Short Rounds: Pete Berwick, Big Star, Ted Drozdowski, Walter Trout & Watermelon Slim (2019)

New album releases in 150 words or less…

Pete Berwick – Island (Shotgun Records)
Second-generation country outlaw Pete Berwick made his bones playing the honky-tonks and juke-joints that existed on the fringes of late 20th century Nashville. Berwick’s intelligent wordplay has always been his strength and previous albums like Ain’t No Train Outta Nashville show that he could rock a bit as well. Island is a departure for Berwick, a collection of mostly-introspective, insightful mid-tempo tunes that lean more country than rock, more blues than folk. You can’t argue with the results, songs like “Anyway” and “Island” speaking to the heartbreak of love and loneliness while “The Streets of Pasadena” is country tear-jerker worthy of George or Merle. “One Setback At A Time” gallops by comparison, the song a statement of defiance set to a lush soundtrack that would make it a hit single in a more enlightened era. Island is Berwick’s most melodic and mature album yet, a masterwork from a unique craftsman. Grade: A+   BUY! 

Big Star – Live On WLIR (Omnivore Recordings)
After the release of 1974’s sophomore effort Radio City, power-pop pioneers Big Star sojourned to Ultrasonic Studios in Long Island, NY to record this live-in-the-studio radio broadcast. Although this performance was previously released by RykoDisc as Live, it’s been out-of-print for the better part of a quarter-century until rescued by the good folks at Omnivore. Working from the original studio session tapes, the often-bootlegged performance captured by Live On WLIR displays all the rawness and immediacy of the radio broadcast but provided a modern-sounding sonic clean-up. The then-new line-up of Alex Chilton, John Lightman, and Jody Stephens crank out an energetic 14-song set that includes “September Gurls,” “Mod Lang,” “Thirteen,” and “I’m In Love With A Girl,” classic tunes upon which the Big Star mythology would later be built. If you’re a fan of Big Star and/or power-pop and don’t have Live On WLIR, what are you waiting for? Grade: A   BUY! 

Ted Drozdowski – Coyote Motel (Dolly Sez Woof Records)
Nashville-by-way-of-Boston blues guitarist Ted Drozdowski steps aside from his regular band the Scissormen to explore the outer edge of Americana with Coyote Motel. Not surprisingly, given his status as a well-respected music journalist, Drozdowski is a superb, if underrated lyricist and his intelligent story-songs here are accompanied by apt, imaginative music and wickedly effective six-string play. The based-on-a-true-story “Still Among the Living” benefits from Drozdowski’s devastating fretwork, somber vocals, and an overall ominous vibe. The “whimsical” apocalyptic tale “Los Alamos” is deceptively poetic with a maddening riff. The heartfelt “My Friend” is a powerful tribute to R&B great “Mighty” Sam McClain while the anti-racism ode “Jimmy Brown” is an artistic maelstrom, roaring with a punkish fury. Altogether, Coyote Motel is a hell of a lot of fun, a near-perfect fusion of blues, country, rock, and folkish elements that shouldn’t work but instead sounds like Drozdowski invented the entire Americana genre. Grade: A   BUY!

Walter Trout – Survivor Blues (Provogue Music)
Contemporary blues artists stand on the shoulders of giants, and the great Walter Trout pays tribute to some of these legendary talents with Survivor Blues. Not your run-of-the-mill covers album with predictable results, the guitarist digs deep into blues history to unearth long-hidden gems by often-overlooked talents like Sunnyland Slim, Luther Johnson, and J.B. Lenoir, among others, each performance provided Trout’s unique creative spin. Trout inhabits Chicago bluesman Jimmy Dawkins’ “Me, My Guitar, and the Blues” with soaring solos while Floyd Lee’s “Red Sun” is a potent blues-rock stomp with classic rock riffs. Guitarist Robbie Krieger of the Doors sits in on Mississippi Fred McDowell’s country-blues classic “Goin’ Down To the River,” providing elegant solos above Trout’s hypnotic riffs. The twelve tracks chosen by Trout for Survivor Blues serve as a primer for the genre, each performance imbued with the passion and sincerity that has long been the guitarist’s trademark. Grade: A   BUY!

Check out the Reverend’s interview with Walter Trout on the Rock and Roll Globe website!

