The Cash Box Kings Royal Mint

The Cash Box Kings
Royal Mint
Alligator Records

Those wanting some house party, rocking real deal blues need go no further than The Cash Box Kings' new disc, the first for Alligator. With the strong singing from Oscar Wilson and harmonica and occasional vocals from Joe Nosek, guitar from Billy Flynn and/or Joel Patterson, drums from Kenny 'Beedy Eyes' Smith or Mark Haynes, keyboards from Lee Kanehira, this is one straight shot of Chicago blues mixed with a dose of jump blues and a touch of rockabilly.

The rollicking reworking of Amos Milburn's hit, "House Party," certainly kicks this off on the right start and one takes notice of Wilson's strong singing along with Nosek's full toned harmonica. It is followed by a solid rendition of Jimmy Reed's "I'm Gonna Get My Baby," with strong singing and harp and a terrific shuffle groove. It is on cover of a lesser known Muddy Waters number, "Flood," that Wilson's vocals evokes the legendary Chicago giant while Flynn's slide guitar suggests Waters' guitar style and Kanehira is equally solid. An acoustic rendition of Robert Johnson's "Traveling Riverside Blues," set to the "Rollin' and Tumblin'" music and the cover of "Sugar Sweet" additionally showcase how strongly Wilson and company evoke Waters' classic sound. On Junior Wells' "I'm a Stranger," Kanehira lays down greasy organ under the vocal while Flynn's slide is in Robert Nighthawk vein

As a singer Nosek  is less impressive, although a honest, unforced and straight-forward vocalist.  His topical original, "Build That Wall," which is set to a Tex-Mex rockabilly backing, is a delightful with a Chuck Berry flavored guitar break. "Blues For ChiRag," is a strong urban, topical blues about violence in Chicago today, and the humorous shuffle "If You Got A Jealous Woman Facebook Ain't Your Friend," with some terrific guitar from both Flynn and Patterson besides Wilson's full-bodied singing. Another party song is the rendition of Clifton Chenier's rocker "All Night Long," with solid horns, a terrific piano break and solid horns along with a terrific Flynn solo. Nosek's easy going singing and harp delights on the raggy, closing number, "Don't Let Life Tether You Down."

"Royal Mint" is chock full of some exceptional performances, and the level of the music is never less than very entertaining. Listening to this, it is easy to see why they have a strong fan base, one that is certain to expand.

I received a review copy from Alligator. Here The Cash Box Kings perform Muddy Waters' "Blow, Wind, Blow."

The Insomniacs Hard Hitting Blues and Swing

I had not heard of The Insomniacs, a band from Portland, Oregon, until I received their new Delta Groove disc, At Least I’m Not With You. They have cultivated quite a following up there with their hard-hitting mix of Chicago blues and West Coast Swing and developed fans from the likes of Junior Watson’s who describes them accurately as “a tough sounding band.”


The band consists of Vyasa Dodson on vocals and guitar (a well as writer of the seven originals here); Alex Shakeri on piano and Hammond B-3; Dean Mueller on bass; and Dave Melyan on drums. For this collection of 13 tunes they are joined by Harmonica players Al Blake and Mitch Kashmar (for a track each); Joel Patterson on pedal steel guitar on one track and Jeff Turmes on saxophones on four tracks. The guest are additional musical seasoning for the quartet who certainly can fill out the tracks on their own without overplaying or bombast.


Dodson is a terrific guitarist in the vein of a Junior Watson, hard slashing attack with a sizzling tone and a very good singer who never forces his vocals, ably delivering a nice cover of Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson’s Broke and Lonely, with some dazzling guitar while Patterson’s pedal steel adds to the atmosphere. Dodson also does a nice job of delivering Little Richard’s Directly From My Heart to You, with Turmes being a one-man horn section.


The instrumental Root Beer Float, allows both Dodson and Shakeri to show off and Shakeri’s rollicking piano is part of the foundation on the rocking original She Can Talk, as well as on the cover of the Five Royales Baby Don’t Do It. Delta Groove’s chief honcho, Randy Chortkoff, plays the harp on the strong rendition of Junior Wells’ Hoodoo Man Blues. Another number, Angry Surfer, is a hot dance number as Dodson asks his babe to lets try again with his guitar accompaniment owing as much to Duane Eddy and the Ventures with Shakeri pounding the ivories before Dodson takes a rocking solo mixing surf guitar with Freddie King. 20/20 is a relaxed shuffle with Shakeri handling the B-3 leading into Insomniacs Boogie, that ends this disc on a rocking groove.


