 movie National Lampoon’s Animal House and released his debut album, Who’s Been Talkin’, in 1980 for the soon-to-be-bankrupt Tomato Records label. A subsequent deal with the far more stable Hightone Records label resulted in 1983’s critically-acclaimed Bad Influence album, which announced Cray’s talents to the blues world, followed by 1985’s False Accusations, which edged the guitarist into the mainstream.

Showdown!

All three artists have since been honored with induction into the Blues Hall of Fame, among their many other accolades, so getting talents of this caliber together in the studio to record together was a significant move. In a 2011 interview, Alligator founder Bruce Iglauer chose Showdown! as his favorite release, telling this writer that “it’s won every kind of blues award, but musically speaking, it was a record by three men that really loved each other and really loved making music together. I think that a lot of that love, and some of the competitiveness, and some of the father-son relationship that Albert had with both Johnny and Robert, was captured in the musical performances. The guys came in, they knew they were doing something special, and for myself and Dick Shurman, my co-producer, a lot of our job was to get out of the way and let it happen.”

Showdown! does not disappoint – the three guitarists’ talents mesh well together on the album’s ten tracks. The chosen material is largely comprised of blues and R&B covers – albeit relatively obscure ones – with a handful of original songs (two by Copeland, one each from Collins and Cray) thrown in to spice up the gumbo pot somewhat. The classic “T-Bone Shuffle” kicks off the festivities, the signature song of Texas guitarist T-Bone Walker who influenced, really, all three men. It’s a jaunty, smooth-as-silk performance with all three artists sharing the microphone and ripping off terrific solos – Copeland’s a sharp, stinging flurry of notes; Collins’ his typical natural-bred cool; and Cray’s a jazzy flourish to finish up the song. Copeland’s “Lion’s Den” is a real roadrunner, his larger-than-life vox matched by his over-the-top solo; by contrast, Collins veers closer to rock ‘n’ roll turf with his razor-sharp licks incorporating a rockabilly vibe.

The other Copeland original on Showdown!, “Bring Your Fine Self Home,” is a moody blues torch-song that showcases the enormous talents of all three musicians. With Collins blowing a mournful harp and adding scraps of emotional lead guitar, both Copeland and Cray provide texture with flowing rhythm guitarplay; Johnny provides the song’s heartbreak vocals. The trio’s take on Houston bluesman Hop Wilson’s voodoo vamp “Black Cat Bone” opens with verbal interplay between Copeland and Collins and launching into a deep groove (courtesy of drummer Casey Jones and bassist Johnny B. Gayden) before turning into an exciting guitar battle between the two bluesmen. Cray’s “The Dream” is a slow-burning blues heavy on atmospherics and featuring Cray’s soulful voice with Collins’ guitar underlining the lyrics. “Albert’s Alley” is a swinging, up-tempo instrumental while a cover of Ray Charles’ “Blackjack,” which closed the original 1985 LP, allows each guitarist to stretch out and strut their stuff.       

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

There’s not a duff track to be found on Showdown!, the album’s light-handed production allowing the three guitarists the freedom to cut loose and just revel in the joy of music-making. This clear vinyl deluxe reissue, with a gatefold cover featuring unpublished photos and Alligator head honcho Bruce Iglauer’s memories of the sessions, is even ten percent better than the original, as it includes a bonus track in the form of a fiery cover of Eddie “Guitar Slim” Jones’ “Something To Remember You By,” a performance every bit as red-hot as the first nine tracks. If you’re a fan of blues guitar, you owe it to yourself to track down this Showdown! reissue. Honestly, it just doesn’t get any better than this, a super-session featuring three of the genre’s greatest talents. Grade: A+ (Alligator Records, released November 29th, 2024)

Buy the vinyl from Amazon: Albert Collins, Robert Cray & Johnny Copeland’s Showdown!

Hot Wax: James Cotton, Junior Wells, Carey Bell & Billy Branch’s Harp Attack! (1990/2024)

The blues as a commercially viable style of music seemed to be in pretty good shape in 1990. The blues boom of the 1980s – stoked by the critical acclaim heaped upon, and the commercial success of guitarists like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robert Cray – would lead to a crop of innovative young artists like Joe Bonamassa and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Blues greats of the 1950s and ‘60s like B.B. King and Buddy Guy were still touring constantly to large crowds, and independent blues labels such as Rooster Blues and Black Top Records were thriving, releasing albums from lesser-known, but talented bluesmen and women.

Chicago’s Alligator Records label was still truckin’ along at the dawn of the 1990s, releasing albums during the decade from a diverse roster of blues talent that included Koko Taylor, Charlie Musselwhite, Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials, and Lonnie Brooks, among many others. Never the wallflower, label head Bruce Iglauer wasn’t opposed to musical experiments that may or may not pay off in the marketplace. For instance, Showdown – a 1985 collaboration between Albert Collins, Robert Cray, and Johnny Copeland – sold well and earned the label its second Grammy™ Award. So, when Iglauer brought four harp masters together in the studio in 1990, he had great expectations for the resulting album.

Cotton, Wells, Bell & Branch’s Harp Attack!

James Cotton

Originally released in 1990 and now reissued on vinyl, Harp Attack! was the result of four recording sessions that brought together some of the finest contemporary harmonica players in the blues in James Cotton, Junior Wells, Carey Bell, and Billy Branch. While Cotton and Wells were both bona fide legends by 1990, Bell was less well-known but no less respected by the blues cognoscenti. Branch was the “kid” of the group, who had grown up listening to, and learning from the music of the others. It was a challenge bringing the four talented instrumentalists into the studio for, as Iglauer said in an interview with this writer, “bringing harmonica players together isn’t really the same thing as bringing guitar players together, because the concept of chording or rhythm harmonica isn’t there, it’s primarily a solo instrument.”