Watermelon Slim – Church of the Blues (Northern Blues Music)
Erudite singer/songwriter Watermelon Slim worships at the Church of the Blues, delivering his typically droll brand of roots-rock and traditional blues music with whip-smart lyrics and no little insight. Slim is fronting a trio here, but he’s joined in the studio by a wealth of musical talent including legendary guitarists Bob Margolin and Joe Louis Walker and soul-blues singer John Nemeth. The results are stunning, Slim layering his half-spoken, half-sung Okie drawl and greasy slide-guitar atop original tracks like the topical “Charlottesville (Blues For My Nation),” “Too Much Alcohol,” and “Post Modern Blues” as well as covering gems from legends like Muddy Waters, Allen Toussaint, Mississippi Fred McDowell, and Howlin’ Wolf. Church of the Blues provides the listener with an entertaining, spiritual experience that rocks like a tent revival, Watermelon Slim a true believer preaching the power of the blues. Grade: A   BUY!

Previously on That Devil Music.com:
Short Rounds, January 2019: Badfinger, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Billy Bremner, Dave Davies & Midnight Oil
Short Rounds, December 2018: Doug Deming, Tom Guerra, Handsome Jack, Tom Morello, NRBQ & Unicorn
Short Rounds, November 2018: Joe Bonamassa, Peter Holsapple & Alex Chilton, Winston Jarrett, Permanent Green Light, The Posies & Rolling River Royalty   

The Reverend's Favorite CDs of 2015

Real rock ‘n’ roll music may have been on the ropes in 2015, but many blues and blues-rock musicians continue to thrive and survive, with some veteran artists releasing the best work of (often) lengthy careers. Looking at the Billboard “Hot 100” singles, there’s not a single legit rocker among songs by Adele, Justin Bieber, and Drake; over on the trade magazine’s Top 200 albums list, you won’t find but one rock band in the first 20 spots, a Beatles’ CD reissue…

Yes, ‘tis a dire time commercially for rock ‘n’ roll, although there is still a great amount of it being recorded and released these days, usually by smaller indie labels. Blues music and its related sub-genres is growing in popularity but, like Rodney Dangerfield, it gets no respect in spite of the fact that the blues is the root influence of rock and country music alike. No matter, ‘cause around That Devil Music World HQ, we don’t care about labels or vintage – witness our list of the Rev’s fave reissue and archive albums for 2015 – we just want to listen to great music! 

The Reverend’s list below of favorite CDs for the year isn’t necessarily a roll call of “the best” of 2015 – although several of these titles would certainly qualify on their merit – but rather those discs that spent the most time bouncing off your humble critic’s eardrums over the past few months. Forget about those other publications’ lists and their predictable choices…you can’t go wrong cueing up any of these fine albums when you need to satisfy your rock ‘n’ blues fix… 

Gary Clark Jr. – The Story of Sonny Boy Slim
Gary Clark Jr. once again defied expectations with his sophomore effort, the album’s throwback musical vibe owing a debt of gratitude to Jimi Hendrix, Arthur Lee, and Sly Stone as Clark gets his soul groove on in a big way. The Story of Sonny Boy Slim isn’t, strictly speaking, a blues album – at least not as your grand-pappy would recognize it. Instead, it’s an entertaining, masterful, fluid collection of blues, soul, and funk guaranteed to send traditionalists into an apoplectic frenzy while the rest of us dance to the music. (Warner Brothers Records)

Shemekia Copeland – Outskirts of Love
Shemekia Copeland is one of the best singers performing today, regardless of musical genre. That the daughter of legendary Texas guitarslinger Johnny Copeland could sing the blues was pre-ordained; that Copeland’s so damn good singing in other styles is pure joy. Copeland’s Outskirts of Love marks her return to Alligator Records, but she’s not singing the same old song, the album featuring a rich blend of blues, soul, and roots-rock that will astound the casual listener while rewarding Copeland’s long-time fans. (Alligator Records)

Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen – Love & Life
Guitarist Ted Drozdowski fronts the Scissormen, one of the leanest, meanest, bad-ass gang of juke-joint blues noisemakers to roll down the highway on four fiery, alcohol-fueled wheels in as long as the Rev can remember. Ted’s gruff, soulful vocals, erudite songwriting chops, and greasy six-string pyrotechnics, combined with the band’s percussive din, make the Scissormen natural heirs to the Delta and Hill Country blues traditions. Love & Life is the second Scissormen studio album, each song featuring an aggressive, primal sound that straddles the fence between traditional country-blues and highly-amped blues-rock. You won’t find a tastier slab o’ off-highway juke-joint blues than Love & Life anywhere these days… (Dolly Sez Woof Recordings)
Read the Reverend's review...