As Watson observes in the liner notes, this is one tight band, that is beautifully recorded here on a solid group of performances.

The review copy was provided by publicists for Delta Groove. This review originally appeared in the September 2009 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 320).

Deke Dickerson's Lively Night at Duff's

I came across guitarist extraordinaire Deke Dickerson as he served to organize backing bands for headliners at the Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans. Often Deke would be used to accompany some of the rockabilly or country oriented acts, but he could also be heard behind a bluesman like Lazy Lester as well as a Dale Hawkins. The core of his music might be old time country guitar mixed with some surf guitar. Plenty of country swing and twang with some jazz and blues accents added, like James Burton meets Duane Eddy with other genre hopping just like the backing band of the Modern Sounds whose approach may be rooted more in jazz and swing traditions, but provides a thoroughly compatible and sympathetic backing as they did for blues and boogie woogie stylist Carl Sonny Leylard as I blogged last September, http://inabluemood.blogspot.com/2009/09/totally-captivating-piano-blues.html.

There is a great picture of Deke with a 4 neck guitar in the inside cover of the live recording by him and the Modern Sounds, “Live at Duff’s Garage” (Major Label/ Ventrella) and the material that ranges from honky tonk to rockabilly to country to jazz and blues includes such driving rockers as “Mexicali Baby,” a terrific rendition of Lazy Lester’s “I’m a Lover Not a Fighter,” (with Patterson on harmonica here) the rockabilly vocal on “Snatch It and Grab it,” a spirited rockabilly polka instrumental “Early American,” and the jazzy “Lover Come Back To Me” (and no he doesn’t evoke dinah Washington). Listening him introduce “Ain’t No Grave Deep Enough,” as a country song that pyschobilly fans seem to like reminds me of some of the material Commander Cody waxed three decades ago, while “Good Time Gal,” features Patterson on steel guitar. Then there are covers of songs from Porter Wagoner, Conway Twitty, and Willie Nelson number (introduced as if Otis redding would have done it if Otis Redding was .... (well I am not giving away all of his intros)). This is a live recording (as suggested by the title), and sound is really good which matches the music.

Anyway, listening to this makes me wish I was at Duff’s that night. This ain’t blues or jazz, but it is a helluva lot of fun to just put on. Hey I paid for this with my own money and give a big thumbs up. Oh for those interested Deke has a website, www.dekedickerson.com from which you can order this (as well as from better online retailers like bluebeatmusic.com).

A Totally Captivating Piano Blues Recording

My purchase of Carl Sonny Leyland’s “A Chicago Session” (Ventrella) was an impulse based in part on the description of the disc on the new release web page of BlueBeat Music’s website. It was one of several releases featuring Joel Patterson, and I was familiar with the blues and boogie woogie piano of Leyland so sound unheard it was in a recent order, and its simple delights have captivated me since first giving it a listen.

Leyland, a British native who has since relocated to Southern California, has immersed himself in the piano blues tradition and (to these ears) incorporates elements from such diverse artists as Memphis Slim, Art Hodes, Albert Ammons, and Piano Red with some jazz seasoning (a dash of Teddy Wilson and Mary Lou Williams), delivering such a strong, yet relaxed sound and is a more than a competent vocalist who delivers in a natural genial manner without sounding bland. In addition to the swinging, jazzy playing of Patterson, he is backed by bassist Beau Sample and drummer Alex Hall, who provide crisp, yet understated, support that embellishes Leyland’s wonderful playing and Patterson’s crisp comping and single note excursions.

There is a nice range of material from his straight-forward delivery of Roosevelt Sykes’ “BVD Blues,” and his exuberant rendition of Piano Red’s “Rockin’ With Red,” with his bouncy piano complemented by a deft Patterson solo. Speckled Red’s classic “Dirty Dozens’ is done as a wistful instrumental, while the sprite rendition of “Struttin’ With Some Barbecue,” is an unusual, if delightful performance, “Up the Lazy River,” is a feature for the playing of Patterson followed by a nice “Careless Love.” This is a totally captivating recording of piano blues, and I certainly will be investigating Leyland's past catalog for similar gems.

Here is a link to Carl's website, where one can purchase this and others ion his lengthy discography. Bluebeat Music has the CD while amazon and itunes have it available for download.