Studebaker John's Maxwell Street Kings Kingsville Jukin'

Studebaker John's Maxwell Street Kings is back with his gritty, grungy blues on a new CD on Delmark, Kingsville Jukin'. John Grimaldi on vocals, guitars and harmonica, is joined here by guitarist Rick Kreher, bassist Bob Halaj and drummer Steve Cushing on 16 songs that range from driving rockers like the opening Mississippi Blues to the closing evocation of Elmore James (and Hound Dog Taylor and J.B. Hutto) Bad Gasoline, performed without band.

There is some Jimmy Reed styled harmonica against a lazy shuffle groove on When They Played The Real Blues in which he proclaims "doesn't it make feel good when you hear that simple low-down groove." There is some tough harp on She's Allright, with its insistent beat, although the lyric is not much more than him proclaim she's all right with him. The Rest Is Up To You is a hot shuffle with hot amplified harp followed by an affectionate salute to one of his inspirations, Hound Dog Taylor on I Am the Houserocker, with some grungy sounding slide that would make Hound Dog smile. It in turn is followed by an evocation of Howlin' Wolf on Howlin' in the Moonlight. 

Kingsville Jukin'is a showcase for John's harmonica and might be viewed as a slower musical cousin to Little Walter's Roller Coaster, with the Kings providing somewhat skeletal backing on this although it seems to end somewhat suddenly. Cold Black Night is a nice, moody atmospherical slow blues where he proclaims he follows this road to the end and if he had it to do over he would travel it again. Stop-time is effectively employed on Mojo Hand, an original of him wanting to find a mojo because she is a voodoo woman and he wants to be her man with him playing another solid harmonica solo.

John's gravelly vocals are supported throughout by dirty, fuzzy toned backing. I did find enjoying this more by listening to several selections at a time as opposed to listening to this album in one sitting. At the same time, I have no fault with any specific performance. The result is the simple, direct house rocking blues found on Kingsville Jukin'.

I received my review copy from Delmark. Here is a short clip of Studebaker John.

Studebaker John's Old School Rockin'

Studebaker John Grimaldi continues his pursuit of blues and roots rock with a new release, “Old School Rockin’” on Delmark. Backed simply by his long-time bassist Bob Halaj as well as drummer Albert ‘Joey’’ DeMarco, he lays down 14 new blues and boogie based songs that certainly will get the feet moving and the fingers poppin’. As I noted in a review of his 2006 recording “Self Made Man,” “[H]e has been adept in a traditionally oriented approach to the blues (reflecting especially the driving approaches of Hutto and Hound Dog Taylor), but not afraid to mix in a bit of rock and roll and bring his own voice. He has toured and recorded behind a number of blues legends as well as developed his own music.”

The current release is his second for Delmark, and is more in the vein of hard blues-infused rock and roll. The music is hardly fancy. It is driving, in your face, rockers that bring his sizzling guitar work along with his gravelly vocals to the front with Halaj and DeMarco keeping the music propelled. From the driving Rockin’ the Boogie that opens this set, John and band push the performance like Jim Brown about to break loose through the defensive line for a lengthy touchdown run. Singing about getting his mojo working against the irresistible groove sets the mood. Disease Called The Love has a melodic hook and a terrific lyric about breaking out in a cold sweat and what one has the doctor don’t know.

Fire Down Below is a hard rocker that to these ears evokes the sound of classic Rolling Stones without slavishly trying to imitate the Stones. Its more that Studebaker John and his rhythm conjure up some of the same spirit as Mick and Keith did decades ago. This flavor is also evident on Fine Little Machine, as he sings about all you need is a driver for your little machine and John will drive you better than anyone you have seen. The title song has a driving shuffle groove going as he talks about a few years back couldn’t turn on the radio but now that voodoo groove has a hold him and how we need some rockin’, old school rockin’ tonight while he lays down his guitar rhythm with a slightly distorted, fuzzy tone. It nice stuff and certainly he is right about his old school rockin’ driving one’s blues away.

Deal With the Devil includes some harmonica coloring over the droning slide guitar backing. Its followed by an insistent performance, I Stand Alone. Mesmerized, with a latin tinged groove and a lighter musical feel, has a nice guitar solo mixing slide with some Santana influenced guitar lines. Dark Night has harmonica overdubbed as well as guitar and displays how strongly he can set a mood. The closing Tumblin’ Down The Road puts his harmonica up front and adds to the musical variety here on a solid blues number.

Old School Rockin’ is gritty and blues infused and performed with the same conviction and honesty that have marked Studebaker John’s more traditionally rooted recordings. Whatever label one applies to Studebaker John’s performances here is irrelevant to the fact there is marvelous music here.

I received my review copy from Delmark Records. Here is a video of him performing.

Studebaker John Is a Self-Made Man

Studebaker John Grimaldi and the Hawks have been laying down some house-rocking blues for nearly 3 decades. His band name referenced the Studebaker Hawk as well as served as a tribute to the late J.B. Hutto whose backing band was known as the Hawks. Playing both slide guitar harp, he has been adept in a traditionally oriented approach to the blues (reflecting especially the driving approaches of Hutto and Hound Dog Taylor) but not afraid to mix in a bit of rock and roll and bring his own voice. He has toured and recorded behind a number of blues legends as well as developed his own music. He had several fine recordings on Blind Pig in the 1990s and has just released his new disc, Self-Made Man on the Avanti label.

He is backed by his trio that includes bassist Bob Halaj and drummer Willie Hayes for a collection of straight ahead rocking blues. Perhaps no finer example of Studebaker John’s hard rocking approach is the hot boogie, Back in Your Town, with its stop time boogie break suggestive of Magic Sam. The title track has the rhythm laying down a churning groove with some fine guitar from John. John picks up the harp and displays a nice fat tone on Fast in the Slow Lane, singing about wanting to get home to his woman as the three get a real nice shuffle groove going.

Hayes kicks off a boogaloo groove as John plays some very atmospheric tremolo for The Hard Way, singing about being knocked down and getting back up and taking no easy shortcuts. There is some nice playing on this as John effectively mixes in slide with his single note runs. All Aboard (The Streamliner) is a hot harmonica instrumental where we get taken for quite a ride while Hoo Doo You is a funk blues about having more than a little spell placed on him while Where Are You? is another harmonica blues with a swampy feel. Hey Little Mama is a slide guitar boogie where John evokes Hound Dog Taylor.

By the time the set closes with another harp rocker, Ride With me Baby, one has been taken through an 80 minute roller coaster of blues with more than a few rock and roll accents. Studebaker John has left us another helping of original music that is deeply rooted in the traditional Chicago blues but full of his own personal stamp on the music.

This review appeared originally in the November-December 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 288). I likely received my review copy from either that publication or a publicist for the review. Studebaker John has a new Delmark release, Old School Rockin’ that I will be reviewing shortly. I reviewed his previous Delmark album, That's The Way You Do in 2010.