Tag Archives: Blues

Paul Allen and the Underthinkers: Everywhere at Once

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PaulAllen_EverywhereAtOnceThe musical soul of Microsoft’s co-founder

Paul Allen is (and will forever be) known as the co-founder of Microsoft and a generous philanthropist. But it’s a fair bet that if he could trade in that notoriety (though perhaps not the riches) for fame as a guitarist, he’d have to think it over. Allen’s been an ardent music fan and regular player since he was a teenager, and his philanthropy has included several music-related projects, including Seattle’s EMP Museum. So though he’s never made a career in music, his connections are deeper and more long-standing than that of a dilettante. Allen’s connections have provided opportunities to play with many of his heroes and develop the relationships upon which this album of blues-, country-, soul- and funk-flavored rock was built. In addition to Allen’s own guitar, he’s joined by Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo and Derek Trucks, and fronted by Ann Wilson, Ivan Neville, Chrissie Hynde, Joe Walsh and others. The songs are originals, written by Allen with a variety of partners, and though not blazing any new trails, they provide enough meat for his assembled friends to create something tuneful and heartfelt. This album is the product of a true music nerd – one who’s listened intently, played on the sidelines for decades, and given the chance to lead the band, shows real talent for making music. [©2013 Hyperbolium]

Mike Stinson: Hell and Half of Georgia

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MikeStinson_HellAndHalfOfGeorgiaHouston immigrant adds muscle to his honky-tonk

After nearly twenty years on the Los Angeles honky-tonk scene, a place at which he’d arrived from his native Virginia, Mike Stinson moved on to Texas. But not the blue dot Texas of Austin, he moved to the blue-collar Texas of Houston. His twangy, throw-back country music quickly found a sympathetic partner in Jesse Dayton, who produced and lent his band to back 2010’s Jukebox in Your Heart. But recorded in Willie Nelson’s Pedernales Studios, Jukebox had an earthy quality that still had one foot in California. This follow-up, produced by R.S. Field, is heavier on rock and blues bar sounds, with organ, electric guitar (courtesy of Lance Smith and Dave Gonzalez) and backing vocalist that give the arrangements a kick. The hoarse edge in Stinson’s voice turns into an appealing husk in this milieu, and his sung-spoken delivery is nicely framed by the hotter settings.

Stinson wears his new-found residential fealty on the sleeve of “Died and Gone to Houston,” one of the most unabashedly affectionate songs ever written about Space City. Juke Boy Bonner knew the ups (“Houston, The Action Town“) and downs (“Struggle Here in Houston“), but it takes an immigrant’s eye to stay focused on a town’s sunny side. When the arrangements back off and twang a bit, such as on “Walking Home in the Rain,” the cracks in Stinson’s voice even suggest the Houston-born Rodney Crowell. Stinson is romantically blunt and intense on “I Got a Thing for You” and “This Year,” but he turns affectionate for his inventory of a musician’s tools, “Box I Take to Work.” He can also be wry, even ornery, as on “Late for My Funeral” and clever, as on “Broken Record.” Houston’s clearly lit a new fire in Stinson’s music, and R.S. Field turns out to be the right man to get it on tape. [©2013 Hyperbolium]

Mike Stinson’s Home Page
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Marshall Chapman: Blaze of Glory

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MarshallChapman_BlazeOfGlorySuperb collection of rock, soul, blues and country

Marshall Chapman’s been thrilling a devoted set of fans since she debuted in the mid-70s. Her songs have graced albums by Conway Twitty, Emmylou Harris, John Hiatt and Jimmy Buffet (whose band she’s also toured with, and whose Margaritaville label she’s recorded for), and her solo albums have shown a renewed sense of vigor after a decade-long layoff in the late ’90s and early ’00s. Her latest, released independently on her own Tallgirl label, is a perfect example of her talent for making good on eclectic taste. Her originals span primordial Bo Diddley beats, impassioned rock ‘n’ soul, rolling country blues, pensive folk-pop and moody ballads. When she reaches for covers, she adds a hint of doo-wop to Hoagy Carmichael’s standard “Nearness of You” and takes the Delmore Brothers “Blues Stay Away from Me” out for a slinky, late-night spin. Her originals are preoccupied with longing to love and be loved, to be her one and only’s one and only, and to feel rather than think. The album is written with much grace, especially the Waylon-esque “Not Afraid to Die,” and the band, highlighted by Will Kimbrough’s lead guitar, is superb. Chapman has recorded many fine albums over the past forty-plus years, and shows no signs of slowing down. [©2013 Hyperbolium]

Marshall Chapman’s Home Page

Delbert & Glen: Blind, Crippled & Crazy

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DelbertAndGlen_BlindCrippledAndCrazyTwo Texas roots legends rekindle their funky-blue partnership

Delbert McClinton and Glen Clark are long time musical compadres who also happen to be Texas roots music legends. The duo recorded a pair of albums as Delbert & Glen in the early ’70s, but as their individual careers took off (McClinton as a recording artist and performer, Clark primarily as a songwriter), additional collaborations became a topic of discussion rather than a studio reality. Having rolled around the idea of a new project for more than a decade, the pieces finally came together, with McClinton’s songwriting partner Gary Nicholson helping to craft this album’s original material.