Still, Iglauer managed to nudge, coax, and coerce great performances from all the artists involved, even getting some fine rhythm harp behind the individual lead solos. Harp Attack! opens with the swinging “Down Home Blues,” a perfect showcase for the assembled talents, and everybody gets their turn in the spotlight. Cotton sings the first verse, and delivers a languid, lazy, but steady-flowing harp solo before handing it over to youngster Billy Branch. While Branch’s vocals aren’t as assured as Cotton’s, his solo is razor-sharp and high flying. Wells is the best vocalist of the bunch, and knocks his verse out before launching into a short, shocking solo. Bell delivers strong vocals and a red-hot solo before Cotton, Wells, and Branch play the song out. Each harpist provides a unique tone and viewpoint to their solo, giving the song the feel of an extended blues jam as they riff on top of Lucky Peterson’s piano and Michael Coleman’s subtle six-string fills.

Tribute to Sonny Boy Williamson

Junior Wells

Even in 1990, you couldn’t record an album of blues harp without paying tribute to the great Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller). Junior Wells does the honors here, cranking out an inspired cover of Williamson’s “Keep Your Hands Out of My Pockets,” mangling the words with his typically soulful drawl, punctuating his vocals with fluid solos that perfectly capture the emotion and impact of the song. The trio of Cotton, Wells, and Branch take on the Delta blues gem “Little Car Blues,” Coleman injecting some tasty fretwork behind Cotton’s lively vocals. As Wells and Branch provide background fills, Cotton’s solo soars above the fray, breathless and bold. By contrast, Wells’ solo here flies low to the ground, hitting your senses like a passing locomotive.

Wells takes the spotlight again on his original “Somebody Changed the Lock,” the song’s jaunty, up-tempo arrangement a perfect foil for his understated vocals and fast-flying harp notes. Coleman and bassist Johnny Gayden lay down a funky rhythmic undercurrent, drummer Ray Allison adds a few well-timed beats, and Peterson’s fingers dash across the keys, but it’s Wells’ game, and his solos are effective and efficient. Bell takes the fore on his “Second Hand Man,” a better showcase for his hearty vocals and his blistering, Big Walter Horton-inspired harp style. Harp Attack! closes with Branch’s “New Kid On the Block,” the 39-year-old “rookie” of the group writing his own ticket with a raucous, biographical Chicago blues rave-up that evokes the best of Wells and Cotton, with a stylistic nod to Little Walter amidst Branch’s rowdy vocals and spirited harp play.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

The harmonica has a lengthy and respected tradition in blues music, and its role as a lead instrument is second only to the guitar in blues history. From the earliest days of the Mississippi Delta blues, when traveling bluesmen would tuck a “mouth harp” in their pocket and grab a train, through the 1950s when giants like Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson brought new popularity for the instrument, to 1960s-era trailblazers like Junior Wells and Paul Butterfield, the harmonica has become ingrained in the music.

Harp Attack! features some of the most spirited and energetic performances you’ll hear on any blues album, and you’ll find few players better than the four artists showcased here. If you’re a fan of blues harp – and who isn’t – this mighty (and essential) record should own real estate in your collection. (Alligator Records, reissued September 13th, 2024)

Buy the record direct from Alligator: Cotton, Wells, Bell & Branch’s Harp Attack!

Archive Review: Anders Osborne’s Peace (2013)

Blues guitarist Anders Osborne switched gears musically earlier this year with the release of the semi-acoustic six-song EP Three Free Amigos. Eschewing the hard-charging, guitar-driven blues-rock thunderstorm of his 2012 album Black Eye Galaxy, Osborne’s Three Free Amigos was like a sun-drenched morning after the rain cleared out. By contrast, he guitarist’s Peace manages to walk a fine line between the two recordings – cloudy afternoon music, as it were – Osborne delivering a highly autobiographical set of songs that build upon his trademark roots ‘n’ blues sound to incorporate elements of funk, psychedelic-rock, even scraps of reggae that evoke memories of the 1970s.

Anders Osborne’s Peace

The title track opens the album with a bang, a shimmering cymbal riding low beneath oscillating guitar drone before a doom-laden dark rhythmic groove worthy of Black Sabbath kicks in. Actually, Osborne’s fuzzy, buzzy fretwork sounds a lot like Neil Young, as do his measured vocals, which float into the song on an acoustic guitar strum. The song’s biographical lyrics are delivered rather low-key but hide a deceptive edge only hinted at by the guitar, the singer’s inner turmoil as brilliantly expressed as anything penned by such similar roots-music oriented wordsmiths as Young, John Fogerty, or Lowell George. The instrumental break is mesmerizing in its complexity, blues influences hanging over the lyrics more so than the music.

The sprawling, loose-limbed “47” is similar lyrically to “Peace,” Osborne delivering his breathless vocals over a jaunty, reckless rhythm that drives the song forward like a perpetual motion machine, but it’s with “Windows” that the guitarist fulfills his rock ‘n’ roll fantasies. With a strident guitar strum and wailing vocals, Osborne blends a bluesy vibe with an exotic rock soundtrack, the confessional lyrics telling a story that mixes classical mythology with Grateful Dead references, the finality of the chorus strengthened by the haunting vibe of Jason Mingledorff’s bleating sax. Osborne’s wiry solos sting like a 90-pound wasp, rolling off his fingers with no little urgency themselves, jumping headfirst into the blustery hard rock dirge that is “Five Bullets.”

Five Bullets

Osborne’s “Five Bullets” is both the most political song he’s ever penned, as well as one of the most emotionally powerful, the music driven by a rattletrap circular riff that pounds home the seriousness of the lyrics with the subtle grace of a runaway jackhammer. Lest readers forget, hard rock was born of the blues, and there’s plenty of blues in the unseen tears cried here, albeit lost amidst the muscular arrangement and bludgeoning soundtrack. “Five Bullets” leads, seamlessly, into the chaotic intro of the mostly-instrumental “Brush Up Against Me,” an industrial cacophony grinding along, casting a shadow across odd vocals, blasts of horn, the occasional guitar lick, and who knows what else is hidden in the mix? When Osborne’s brief folkie vocals kick in against a madcap backdrop, it’s quite jarring, but then the music devolves into territory only a demented genius like Eugene Chadbourne might explore.

