Mary Jo Curry Impresses

Mary Jo Curry
Guitar Angel Records

A veteran of touring theater companies, Mary Jo Curry discovered a love for the blues five years ago. Now she has an eponymously titled debut album produced by James Armstrong comprised of four originals and five covers. Curry wrote two of the originals and her husband Michael Rapier wrote two as well as shares guitar duties with Armstrong. Others on the album are bassists Darryl Wright and Lawrence Baulden, drummer Andrew Blaze Thomas, keyboardist Brett Donovan, a horn section of Dick Garretson (trumpet), Mike Gillette (sax) and Larry Niehaus (trombone) and backing vocals from L.A. Davison.

Curry impresses as a singer throughout this nicely produced straight-ahead set of blues. Her pitch, her phrasing and dynamics underlie her very expressive and soulful vocals. The backing is also very nice, handling a nice range of material from the opening Curry original jump-blues shuffle, "Ooooo Weeee," where she celebrates her wrong-doing man having left and she is finally free to Rapier's closing, funky "Smellin'," where she confronts her cheating man who is smelling like sex again with nice slide guitar from him as well. Themes of relationships in trouble are also present on Rapier's "Husband #2," an urban blues with some solid guitar (thinking it may be Armstrong taking lead here) and riffing horns, as she advises watch one says and do, as she is looking for Husband #2.

Covers include a nice rendition of Junior Wells' "Little By Little," as well Koko Taylor's "Voodoo Woman," although she doesn't quite match Koko's original (which few could reach in any event). "When a Woman's Had Enough"  originally recorded by Bettye Lavette and later by Shemekia Copeland, on which Curry produces a fine vocal that perhaps best displays her vocal range on thismarvelous song. Not previously having heard of Mary Jo Curry, this listener were delighted by this solid debut. Kudos to James Armstrong for the tight, uncluttered production and to the musicians who played on this fine recording.
I received my review copy from a publicist.Here is a clip of her performing in public.

James Armstrong Guitar Angels

James Armstrong follows up his acclaimed Catfood Records recording Blues at the Border with a new release Guitar Angels. It was produced by his good friend and fellow guitarist Mike Ross (and co-produced by Jim Gaines) and recorded in NY at Kaleidoscope Sound with Ross, keyboardist Dan Ferguson, bassist Eric Tinsley and drummer Rick King on most selections.

Armstrong certainly seems to have overcome the nightmare of the home invasion in 1996 that affected his guitar playing. the title track is his thank you to those who helped him. He observes “I still am unable to bend the third finger on my left hand, or use my little finger, but I attribute some of the reason I’m actually able to play the guitar again to my ‘guitar angels:’ my father, James Armstrong Sr., Mike Ross, Coco Montoya and Joe Louis Walker.” Despite any physical limitations, his crisp and clean playing along with his soulful singing maintain considerable appeal.

Songs include the title track (heard in two versions with one for the radio); the reflective Healing Time, written after the recent passing of Mike Ross' brother; the humorous Grandma’s Got a New Friend that celebrates his Grandma and her new lover (and reportedly a favorite among his live shows); Moving to Nashville, a rocker about wanting to move south to get away from the cold New York winters with Armstrong playing  slide; and Saturday Night Woman, with a touch of funk as sings about these woman who look so sharp and second and don’t settle for seconds but take their pick (and he plays some some stinging guitar here on which some swampy organ from George Papageorge).

There are a couple of covers: an unusual blues shuffle reworking of The Eagles Take It To The Limit, with riffing horns: and Johnny Copeland’s Blues Ain’t Nothin’. The latter performance is nicely rendered if Armstrong’s performance does comes off  a bit cooler than Copeland’s original. Like the rest of Guitar Angels, this is cleanly and crisply recorded and performed. Armstrong perhaps breaks no new ground on this release, but that should not deter blues fans from the entertaining, soulful blues performances here.

I received my review copy from a publicist. Here is a chance to hear the title track.

James Armstrong Survived A Very Dark Night

James Armstrong’s recovery from the terrible stabbing he suffered at the hands of a deranged homeless person a couple years ago is one of the most heartening stories in the blues, and the release of his second Hightone album, Dark Night, is a cause for celebration. Bruce Bromberg is one of the producers, so it may not be completely surprising that some may find this recording suggestive of Bromberg’s recordings by Robert Cray and Joe Louis Walker. Armstrong stands on his own with his gritty, slightly laconic delivery who can deal with the urban violence he personally experienced, yet can still see the light. His optimism is most obvious on the joy he celebrates on his Lil’ James, about his young son. He is as forthright singing about a relationship falling apart because of misunderstandings, miscommunications, mistakes and mistrust on Doug MacLeod’s Too Many Misses For Me, as on Slender Man Blues where he warrants that wants to do something for the ladies that the big boys can’t. Joe Louis Walker adds guitar to Trouble on the Home Front, a lazy shuffle about the “worse type of trouble to have,” while Doug MacLeod is present of Armstrong’s amusing shuffle, Bank of Love, with some imaginative use of language. Like practically all of Bruce Bromberg’s productions, these performances come across as well rehearsed and cleanly executed. Yet like Cray and Walker, Armstrong invests plenty of soul into his performances, and his own guitar solos are solidly crafted. I recently posted here (January 1, 2012) on Armstrong’s new album, Blues at the Border. The present review appeared originally in the October 1998 DC Blues Calendar as well as the October 1998 Jazz and Blues Report (Issue 235). Here is James performing at the 2009 Pocono Blues Festival and I was at this show.