Steve Earle & the Dukes – Terraplane
Blues music is the father to the entirety of American music, and in few places is this tradition stronger than in the state of Texas. Steve Earle’s Terraplane represents the latest fraternization between blues and country, a long and respected tradition that began, perhaps, with Blind Lemon Jefferson and runs in a line through Sam Hopkins to Bill Neely to Townes Van Zandt and beyond to Earle and even his son Justin. Terraplane offers up all that the singer’s fans have come to expect – whipsmart lyrics and storytelling; the singer’s immense charisma; and well-constructed, skillfully-performed, often adventuresome music. Earle has always drawn from the whole spice rack of Americana in creating his own unique musical gumbo; this time around he just throws a bit more blues flavor into the pot. No matter what you want to call it, Terraplane is one damn fine collection of roots ‘n’ blues music. (New West Records)
Read the Reverend's review... 

Billy Gibbons – Perfectamundo
ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons’ first-ever solo LP grows on you, kind of like kudzu – on first listen, my impressions were along the line of “what the hell was he thinking?” Two, three spins down the road and my interest was piqued, and by the fifth or sixth time putting Perfectamundo on the box, I found myself grinning in spite of myself. Gibbons expands his musical palette here, allowing his guitar greater freedom to soar into new territory while exploring different tones and textures with his lyrics and singing. Perfectamundo is an engaging, and entertaining – if surprising – solo debut from one of rock music’s legendary guitarists. (Concord Records)
Read the Reverend's review...

Graveyard – Innocence & Decadence
Sweden’s Graveyard began life in 2006 as a loud, sludge-rock doom metal outfit, but during the ensuing years the band’s musical inspiration has swerved more towards Cream and Peter Green’s original Fleetwood Mack and away from Sabbath. The new direction looks good on them, as Innocence & Decadence – Graveyard’s third album for Nuclear Blast Records (and fourth LP overall) – offers up a breakneck mix of hard rock and metallic blues that makes full use of leather-lunged frontman Joakim Nilsson’s Robert Plant-styled vox and guitarist’s Jonatan Larocca Ramm’s seemingly bottomless trick bag of tasty licks, leaden riffs, and screaming notes. Innocence & Decadence belongs in this year’s Top Ten, if only for the breathtaking “The Apple & The Tree,” which offers Nilsson’s vocals dancing on the razor blade of Ramm’s Mark Knopfler-influenced fretwork. (Nuclear Blast Records)

The Pretty Things – The Sweet Pretty Things (Are In Bed By Now, of Course…)
Although a stalwart Pretty Things fan, the Reverend’s expectations for The Sweet Pretty Things (Are In Bed By Now, of Course…) were not such that I was looking for the ‘Second Coming’. Still, the band’s first studio LP since 2007’s Balboa Island (not too shabby itself, in retrospect) features the core members in original singer Phil May and guitarist Dick Taylor, along with long-time guitarist Frank Holland (on board since 1999’s ...Rage Before Beauty). The result is an entertaining, energetic mix of guitar-driven garage-rock, psychedelic-rock, and blues-rock that blows away bands half the aggregate age of the Pretties. May’s old-school British R&B croon still has plenty of punch, and Taylor’s reckless fretwork cuts deep through the imaginative, musically-rich arrangements here. The new songs are instrumentally impressive, while a cover of the Byrds’ “Renaissance Fair” will have you reaching for the bong like it’s 1968 all over again. The Pretty Things are proof that rock ‘n’ roll is the fountain of youth, The Sweet Pretty Things… a tonic for what ails ya! (Repertoire Records)

Keith Richards – Crosseyed Heart
More than a decade since the last Rolling Stones studio album (2005’s A Bigger Bang) and nearly a quarter-century since his previous solo effort (1992’s Main Offender), guitarist Keith Richards managed to leave listeners gob-smacked with Crosseyed Heart. The performances sound spontaneous – not like an unformed, meandering jam – but rather like a well-seasoned veteran band stumbling into the studio, laying down the session, and then heading out to the local watering hole for some liquid refreshment. Richards scratches the various musical itches that have plagued him for years now, experimenting with reggae (a brilliant cover of Gregory Isaacs’ “Love Overdue” mixing Island rhythms and doo-wop sentimentality), folk-blues (a spirited cover of Leadbelly’s “Goodnight Irene”), boogie-blues (the original “Blues In The Morning”) and, of course, rock ‘n’ roll. Although an altogether more laid-back effort than previous solo albums, Crosseyed Heart nevertheless lives up to Richards’ legend, displaying why Keef is rock music’s most notorious – and revered – guitarist. (Republic Records)      

Walter Trout – Battle Scars
Beloved blues-rock guitarist Walter Trout almost died in 2014 and, after receiving a liver transplant, he spent much of 2015 recuperating from his dance with the Reaper. At some point, Trout entered the studio with a brace of new songs, resulting in Battle Scars. The album is Trout’s Inferno, a tale of redemption and rebirth that doesn’t shy away from reality but rings loudly with hope…it’s also the best album, in all facets, that Walter Trout has ever recorded, full of emotion and insight. (Provogue Records)