The ease with which these master musicians rekindle their rapport is nearly as breathtaking as the music that their collaboration has produced. Both players wear their maturity well, with the raspy edges of their voices adding authority to songs that retain a rye attitude. Don’t expect apologies for their seasoned points-of-view; as they sing on the album’s opener, they’re not old, they’ve just been around a long time. The experience of those years fuels both their performing and songwriting, though as they sing in “Whoever Said it Was Easy,” even the wisdom of age is powerless to unknot the eternal mysteries of relationships.

The album’s mix of blues, R&B and funk reaches back to the duo’s earlier recordings, with a vibe that’s warm and comfortable. The band slips effortlessly into the deep musical grooves, as if they’re playing the second set for an appreciative weeknight crowd. McLinton adds tasty harmonica solos on “More and More, Less and Less” and the slinky “Sure Feels Good,” and the pianos (courtesy of Bruce Katz and Kevin McKendree) add New Orleans roll on “Been Around a Long Time,” “Oughta Know” and “Good as I Feel Today.” Whether or not they’re actually blind, crippled or crazy (or lonesome, on’ry and mean, for that matter), McClinton and Glen are certainly wise, talented and in each other’s pocket. [©2013 Hyperbolium]

Delbert McClinton’s Home Page

Blue Cheer: Rocks Europe

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BlueCheer_RocksEurope1960s hard rock innovators rock hard live in 2008

Few knew what to make of Blue Cheer when they released Vincebus Eruptum in 1968 and their outrageously electric cover of Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues” climbed into the Top 20. Amidst a music scene that had grown louder and harder in the aftermath of the Summer of Love, Blue Cheer was harder and louder than anything around them. They took rock music to 12, pasting together the hardest, loudest bits you might have heard from The Who or Jimi Hendrix into a sustained scrum of growling, feedback-heavy guitar, thumping bass, pounding drums and howling vocals. Many listeners simply didn’t know what to make of this new sound, but by album’s end, which included a weighty cover of Mose Allison’s “Parchman Farm,” it was clear that this power trio was launching something completely new.

The group waxed and waned for the next forty years, sustaining innumerable lineup changes, but mostly retaining its thunderous rhythm section of founding bassist-vocalist Dickie Peterson and early drummer Paul Whaley. Peterson provided the group’s foundation through thick and thin, dropping out only very briefly in 1975, and it was Peterson and Whaley, along with guitarist Andrew “Duck” Peterson, who recorded this 2008 live set for the German television show Rockpalast. This lineup had been together off and on since MacDonald joined the band in 1988, and had been playing together steadily since 1999. Peterson passed away the year after this set was recorded, but as this recording shows, the band retained their pummeling sound to the end, and the rasp in Peterson’s voice added patina to their heavy psych-blues.

The eighty-three minute concert features many of Blue Cheer’s touchstones, including “Summertime Blues,” its flipside “Out of Focus,” Allison’s “Parchman Farm,” and a rendition of “Doctor Please” that stretches the eight-minute original into a twenty-five minute odyssey. The set list also includes three titles (“Babylon,” “Just a Little Bit” and a cover of Albert King’s “The Hunter”) from the band’s second album, Outsideinside, and two (“Rollin’ Dem Bones” and “I’m Gonna Get to You”) from the trio’s 2007 release, What Doesn’t Kill You. Rainman’s 2013 CD issue of this concert replicates the soundtrack of the 2009 DVD, and includes the DVD’s bonus studio track “Alligator Boots” along with the previously unreleased “She’s Something Else.” [©2013 Hyperbolium]

Various Artists: Music is Love – A Singer-Songwriter’s Tribute to the Music of CSN&Y

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Various_MusicIsLoveWide-ranging set of CSN&Y covers