James Armstrong Finds Blues At The Border

A new album by singer-guitarist James Armstrong, Blues at the Border (Catfood Records) is a cause of celebration for blues lovers. This is only the fourth album by Armstrong who debuted over a decade ago on Hightone with Sleeping With a Stranger. After a home invasion attack stabbing left him with permanent nerve damage in his left hand, he rebuilt his guitar style and resumed touring and musical career as his brings a lean and deft, razor-like guitar style together with a soulful vocal attack. Comparisons will obviously be made to Robert Cray which may both reflect artists who bring a strong soul base to their blues and both generally employing an unstated approach to their songs.

Recorded in New York City and Texas, the set was produced by Michael Ross, Bob Trenchard and Armstrong himself. Armstrong’s bands bring lean, yet crisp backing to the mostly original material that displays Armstrong’s ability at crafting songs dealing with everyday life with judicious use of wit and irony. Armstrong’s wit is obvious on the opening Everything Good To Ya (Ain’t Always Good For Ya), with his choral refrain noting his father’s advice that candy tastes good but causes tooth decay and eating an apple a day may be good but too many apples gives one a tummy ache. Somebody’s Got To Pay is a soulful number by Trenchard and Sandy Carroll about one giving too much and the other taking too much in their relationship as he pleads with his women to stop believing outsiders.

The title song, co-written with Madonna Hamel, is a humorous complaint about being an international traveler having to deal with getting back to the United States in these post-911 days and how the world has changed with some slide guitar providing mood to his vocal before a concise slide guitar break. More of his controlled, clean slide playing is heard on Devil’s Candy, with an emphatic rhythm in the backing. The lyric is about a lady with an intoxicating effect that left obsessed with her. He gave her his heart, but she wanted his soul. It's an impressive performance that exhibits that even though he shows considerable restraint, Armstrong generates smoldering intensity in his performances.

Dave Steen penned “High Maintenance Woman” on which Madonna Hamel adds a guest rap-vocal playing the high maintenance woman in Armstrong’s life who keeps him on the run. Still, despite her high costs to maintain, she keeps him warm. Young Man With the Blues is a moving tribute to his father, a jazz musician who raised James as a single father. Its a song about James’ mother walking out, making Armstrong’s dad a young man with the blues. Brand New Man is a shuffle where he sings about how his love made him a brand new man and he doesn’t want to lose her. The album closes with Trenchard’s Long Black Car, in which one won’t get to heaven in unless one slows down and turns one’s life around.

Armstrong’s nuanced performances reward careful and repeated listening. Blues at the Border is a most notable new blues recording.

A publicist provided my review copy. Here is James at the 2011 North Atlantic Blues Festival.

North Atlantic Blues Festival Has Stellar Line Up

While I will not be attending it, this year’s North Atlantic Blues Festival has among the finest line-ups of blues festivals I have seen. Like the Pennsylvania Blues Festival, the focus of who is booked is on “blues,” not on blues rockers than might be at some over-hyped festival that books a few real deal blues acts. In any event, the 18th edition of the Festival takes place in Rockland, Maine on July 16 and July 17.


Saturday, July 16 the line-up include the soul-blues of Nellie Tiger Travis and then some of the leading names of Chicago blues today. Eddy “the Chief” Clearwater; Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials; Billy Branch & the Sons of the Blues; Magic Slim and the Teardrops and the Brooks Family Reunion with Lonnie, Ronnie and Wayne Baker. I wonder when a non-Chicago based festival had all these acts on the same day. This is a fairly heavyweight day of blues.


Sunday, July 17 has the family band Trampled Under Foot followed by James Armstrong,Tony Lynn Washington, Eric Bibb and Robert Cray. There will be performances by Gina Sicilia & Dave Gross between sets and they have a Saturday Night Pub Crawl that has become a tradition at this festival.

James Armstrong

The Festival is located at Rockland’s Public Landing, so you sit in a City Park with a terrific view of the harbor as your listen to blues from this truly sterling line-up. Paul Benjamin and company may have out-done themselves with this year’s Festival. Particularly to folks from New York up through New England, this is a must see Festival.  


The festivals' website is http://www.northatlanticbluesfestival.com/ and their facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/pages/North-Atlantic-Blues-Festival/182157101315.