Webb Wilder – Mississippi Mōderne
I don’t believe that Webb Wilder has every made a bad record – only good and great – and the Rev has heard every single one of ‘em! Still, Mississippi Mōderne is, perhaps, the best album Wilder’s made since It Came From Nashville. In the hands of a lesser artist, this ramshackle mix of garage-rock, blues, and old-school country music would sink like an over-inflated soufflé, and the album’s often over-the-top lyrics would lack in sincerity coming from a singer without Wilder’s charismatic personality. Backed by the grizzled veterans that comprise the Beatnecks, though, Wilder delivers a powerful and entertaining collection in Mississippi Mōderne. (Landslide Records)
Read the Reverend's reviews...

Honorable Mention: I received a copy of Dan Baird & Homemade Sin’s Get Loud album late in the year or else it probably would have squeezed its way onto the list above. Nashville bands Snakehips and the Great Affairs both released rockin’ LPs this past year. They’re doing some fine work over at Alive Natural Sound Recordings, and both Datura4’s Demon Blues and Dirty Streets’ White Horse are worthy of inclusion here…plus, you can buy Alive’s releases through the Bomp Records store and often get vinyl/CD bundles for a price that won’t cripple you financially.

Other good stuff you may want to check out – albums by Barrence Whitfield & the Savages, British blues-rock band King King, the always eerie metallic Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, and the debut album by the Arcs.  

 

CD Review: Ted Drozdowski's Scissormen's Love & Life (2015)

It’s just not fair that one guy should be so dang talented…Nashville-based, award-winning music journalist and former Boston Phoenix editor Ted Drozdowski is a heck of a writer with keen insight and no little knowledge of the music that he covers, his words appearing in dozens of publications through the years, including Rolling Stone magazine and Billboard magazine’s Jazz & Blues Encyclopedia. Ted is also the author of Obsessions of a Music Geek, Volume 1: Blues Guitar Giants, a very cool eBook that tells the stories of blues and blues-rock giants like John Lee Hooker, Otis Rush, Johnny Winter, Freddie King, Michael Bloomfield, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, and the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach.

If that wasn’t enough to make the average punter (or minor league rockcrit such as the Reverend) crazed with envy, Drozdowski also fronts the Scissormen, one of the leanest, meanest, bad-ass gang of juke-joint blues noisemakers to roll down the highway on four fiery, alcohol-fueled wheels in as long as the Rev can remember. Ted’s gruff, soulful vocals, erudite songwriting chops, and greasy six-string pyrotechnics, combined with the band’s percussive din, make the Scissormen natural heirs to the Delta and Hill Country blues traditions.

Love & Life, the second Scissormen studio album (and fifth recording overall) follows their acclaimed 2012 CD/DVD release Big Shoes: Walking and Talking the Blues, a live set documenting the final reunion tour of the original two-piece version of the band, which was also captured by filmmaker Robert Mugge’s 90-minute documentary film. Underwritten by the Scissormen’s fans around the world via a crowd-funding campaign, and released on Drozdowski’s independent Dolly Sez Woof label, Love & Life features a new band line-up and an aggressive, primal sound that straddles the fence between traditional country blues and high-energy, highly-amped blues-rock.

Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen’s Love & Life

Featuring a slate of eleven mostly-original songs – save for a lone cover of Muddy Waters’ “Can’t Be Satisfied” – Love & Life kicks off with the low-slung, Texas-styled groove of “Beggin’ Jesus,” a morality tale featuring an infectious riff and Paul Brown’s melodic keyboards. The song’s protagonist may be seeking salvation, but he’s having too much fun sinnin’ to stop now. With Brown’s keyboards providing the church choir, Drozdowski’s chaotic solos are balanced by his steady, hypnotic riffing. The following song, “Letter From Hell,” seems to reflect the preceding song’s protagonist in his final destination, drummer Matt Snow’s syncopated percussion providing the perfect framework for Drozdowski’s shotgun guitar licks. The song’s blues-hued ambiance is bolstered by its undeniable, foot-shuffling rhythms.

Drozdowski’s original “Watermelon Kid” is a fine tribute to blues legend Watermelon Slim, his lyrics perfectly capturing the man’s essence with just a few finely-crafted verses. Drozdowski’s vocals are delivered above a sparse, almost haunting arrangement, with piercing, nearly psychedelic guitar lines swirling around your head and punctuating the lyrics with certainty. The softer in tone “Let’s Go To Memphis” is a delicious slice of old-school Southern soul featuring the magnificent voice of the Mighty Sam McClain. His warm, rich vocals soaring above a reverent soundtrack that features Drozdowski’s subtle, chiming fretwork and Brown’s creative keyboard flourishes, McClain offers a wonderful performance on what is essentially a love note to the Bluff City and its deep musical heritage.

