Roger Girke Featuring The Wandering Souls Silver Lining

Roger Girke Featuring The Wandering Souls
Silver Lining
Teletone Records

This is the 5th album by Girke, a popular singer-guitarist-songwriter in the Mid-Atlantic. His Wandering Souls include Glenn Ferracone (he also co-produced this with Girke) or Andrew Haley on drums; Bennett Sykes on bass; Tam Sullivan on keyboards; and Dan Gutwein on sax. On a couple tracks Bill Schilling guests on organ and Sykes and Gutwein sit out, on one selection it is a trio with Ferracone on drums and Jimmy Pritchard on bass, and on one selection a trio of horns replace Gutwein.

Girke impresses throughout these nicely played and paced performances. He contributed the twelve originals that resonate with the listener with the memorable lines. There is also Girke's honest, straight-forward, wholehearted vocals, and his lean, sinewy guitar playing. Certainly this is evident on  the opening "Gas and a Match," with its funk groove and touches of Albert King. Here he sings about us burning so hot and other times we don't care. The title track is a relaxed shuffle with more potent guitar as he sings about the silver lining in every dark cloud. "Wandering Soul," has some rock-tinged slide guitar in the backing as Girke sings about inability to hold a woman while wanting to touch her so bad. His spare playing and short, cutting solo are most effective.

Tam Sullivan on piano and organ adds a touch of Crescent City flavor to "Shake It." Shilling is on organ and Sullivan on piano on "Southern Soul Cookin'," providing a greasy underpinning to this relaxed rocker. Girke's rendition of Lloyd Price's "Baby Please Come Home," evokes classic R&B of the fifties and sixties. There is also a punchy updating of Larry Williams' "Slow Down," with Girke's driving guitar solo with his careful, and cleanly articulated single note runs. Schilling is outstanding on this as is saxophonist Chris Farr and trombonist John Swama.

"The Philly Boogaloo" with just Schilling, Ferracone and Girke," is a marvelous jazzy instrumental. The three, with pianist Sullivan added, lay down an atmospheric "The Ride Home" to close this recording on a relaxed, soul jazz mode. These are superbly played like the entire recording. Girke impresses with the passion he sings and the controlled intensity of his guitar or a well programmed variety of material. This is a superb recording.

I received my review copy from Roger Girke. Here is Roger Girke and The Wandering Souls performing the late Lazy Lester's "Sugar Coated Love."