Just as “Five Bullets” drops wordlessly into the tone poem that is “Brush Up Against Me,” so does the latter song roll unexpectedly into the pastoral “Sentimental Times.” At a certain age, mortality creeps up on all of us and nostalgia is often used as a weapon to ward off the evil spirits, and Osborne’s “Sentimental Times” is a wistful, almost melancholy reminder of the passing years. The singer’s vocals have seldom been more expressive, his subdued guitar playing never more elegant, the song hitting the ears like a cross between early Moody Blues and 1960s-era psych-pop tunesmiths like Emmitt Rhodes or Michael Fennelly. The life-affirming defiance of “I’m Ready” matches a bluesy undercurrent (especially in Osborne’s guitarplay) with Dylanesque, word-heavy lyrics and pitch-perfect vocals whereas “My Son” is a loving ode to the next generation, a lilting, peaceful acceptance of, and nod to the future.     

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

In more ways than one, Peace is Anders Osborne’s “classic rock” album, the artist feeling, perhaps, like a man out of time. The late 1960s and early ‘70s were an era where blues music casually informed rock songwriting, with Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf as big an influence on young rockers as Elvis Presley or Bob Dylan. There’s little here that the traditionalist would consider even remotely “bluesy” and yet blues music imbues every performance on Peace, hanging around in the corner of the studio like the ghost of a favored ancestor.

And make no mistake, the songs on Peace are haunted by a lot of ghosts, not only those of the long-dead bluesmen and women that placed Osborne on his life’s path, but also by his addictions and renewal, his triumphs and his failures. Peace puts paid to all of Osborne’s past, the album a work of staggering lyrical and musical genius that creeps into your consciousness and forces you pay attention. (Alligator Records, released October 8, 2013)

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Archive Review: Anders Osborne’s Three Free Amigos (2013)

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Anders Osborne has experienced a sort of career renaissance since signing with Alligator Records for 2010’s American Patchwork. A stripped-down affair that highlighted Osborne’s unique blend of rock, blues, and soul the album revived the guitarist’s flagging commercial fortunes and marked him as a creative force to be reckoned with. If that album was an artistic whisper, 2012’s Black Eye Galaxy was a scream from the darkness, Osborne’s intelligent lyricism matched by a furious, guitar-driven blues-rock soundtrack.

Osborne toured non-stop in support of Black Eye Galaxy, bringing his talents to an entirely new audience, but he somehow found enough time to sit for a spell in his New Orleans studio to cut a few tracks. Three Free Amigos is a six-song, semi-acoustic EP featuring four brand new tunes, the previously unrecorded “It’s Gonna Be OK” (covered by singer Theresa Andersson on her 2004 album Shine), and a re-imagined take of Osborne’s “Never Is A Real Long Time,” originally recorded for his 1999 album Living Room. Osborne is backed on several songs by his road-tested band – bassist Carl Defrene and drummer Eric Bolivar – as well as guests like keyboardist Michael Burkhart, harp player Johnny Sansone, guitarist Billy Iuso, and singer Maggie Koerner.      
   

Anders Osborne’s Three Free Amigos

Three Free Amigos opens with the title track, a rootsy story-song that mixes country twang with a bluesy undercurrent, a tale of music and merry-making on the road with insightful lyrics and a fierce intelligence. Osborne sounds, at times, like Nashville alt-country singer/songwriter Todd Snider in both word and music, but the song stays grounded in the blues through Osborne’s livewire fretwork and earthy vocals. The lengthy guitar solo that rolls the song towards the credits is hauntingly beautiful in its simplicity and efficiency, Osborne masterfully playing off the countering acoustic strum and dark-hued rhythms, his instrument giving voice to the unstated emotions that lay beneath the song’s lyrics before fading into the horizon.

The reggae-styled “Marmalade” takes an entirely different tack, Osborne getting his “inner rasta” on with the best song Bob Marley never wrote. The lively rhythms are tailor-made for the joyous emotion of the lyrics, the song a welcome celebration of love and life with a beat guaranteed to get you on your feet. The gorgeous backing vocals just add to the authenticity of the performance, the song more a tribute to Marley’s immense legacy than an attempt at mimicry. Osborne’s mid-tempo “Jealous Love” veers off down another musical path entirely, sparse instrumentation and an undeniable Bo Diddley beat serving as a backbone for a sizzling duet between Osborne and singer Maggie Koerner.

Never Is A Real Long Time

The melancholy “It’s Gonna Be OK” is equally sparse in instrumentation, relying more on Osborne’s anguished vocals and the gorgeous tone of his subtle six-string undercurrent. The emotional, pleading, bittersweet lyrics are lent greater strength by the Sansone’s crying harpwork and Koerner’s wistful backing vocals. Although the song is ostensibly a life-affirming screed, Osborne’s wavering voice, Koerner’s wailing vocals, and the guitarist’s short, shocking, brilliant guitar lines leaves one in doubt.