Can’t Be Satisfied

Paying honor to another blues legend, as well as Drozdowski’s friend and mentor, “R.L. Burnside (Sleight Return)” is a spankin’ good song, featuring some of the guitarist’s finest guitar playing as well as Marshall Dunn’s sly recurring bass line. Drozdowski’s lyrics are insightful and personal, the sentiment heartfelt, and the performance simply blistering with imaginative fretwork and rock-solid percussion. The album’s lone cover, the aforementioned “Can’t Be Satisfied,” is writ larger than life, Drozdowski and crew taking the Chicago blues giant’s song back to the Mississippi Hill Country with a locomotive rhythm, and buzzing, rattling, strident guitar licks that hit your ears with the speed of a falcon and the force of a sledgehammer.

Musically, “Black Lung Fever” is slightly less manic in pace than “Can’t Be Satisfied,” but it’s no less intense. A highly personal tale of backbreaking labor and tragedy, “Black Lung Fever” details the coal miner’s plight with venomous lyrics, fierce guitar lines, and blustery percussion. Brown’s keyboards paint outside the edges to intensify the song’s already muscular sonic cacophony to heighten its malevolent vibe. By contrast, the melancholy “Dreaming On The Road” is a hard-luck tale of the weary American dreamer, Drozdowski’s lonely acoustic guitar the perfect accompaniment to his wistful lyrics. Switching gears again, “Living To Tell” is a blues-rock wildfire that references John Lee Hooker in its black cat moan tale, the song’s swamp-blues voodoo giving way to an explosive instrumental clash between good and evil complete with slashing guitars and crashing rhythms.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

It’s no surprise that Ted Drozdowski would be a fine blues songwriter, his often-minimalist lyrics managing to capture a great deal of emotion in a few words while still conveying brilliant imagery. It’s with his innovative fretwork that Drozdowski really shines, though, the guitarist pulling together disparate threads in the creation of a unique sound. You’ll hear scraps of the Hill Country drone of R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough as well as the haunted melodies of Robert Johnson sitting side-by-side the troubled soul of John Lee Hooker and the fatback slide-guitar sound of Muddy Waters, all expressed through Drozdowski’s personal muse.

You won’t find a tastier slab o’ off-highway juke-joint blues than Drozdowski's Love & Life anywhere these days…he may be one enviously talented sumbitch, but Ted Drozdowski and the Scissormen are the stone cold real deal… Grade: A (Dolly Sez Woof Recordings, released July 31, 2015)

Buy the album from CD Baby

Buy the eBook from Amazon.com: Ted Drozdowski's Obsessions of a Music Geek: Volume I: Blues Guitar Giants

Crowdfunding: Create An Album With Ted Drozdowski's Scissormen!

Nashville bluesman Ted Drozdowski and his band the Scissormen have launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to raise money to finance their new album, titled Love & Life. So, you ask, “why should I care about some guy whose name I can’t say, much less spell, and cough up the coin to help unleash another indie record on the weak-willed public?” 

Well, Bunkie, if the Reverend’s inspired word from on high isn’t enough to get you to crack open that dusty, moth-eaten bankbook of yours, or prompt you to take a sledge hammer and blowtorch to your titanium piggy bank, then how about this – Drozdowski is no latecomer to the blues party like some folks asking for your donation. No, ol’ Ted is a lifer, an award-winning music journalist and critically-acclaimed musician with more than a few decades in the trenches.

Drozdowski acquits himself nicely in the balancing act between critic and artist, Thalia and Melpomene as it were, the man both a knowledgeable and entertaining writer about music as well as a fiery, talented guitarist and songwriter thoroughly steeped in the history and tradition of the blues. If that’s not enough to engage your sense of guilt and motivate you to part with your paycheck, then consider this…the Scissormen have a proven track record of excellence. Recent albums like 2008’s Luck In A Hurry or 2012’s Big Shoes: Walking and Talking the Blues, a collaboration with documentary filmmaker Robert Mugge, have garnered a truckload of accolades and entertained audiences across this spinning green rock.

If you care a lick about the blues, check out Ted’s video for Love & Life on his Indiegogo page and then be prepared to part with some cash for this worthy project. If you don’t donate, I’ll forever haunt your dreams (which, to be honest, I may just do anyway for the lulz). Give 'em a listen, below...