Kurt Allen Whiskey, Women & Trouble

Kurt Allen
Whiskey, Women & Trouble
Self-produced

Listening to singer and guitarist Kurt Allen, this writer is reminded, in part, of the late Johnny Copeland, particularly with his urgent, raspy singing. His guitar playing is more in a blues-rock vein, but with a very capable band of Lester Estelle Jr. on drums, Craig Kew on bass, and Beaux Lux on keyboards on keyboards and saxophone, the overall effect is pretty blues-oriented. Pete Carroll adds trumpet while Trevor Turla plays trombone on half of the ten songs. Beaux Lux wrote all of the horn arrangements, while Allen wrote all of the songs.

While the opening "Graveyard Blues" comes across as a bit heavy-handed blues-rock, things get more to a straight blues groove on "Watch Yo Step," with a strong vocal, as he tells his women he is wise to her ways with the horns riffing in support. His guitar tone on these opening numbers comes across to these ears as a bit too distorted. He certainly puts plenty of fervor in the slow blues "How Long," for instance. The title track is a fine rocking shuffle with a leaner guitar tone. This track is followed by an aptly titled "Funkalicious" with Allen adding a spoken rap about soul food. Other songs include a heartfelt soul ballad "Count On Me," and the strutting "Roadrunner," which is neither the Bo Diddley nor Junior Walker tune. Lux adds raspy sax on this selection. The album closes with the crisp rock and roll of "Sweet T," with Lux playing some rollicking piano and Allen adding some searing guitar.

My only reservation about this recording is the tone of Allen's guitar. My comparison to Johnny Copeland is based only on, what I find to be, a similarity in their respective voices, not that Allen is trying to sound like Copeland. Allen is an excellent singer who receives top-notch backing resulting in a most engaging album.

I received my review copy from a publicist. Here from 2020, the Kurt Allen Band performs "Better Think Twice."