The heart and soul of Three Free Amigos is the striking, heartbreaking “Never Is A Real Long Time,” the song’s stripped-down framework belying the incredible performance provided by Osborne and Koerner, the lyrics speaking of loneliness, emotional distance, and unrequited love. Relying again on Osborne’s strained, empathetic vocals which are, in turn, supported by Koerner’s soulful backing vox, the guitarist’s nuanced fretwork provides a thematic thread throughout, cutting off sharply at the end and leaving the listener hanging by a thin thread. The EP closes out with the more up-tempo “We Move On,” a lyrically upbeat and uplifting true affirmation of life with a jaunty rhythm, stinging guitarwork, a bit of friendly harp, and an infectious melody that creates an overall enchanting vibe.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Three Free Amigos is meant to be a stopgap between full-length albums, but there are few artists that could deliver six songs as rich, thoughtful, and stylistically different and yet pull it all together into a cohesive, entertaining artistic statement as Osborne has done here. Absent the scorching six-string blues-rock pyrotechnics displayed on Black Eye Galaxy, Osborne’s Three Free Amigos relies more on the subtlety and skill of his playing, the spotlight focused on his raw, often intense vocals and poetic songwriting. It’s a masterful work, playful and yet often somber, a solid collection of roots ‘n’ blues music that is bluesy mostly on the fringes but deeply soulful in the grooves where it counts. (Alligator Records, released February 12, 2013)

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Archive Review: Anders Osborne's Black Eye Galaxy (2012)

Swedish-born guitarist Anders Osborne landed in New Orleans in 1990, and in the 20+ years since, he’s become such an integral part of the city that it’s hard to believe that he isn’t a native-born Louisianan. Osborne’s musical style – a mix of rock, blues, soul, and funk – fits New Orleans’ musical landscape like a glove, and over the course of several albums for various independent labels, culminating in his acclaimed 2010 Alligator Records debut American Patchwork, Osborne’s skills as a songwriter have matured to match his six-string talents.

With the life-affirming, cathartic screed that is Black Eye Galaxy, however, Osborne has delivered a genre-crossing masterwork that is both as subtle as a feather dancing on the wind and as devastating as a bulldozer in a china shop. At its core, Black Eye Galaxy is a deeply spiritual collection, and while it’s unlikely that you’ve ever heard gospel music with instrumentation that cuts this deep, or vocals as tortured, the Holy Spirit nevertheless runs throughout the album like a coil of barbed wire.

Black Eye Galaxy opens with the dirge-like “Send Me A Friend,” a lamentation on the bleakness of addiction, Osborne’s howling vocals underlined by screaming guitars and plodding rhythms joined by bursts of percussion. In a similar vein, the introspective “Mind of A Junkie” offers up jazzy fretwork alongside Osborne’s heartbreaking, pleading vocals in what is essentially a musical prayer. The powerful “Black Tar” is a dark performance with a hard-rock heart and a blues music soul, Osborne’s slightly-echoed vocals a cry for salvation from the depths of a deep, seemingly bottomless hole.

The title track provides the creative heartbeat of the album; ostensibly a 1990s-styled ballad, it unfolds into an eleven-minute instrumental showcase blending blues, rock, and jazz into a riveting ‘70s-era psychedelic sojourn. The final track, “Higher Ground,” brings peace to the album’s protagonist, the song a joyful hymn to the redemptive power of love. With Black Eye Galaxy, Osborne shares his own personal journey out of the heart of darkness, masterfully jumping from blues to rock to jazz and back again in creating a work of art that redefines the meaning of the blues. (Alligator Records, released 2012)

Review originally published by Blues Revue magazine

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Archive Review: James Cotton's Cotton Mouth Man (2013)

There are few in the annals of blues music that stand as tall as “Mr. Superharp,” James Cotton, the gifted singer and harmonica wizard that managed to fill the hole left by Little Walter and Junior Wells in Muddy Water’s late 1950s band. Cotton spent better than a decade blasting out his powerful, but nuanced harp alongside the fellow Chicago blues legend, before setting out on his own to build a Hall of Fame quality legacy of his own. Solo albums like 1974’s 100% Cotton and 1984’s High Compression may have earned Cotton a fair amount of acclaim, but it was Harp Attack!, his 1990 collaboration with Junior Wells, Carey Bell, and Billy Branch that cemented Cotton’s reputation as one of the biggest, baddest harp players on any side of Chicago.    

Cotton’s 2010 album Giant – his first in six years – was heralded as a return to form for the Chicago blues legend, and while his harp playing remained strong, Cotton’s once formidable voice has worn down with time. As such, guitarist Slim Allen handled the lion’s share of vocals on Giant, and the results just weren’t as satisfying as one may have liked. For Cotton Mouth Man, the bluesman’s quick follow-up to Giant, Cotton brought in a few guests like Ruthie Foster and Gregg Allman to sing a song, but most of the vocal chores are left up to the talented Darrell Nulisch from Cotton’s touring band, whose soulful Texas twang serves as the perfect musical foil to Cotton’s raging harp.

James Cotton’s Cotton Mouth Man

Cotton Mouth Man was produced in Nashville by Tom Hambridge, who is fast becoming the blues industry’s “go to” guy. Besides Hambridge’s natural feel for, and understanding of the music, he brings his own skills as a drummer and songwriter. Hambridge co-wrote 12 of the 13 songs here, many with Cotton, with the idea of telling the harp player’s life story in song. He surrounded Cotton with other instrumental talents like keyboardist Chuck Leavell, guitarist Rob McNelly, and bassist Glenn Worf as well as Tom Holland, Noel Neal, and Jerry Porter from Cotton’s road band. With a sturdy framework in place, Hambridge cuts ‘em all loose and watches the sparks fly. The album-opening title tracks launches with a funky guitar riff, a loose-limbed beat, and squalls of harmonica when Nulisch’s energetic vocals jump into the fray. Guest guitarist Joe Bonamassa send notes flying every which way above a lively rhythm, the song sounding like a late-night club jam, loud and boisterous but plenty entertaining.