This double-album tribute to the music of CSN&Y was released in 2012 as a fundraiser for the Equestrian Therapy Co-Op in Simi Valley, CA. The twenty-seven artists range from high-profile names (Judy Collins, Elliott Murphy) to cult favorites (Steve Wynn, The Coal Porters, Willie Nile, Cindy Lee Berryhill) and a number of newer and less globally-famous acts, including Stephen Stills’ daughter, Jennifer. Each takes a personal approach to a song from the various catalogs associated with CSN&Y, together, solo, and in earlier group incarnations, such as Sugarcane Jane’s banjo-centered revamp of Buffalo Springfield’s “Bluebird.” The interpretations range widely, including blues, country, alt-rock, folk, bluegrass, soul and more. A few, such as Sonny Mone’s cover of Neil Young’s “Down by the River” actually incarnate the vocal mix of CSN&Y, and Venice’s lush harmonies on “After the Gold Rush” are quite fetching. As well-known as are CSN&Y’s recordings, their songs have held up to reinterpretation over the years, and provide a deep well from which these artists draw. [©2013 Hyperbolium]

Music is Love Home Page

George Breakfast: Love Will Get the Better of You

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GeorgeBreakfast_LoveWillGetTheBetterOfYouA helping of country-flavored blues, Cajun, soul and gospel

British guitarist George Breakfast’s soulful sound wouldn’t be particularly out-of-place in Muscle Shoals, Austin or even underground Nashville. There’s a raspy Americana edge to his voice, and a gospel-inflected strut to of his songs that suggest everything from light ’70s country to Little Feat inspired funk and Commander Cody-styled jump blues. The vocals are charmingly rough in spots, but the backing musicians are fluid and tight, and the melodies and lyrics are insinuating. Anyone looking to rekindle the 1970’s warm infusion of country, blues, R&B, Cajun, soul, funk and gospel will enjoy this one. [©2013 Hyperbolium]

George Breakfast’s Home Page

Albert King: Born Under a Bad Sign

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AlbertKing_BornUnderABadSignLegendary blues album sweetened with five bonus tracks

In a career that stretched more than forty years, blues guitarist and singer Albert King waxed a lot of fine material, but none finer than this 1967 collection for Stax. “Collection,” rather than “album,” as this set was the culmination of a number of individual sessions that had previously been released as singles. So while there wasn’t a tight set of dates focused on recording a long player, there are several elements that turned the singles into a coherent statement. First was the combination of King, Booker T & The MGs, the Memphis Horns and the Stax studio. The deep southern grooves of the MGs provided King the perfect bed upon which to lay his intense guitar work, and the horn section added both atmosphere and sizzle. A final session netted five of the album’s tracks, and these knit together perfectly with the singles. The final lineup featured many of King’s hallmarks, including “Born Under a Bad Sign,” “Crosscut Saw, “The Hunter” and “Laundromat Blues.” The album made a huge splash among electric guitarists in ’67 and ’68, and has continued to be influential ever since. The 2013 reissue adds five bonus tracks to the album’s original lineup, four alternate takes and an untitled instrumental, all remastered by Joe Tarantino. The 16-page booklet includes insightful new liner notes by Bill Dahl alongside MichaelPoint’s notes from the 2002 reissue and Deanie Parker’s original 1967 cover notes. The extra tracks are worth hearing, but it’s hard to improve upon perfection, which the original album remains to this day. [©2013 Hyperbolium]

And if you’ve never seen it, check out this live version of “Born Under a Bad Sign,” recorded with Stevie Ray Vaughan for the Canadian television program In Session:

The Howlin’ Brothers: Howl

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HowlinBrothers_HowlUnabashed bluegrass, blues, Dixieland and more

This three piece (Ben Plasse – upright bass and banjo; Ian Craft – fiddle and banjo; Jared Green – guitar and harmonica; all three on vocals) performs its mountain bluegrass, Dixieland and late-night blues with a busker’s verve. Plasse’s bass holds down the rhythmic core on many numbers, but gives way to light drumming (courtesy of Gregg Stacki) for a few, such as the second-line shuffle, “Gone.” Brass and clarinet add a flashy touch to “Delta Queen,” but it’s the group’s unabashed, live-wire energy that draws your ear. The trio’s fifth album mixes a wide variety of originals, including fiddle tunes, family-styled harmonies and driving banjo folk,  with covers of John Hartford’s “Julia Belle Swain” and Otis “Big Smokey” Smothers’ raucous “My Dog Can’t Bark.” The strings are augmented by touches of whistling, kazoo, wordless vocalizations, and a few guests – including Warren Haynes on slide guitar. These live-in-the-studio sessions capture the spontaneity of group performance and the pull of a street corner show. [©2013 Hyperbolium]

The Howlin’ Brothers Home Page