Guest vocalist Gregg Allman drops by for “Midnight Train,” Cotton’s Delta-inspired, DeFord Bailey-styled locomotive harp licks opening the door for former Allman Brothers Band member Leavell’s Southern-fried piano-pounding. Allman’s vocals here are smoother and more soulful than one might expect, but it sounds like he’s having a heck of a time, and the song’s sly Memphis groove is contagious. Keb’ Mo’ provides a low-key, but effective country-blues styled vocal performance to “Mississippi Mud,” Cotton’s subtle harmonica flourishes enhancing the power of the lyrics as Leavell’s Pinetop Perkins-influenced piano notes tinkle away in the background. Cotton’s harpwork here is sublime and emotional, a truly fine example of why he’s held in such high esteem.

Wrapped Around My Heart

“Something For Me” is a high-energy blues rave-up, the kind of loudly-amped houserocker you’d hear blowing gale force out of a window of some North Mississippi Hill Country juke-joint. Warren Haynes adds his flamethrower vocals and guitar to the song, Cotton’s harp twisting and pounding at the arrangement like a jackhammer while the guitars scrape and buzz like an angry beehive. By contrast, Ruthie Foster’s powerful vocals on the bluesy torch song “Wrapped Around My Heart” rival Etta James at her most vulnerable, the lyrics drenched in emotion and draped with Cotton’s soulful harp play while Leavell’s chiming Hammond B3 brings a gospel vibe to serve as a backdrop. Foster’s voice here is pure heartbreak, easily one of the best things I’ve ever heard her do, the performance more than enough to silence any questions as to her blues bona fides.

The great Delbert McClinton brings his bold, time-tested, honky-tonk styled vocals to “Hard Sometimes,” a roots-rock oriented number that nevertheless offers up a foot-stomping rhythm, Leavell’s brassy pianoplay, and the constant, soul-shaking blasts of Cotton’s harmonica. A slight echo is layered onto Cotton’s electric harpwork for “Blues Is Good For You,” the Chicago blues legend setting a tone for the song’s shuffling rhythm as Nulisch’s soulful, spry vocals breathe life into the lyrics with humor, wit, and intelligence. The album-closing “Bonnie Blue” is Cotton’s lone vocal take on Cotton Mouth Man, a Delta-dirty acoustic blues joint featuring Colin Linden’s slinky resonator guitar playing. Cotton’s time-ravaged voice is oddly appropriate, and he compliments the biographical lyrics with his superb harpwork, which brings a little of his mentor, Sonny Boy Williamson to the table.             

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

James Cotton has earned his enormous reputation honestly and, unlike some of his colleagues in the blues, he’s never seemingly been one to crank out product just to make a buck and thus dilute his legacy. Even by the lofty standards set by such undeniable blues classics like High Compression or Harp Attack!, however, Cotton Mouth Man is a considerable success. Cotton’s voice may be shot, but he has the talented Nulisch to cover that base, and his harp playing has lost little of its power or distinctive artistry, even after better than five decades of abuse. Cotton Mouth Man is a worthy addition to the harp legend’s canon, an album that I believe time will judge to be as classic as Cotton’s earlier triumphs. (Alligator Records, released May 7, 2013)

Archive Review: Michael Burks’ Iron Man (2008)

He was a nominee for "Best New Artist" in The Blues Foundation’s 2000 W.C. Handy Awards but the truth is, Michael Burks already had a lifetime of blues under his belt when considered for that award. A relative newcomer to the form, Burks recorded his self-produced, critically-acclaimed debut in 1997, and released Make It Rain, his Alligator Records debut, in 2001.

Michael Burks’ Iron Man

Burks was born into the blues, his father playing alongside Sonny Boy Williamson, and his grandfather was a Delta-style bluesman from Arkansas. Burks began playing guitar while still in the single-digits, age wise, and began performing shortly thereafter. He grew up in his father's blues club, and although he's worked a day job most of his life, Burks has always found time to pull out his guitar and set it on fire on any available stage. In fact, Burks has earned the nickname "Iron Man" for his dynamic, electrifying, marathon live performances.  

As such, one has to approach Burks' anticipated third Alligator Records release, Iron Man, as if you're watching the axeman performing live on stage…I suspect that Burks approaches the recording process with much the same passion and commitment that he brings to his stagework. Iron Man certainly jumps the gun right from the starting line, rising with the blisteringly heavy "Love Disease," Burks' rabid wolverine of a guitar ripping and tearing off bloody riffs and surgical solos with maddening fury. It's a sure sign that Iron Man is no run-o-the-mill blues workout, but rather a menacing, towering, white-hot rollercoaster of houserockin' blues…old-school, ice-cold Albert Collins style.

The pace slows only slightly with "Strange Feeling," to a deliberate dino-stomp of self-assured rhythms and Burks' throaty, soulful vocals. If anything, the man's solos here are even more reckless and rocking than on the album-opener, Burks opening up a can o' kick-ass and proceeding to flog the listener's ears with shredded guitar strings and his magnificent guitar tone. A more refined, dignified affair, "Empty Promises" brings Iron Man onto a more traditional blues turf, Burks' stormy lyrics matched with a moody, atmospheric, and cloudy soundtrack. The keyboards are mixed to the forefront here, playing well off of Burks' tasteful, nuanced fretwork.

Ripping Through The Blues

The vintage Chicago blues-styled "No More Crying" is provided a romp-n-stomp arrangement, Burks getting reckless as he mixes tightrope solos with drummer Chuck Louden's sturdy beats and cymbal-bashing, and bassist Don Garret's steady heartbeat. The Southern rock-flavored "Don't Waste My Time" offers some nice Gospel-styled keyboard flourishes behind Burks' emotional vocals, the resulting performance taking on a reverent, spiritual air. Wayne Sharp's keyboard work here is inspired, drawing from a number of sainted Dixie-rock traditions, and adding a dignified edge to Burks' restrained guitar-play.  

"Quiet Little Town" is anything but, Burks and gang shedding the rarified modesty of the previous song to crank out a chainsaw roadhouse rocker, with buzzing guitar riffs, honky-tonk piano-bashing, and rock-em-sock-em rhythms that drive the song right off the stage, through the door, and out into the street to catch its breath. "Hard Come, Easy Go" is a soulful blues-rocker with mournful vocals and Burks' taut fretwork while "Ice Pick Through My Heart" is a classic example of "woman done me wrong" blues music, complete with tearjerker fretwork and dusky, foreboding keyboards.

A spot-on cover of Free's "Fire And Water," with plenty o' Kossoff-inspired guitar pyrotechnics and Burks' deep, throaty vocals, is certain to grab the blues-rock fan by the ears and shake loose some spare change. The album-ending "Changed Man" is another raucous roadhouse number, stinging six-string slicing through the thick instrumentation, a steady rocking beat tipping the stage from one end to the other. After the song hits its chaotic crescendo, it ramps down the rpm and exits stage right. It's a surefire way to keep Burks' face-pasting fretwork ringing in your ears for days after hearing it blast out of your speakers.  

The Reverend's Bottom Line

Iron Man is undoubtedly an album directed at those listeners that love them some guitar-driven electric-blues. To this end, almost every song here features some variation of Burks' roughneck guitar-slinging. What Iron Man also does, however, is showcase Burks' growing talents as a singer and songwriter, the artist penning several near-classic tunes here that I could easily see being swiped, er…covered by some blues-rock band sometime in the future.

More to the point, though, Burks' six-string skills continue to evolve and expand, the talented fretburner just as capable of bringing a subtle, elegant flourish to a song as he is in tearing off a lightning-quick solo. Iron Man is a blues guitar fan's kind of album – red hot and ready to rock! (Alligator Records, released February 20th, 2008)

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Michael Burks’ Iron Man

CD Review: Alligator Records 50 Years of Genuine Houserockin’ Music (2021)

Alligator Records celebrates its 50th anniversary this year – no mean feat for a staunchly independent label – and they have good reason to be proud. The Chicago-based label has released a lot of great music in the five decades since that first Hound Dog Taylor record, and Alligator’s catalog of over 300 titles features some of the best and brightest roots ‘n’ blues artists that have traveled the backroads of America. 50 Years of Genuine Houserockin’ Music is budget-priced (three discs for under $30) anniversary box set offering up a whopping 58 songs and nearly four hours of music, taking the listener for an entertaining stroll through the label’s storied history.

Alligator Records: 50 Years of Genuine Houserockin’ Music

Disc one includes legends like the aforementioned Mr. Taylor (whose “Give Me Back My Wig” defined the label’s mission statement of “genuine houserockin’ music”); the great Koko Taylor (whose “I’m A Woman” puts Muddy in his place); and skilled guitarslingers like Albert Collins, Roy Buchanan, Fenton Robinson, and Johnny Winter, who explore a variety of styles. You’ll also find harp maestros Big Walter Horton and James Cotton, and much-beloved artists like Son Seals, Lonnie Brooks, Luther Allison, and Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women. Throw in some blues-rock jams by the Paladins, and honky-tonk piano-pounding by New Orleans legend Professor Longhair and you have a nearly-perfect 18-track album.

If that’s not enough to get yer motor revving into overdrive, disc two will melt your brain with incendiary tracks from talents like the late, great Michael “Iron Man” Burks, the always-rowdy Little Charlie & the Nightcats, and more harmonica wizardry from masters like Carey Bell and Billy Boy Arnold. Disc two showcases the label’s incredible diversity, mixing songs from soul-blues outfits like the Holmes Brothers and the Kinsey Report with performances by great singers like Janiva Magness, Mavis Staples, and the underrated Katie Webster. The legendary “Steady Rollin’” Bob Margolin is represented here, as are talented cats like Kenny Neal and Joe Louis Walker, and lesser-known but influential artists like Corey Harris and Michael Hill. Throw in some classic Zydeco from C.J. Chenier and a track from the innovative blues-rock outfit the Siegel-Schwall Band, among other fine performances, and you have 21 red-hot tunes that will torch your stereo speakers with pure flamethrower blues…

Still not enough for ya? Man, you drive a hard bargain…how ‘bout disc three and 21 houserockin’ tracks from skilled bluesmen and women like Marcia Ball, Billy Branch, Toronzo Cannon, and Roomful of Blues. There’s no shortage of skilled fretburners like Tinsley Ellis, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Selwyn Birchwood, and Coco Montoya to be found, and bands like Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials, the Nick Moss Band (featuring the extraordinary harp player Dennis Gruenling), Rick Estrin & the Nightcats, and Tommy Castro & the Painkillers are among the most popular (and hardest-working) blues gangs haunting your local juke-joint these past few years. Shemekia Copeland and Curtis Salgado are two of the most talented blues singers on the scene today, and you can’t overlook legends like Elvin Bishop, Charlie Musselwhite, and Guitar Shorty.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Altogether, 50 Years of Genuine Houserockin’ Music does a great job of documenting a half-century of Alligator Records’ irreplaceable and invaluable contribution to American music. The three-disc set includes a 40pp color booklet and provides the listener a veritable roadmap of the evolution of roots ‘n’ blues music over the past five decades. It’s a great sampler of the wealth of talent the label has to offer, and if you pick up this box set and don’t immediate order a dozen or so discs from the featured artists, I have to seriously question your taste in music…maybe you’d be happier with a shiny new Justin Bieber album? For the rest of us, there’s nothing but “genuine houserockin’ music” on the menu. Kudos to Alligator founder Bruce Iglauer and his staff for this incredible musical milestone! (Alligator Records, released June 18th, 2021)

Buy the CD from Amazon: 50 Years of Genuine Houserockin’ Music

Also on That Devil Music:
Bruce Iglauer - Bitten by the Blues book review
Alligator Records 45th Anniversary Collection CD review

Archive Review: Tommy Castro & the Painkillers' The Devil You Know (2014)

At this point in time, bluesman Tommy Castro is pretty much a familiar face, as big a superstar one can be in the blues genre for anyone not named "Waters," "Wolf," "Walter," or "Guy." Some 20 years after the release of his debut album, with twelve studio and live recordings to his name; with half a dozen Blues Music Awards earned on a dozen nominations, including two "B.B. King Entertainer of the Year" honors, if you're a blues fan and you don't know Castro by now, the only question that remains is what rock you've been living under the past couple of decades.

That's not to say that Castro is a dinosaur or deaf to changes in the genre that he's helped define over the years. Neither is Castro immune to trends – cultural and economic – and while there was some minor carping a year or so ago when he broke up his long-running Tommy Castro Band to assemble a leaner and meaner outfit in the Painkillers, the new band is OK by me. With a TCB holdover in bassist Randy McDonald, Castro added keyboardist James Pace and drummer Byron Cage and was with these Painkillers that he went into the studio to record The Devil You Know. A welcome change of pace,  the new album retains all the stuff that fans loved about Castro and mixes it up with a fresh, stripped-down sound that is raw, rockin', and more immediate than the BMA winning Hard Believer album, which was released five years and a virtual lifetime ago. 

Tommy Castro & the Painkillers' The Devil You Know

The title track of The Devil You Know is indicative of Castro's new direction, which isn't all that much different from his old direction – just dirtier, nastier, and bluesier with no horns and a distinct Delta groove running like the Mississippi River beneath the arrangement. Castro's rattletrap guitar scrapes and swoons in the heat of the performance, the band crashing and clashing behind its frontman in making a glorious, rhythmic noise. Castro's slight electronically-altered vocals are befitting the lyrics, adding a bit of chaos to the affair, a discomforting disconnect bolstered by his screaming, razor-sharp guitar solos and blustery vocals.

Castro changes directions on a dime with "Second Wind," a funky, West Coast R&B inflected romp that reminds of 1960s-era Cali bands like Sons of Champlin mixed with Southern blues-eyed soul revues like Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. The song's vigorous percussion hints at an exotic, Latin-flavored rhythm while Castro's slippery vocals and lively fretwork dance atop the song's deep groove. A cover of former Savoy Brown frontman Chris Youlden's "I'm Tired" is a rhythmic blues-rocker notable mostly for guest picker Joe Bonamassa's riptide guitar licks, Castro's forceful, gruff vocals, and the amazing guitar interplay between the two talents. The song itself was nothing special until these two forces of nature laid a little grease in the grooves, turning it into a bona fide barn burner…

When I Cross The Mississippi

Tommy Castro photo by Steve Sherman

A cover of Chicago blues legend J.B. Lenoir's "The Whale Have Swallowed Me" builds upon what was great about the original – the song's imaginative lyrics, its spry foot-shuffling groove, languid guitarplay – by adding a heaping helping of James Pace's tinkling ivories, Tasha Taylor's vocals (which compliment Castro's grittier tones), and Castro's taut guitar licks. This is the sort of big-boned R&B romp that the Tedeschi Trucks Band has build its rep on, and Tommy and Tasha knock it out of the park with glee.

"When I Cross The Mississippi" is a curious hybrid, some of the song's blusier elements a throwback to early 1970s sounds while dancing partner Tab Benoit brings his guitar and a contemporary Louisiana R&B feel to the tune. The chemistry between Benoit and Castro is heightened by Mike Finnigan's chiming keyboards and drummer Byron Cage's relentless big-beat timekeeping. Now that Castro has everybody warmed up and ready to roll, we rock right into "Mojo Hannah," a greasy garage-blues number with a New Orleans vibe written by Andre Williams. Joined by the great Marcia Ball on vocals and piano, Castro and his Legendary Rhythm & Blues Revue bandmate raise the roof with an energetic, fun, and raucous take on the song that crackles with electricity.

Keep On Smilin'

Castro's original "Two Steps Forward" is a thunderstorm blues-rocker that would have been right at home in the late 1960s British blues boom. A monster riff leads into Castro's bellowing vocals, the song suddenly breaking into a too-cool-for-school soul party with the Holmes Brothers adding righteous backing vocals and Magic Dick channeling the spirits of Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson with his quicksilver harp runs. Castro gets into a bit of the supernatural himself with "She Wanted To Give It To Me," his soaring solos blasting from your speakers like zombie Hendrix, his vocal gymnastics matched by a stomping, stammering rhythm that joyfully bludgeons your ears from the first note.

An inspired cover of Wet Willie's 1970s-era Southern rock classic "Keep On Smilin'" is spot-on; the band laying down a soulful bedrock for Castro's fine vocals with Mike Duke's subtle keyboard flourishes riding low beneath the well-oiled rhythms. Castro's guitarwork doesn't get to shine until around three-minutes in, when his solo intertwines with guest guitarist Mark Karan to recreate a beautiful twin-guitar sound reminiscent of Duane Allman and Dickey Betts. Castro's voice takes a backseat altogether on "Medicine Woman," the talented Ms. Samantha Fish taking the lead here and imbuing the song with an incredible energy and vitality. As good a guitarist as Fish is – and it would have been good to hear her play here – as a singer she simply sets the song on fire as her vocals fly high above Castro's flamethrower git licks, Pace's tasty keyboards, and the hypnotic, syncopated rhythms. All the song's elements combine to create a bit of real musical magic.      

The Reverend's Bottom Line

The Devil You Know is Tommy Castro as you've never heard him before, two decades of hard-won experience and thousands of miles of roadwork combined in the creation of a career-defining work. As a producer, Castro proves to have a deft hand on the controls, The Devil You Know showcasing his frequently-underrated vocals and definitely overlooked six-string skills. If you're familiar with Castro, you may want to give him another listen, and if you're a blues newcomer, The Devil You Know is an entertaining, highly-rocking introduction to the charms, charisma, and talents of Tommy Castro. (Alligator Records, released January 21, 2014)

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Tommy Castro & the Painkillers' The Devil You Know

Archive Review: Joe Louis Walker's Hornet's Nest (2014)

With the vast majority of musicians, by the time they get a couple of decades under their belt and two dozen albums into a career – if they're talented, driven, and lucky enough to get that far – the artist begins to run out of gas, creatively, struggling to find their muse. As for blues guitarist Joe Louis Walker, not only is he finding new ways of expressing himself nearly 30 years after the release of his debut album, both lyrically and musically Hornet's Nest sounds like Walker has a full tank of gas and he's ready to roll!

Following up on his acclaimed 2012 album Hellfire, Walker returned to Nashville, the new blues Mecca, to once again record with talented producer, musician, and songwriter Tom Hambridge (Buddy Guy, James Cotton). Working with the same firecracker studio band that helped make Hellfire such an unqualified success – guitarist Rob McNelley, bassist Tommy MacDonald, and keyboardist Reese Wynans, with Hambridge on drums – Walker spanks the amps on a dozen rock-solid performances, including nine original songs that run the gamut from old-school blues to British blues-rock, and even a fine gospel moment.

Joe Louis Walker's Hornet's Nest

Much as he did with Hellfire, Walker cranks up the voltage from the first note, opening the album with the title track, as greasy and satisfying a slab o' blues back-bacon that will ever tickle your musical palate. Stinging fretwork and bombastic rhythms lay the foundation for a blistering performance. The song is, at its core, a fresh take on the old blues trope of love and jealously, only writ large with monster riffs and heavy instrumentation. Walker and his co-writers spin some clever metaphors within their lyrics, but what really makes it work are Walker's nasty vocals and nastier git-licks, as brutal an assault on the blues as you'll hear, full of spit and venom and raw emotion. It's a real kick-in-the-pants-seat of an album opener, so what's an artist to do for an encore?

How about "All I Wanted To Do," a complete change of direction stylistically and every bit as appealing to the ears as the title track. More pop-oriented in tone, Walker's brightly-hued vocals are no less imbued with emotion, the singer channeling heartbreak here rather than anger, his vox crossing Prince with Bobby "Blue" Bland to great effect, embellishing the lyrics with a melodic guitar solo full of tone and imagination that rides smoothly atop the rollicking brassy licks of the horn section. "As The Sun Goes Down" changes the mood once again; a more traditional, mid-tempo blues tune with a few swampy licks thrown in for good measure, Walker's tear-jerk vocals are enhanced by the crying notes he coaxes out of his instrument. Every bit of the song's power comes from the mournful fretwork, Walker wringing as much blood, sweat, and tears out of his stick as any great blues guitarist you'd care to name.

Ride On, Baby

Walker's ear for fresh music is simply invigorating, and he puts it to good use on a playful cover of Carl Perkins' "Don't Let Go." A Top 20 hit for the great Isaac Hayes back in 1980, Walker's version straddles the common ground between Perkins' rockabilly-tinged original and Hayes funkier R&B cover. The swinging rockabilly rhythm is evident here, and Walker's surprisingly spry vocals capture perfectly Perkins' swagger and charisma, but he dirties it up a bit with an undeniable R&B groove driven by Wynans' chiming keyboards and inspired backing vocals. Hambridge's "Ramblin' Soul" is an entirely different creature, a big-boned blues-rock monolith that wouldn't have sounded out of place on an old Savoy Brown album. Walker's razor-sharp guitar cuts a wide swath through the arrangement while the stomp 'n' stammer rhythms hit your ears like a mortar blast. The song jams on for nearly six minutes, guitars screaming and cymbals crashing in the creation of a musically cathartic moment.  

Following "Ramblin' Soul," Walker's take on the Rolling Stones "Ride On, Baby" is so doggone full of enchantment and wide-eyed innocence that it's just a pure joy to listen to over and over again. Digging the often-overlooked Jagger/Richards composition up from 1967's Flowers album, Walker dusts off the psychedelic-pop sheen yet still retains the song's mid-1960s baroque Stones sound. It's an uplifting moment devoid of guitar pyrotechnics and studio gimmickry, just a heck of a lot of fun to hear and, I presume, to have recorded in the first place, especially the cheeky Otis Day & the Knights outro.

Ditto for the raucous "Soul City, which evinces a stone cold Sly & the Family Stone vibe while name-checking various locales like Chicago, Detroit, and even Oslo, Norway, among others. The song is built on a descending bass riff like a vintage Sly Stone jam, with plenty of chaotic instrumentation and swirling guitars building a lively soul party. Hornet's Nest closes out with the gospel-tinged "Keep The Faith," Walker's reverent vocals displaying a different side to his talents, the singer sounding a lot like Bobby Womack in delivering an incredibly powerful yet nuanced performance that harkens back to his years with the Spiritual Corinthians Gospel Quartet during the 1980s. The song is an inspiring nod to the artist's faith as well as an elegant note to close the album out on.       

The Reverend's Bottom Line

Joe Louis Walker has been playing professionally since he was a teenager, nearly 50 years now, and he's literally shared a stage and rubbed shoulders with nearly every American and British blues musician of note, from John Lee Hooker and John Mayall to Muddy Waters, Jimi Hendrix, and Michael Bloomfield. Few would blame Walker if he wanted to call in a few of his markers and coast on his accomplishments. Hornet's Nest shows that there's plenty of life left in the fiery bluesman yet, Walker not one to rest on his laurels when there's music to be made. Hornet's Nest is the guitarist's strongest, diverse, and most entertaining album to date and, after a couple dozen acclaimed previous efforts, that's no mere hyperbole... (Alligator Records, released February 23, 2014)

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Joe Louis Walker's Hornet's Nest