Finis Tasby People Don’t Care

Finis Tasby

People Don’t Care

Shanachie

Shanachie, which also is the parent label for Yazoo, is best known for acoustic and world beat music. With this debut album of West Coast bluesman Finis Tasby, the label presents its first modern urban blues release. Playing and singing for over three decades, Tasby’s Texas band, The Thunderbirds, spawned a young Z.Z. Hill. Over recent years he has played with Freddie King, Lowell Fulson, John Lee Hooker and others, and recorded some singles. He finally has his first full album, and he has obviously made friends over the years as Elvin Bishop, Mick Taylor and Vernon Reid each guest on guitar and solo, while Lowell Fulson shares a vocal on Find Something Else to Do, and wrote Just a Kiss. 

Tasby is a gritty singer and guitarist and his music is suggestive of the late sixties and early seventies recordings by Fulson and McCracklin. He also co-wrote four of the ten songs, and producer Charles Collins had his hand in another four. Shanachie describes this as a set of rocking blues, but Tasby’s gritty vocals and guitar is undercut by the vocal choruses and horn arrangements on some of the cuts. Fulson’s Just a Kiss, is a terrific song in which the chorus is successfully integrated in the terrific performance. This and the duet with Fulson, Find Something Else to Do, best display Tasby’s strengths, and even if the horns overplay on Gotta Draw the Line or the shuffle Po’ Boy Blues, Tasby convincingly delivers the lyrics and adds biting guitar. Drinkin’ Bad Whiskey is a slow Tasby original about how alcohol and drugs can’t ease his pain which is fervently sung and sports a fiery solo. Gonna Miss Your Love is a medium tempo number with a latin tinge and a cooing backing chorus that comes across because it is more understated in delivery. 

There is plenty about Finis Tasby to like here, despite the heavy-handed production in some areas. Unfortunately, this album could have some marketing problems, as it seems to be aimed towards the southern black blues audience and Shanachie might have a tough time cracking that market. At the same time, the vocal choruses and horns on several tracks might diminish its appeal among white blues buyers, who are often oriented to guitar solo based albums. This would be a shame, as there is some terrific Finis Tasby to be heard here.

I likely received my review copy from Shanachie. This review originally appeared in the September 1995 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 204). Here is Finis Tasby performing "As the Years Go Passing By."

Peter Karp The Arson's Match

Peter Karp
The Arson's Match

I know of Peter Karp through recordings he made with Sue Foley for Blind Pig. The singer, songwriter and instrumentalist has a new recording that was recorded live at New York City's The Bottom Line by Sirius XM. Most notable about this recording is the presence of Mick Taylor, best known for his tenure with the Rolling Stones (and before that with John Mayall). Also present is harmonica wizard Dennis Gruenling and Dave Keyes plays piano one one selection. Others on the session are Ken Ehinger on keyboards, Daniel Pagdon on bass, and Paul "Hernandez" Unsworth on drums.

These performances range from the title track, a fast tempoed blues about someone burning his home down set to the "Dust My Broom," with a searing blues-rock solo from Taylor. "Chee Chee Chee Chee Wawa," is a catchy number with a bouncy and breezy feel, as he sings about this woman he meets in the Sonoran desert. This performance has more choice Taylor playing that showcases his ability to play softly and employ silence between the notes. It is a captivating performance. "Y'all Be Lookin'," is a nice rock and roll shuffle with a lyric that folks may be looking for something, but they should be looking for love. A highlight here is a solid slide guitar solo.. "The Turning Point" is more in a folk vein with the keyboards adding proper seasoning backing the vocal.

"The Nietzsche Lounge" has another interesting lyric with word-play,  rollicking piano and solid harp in addition to Taylor's fiery fretwork. After this performance Karp introduces the band. "Your Prettyness" is built on a nice groove (hint of Howlin' Wolf's "Who's Been Talking") with a fine Dave Keyes piano solo and a terrific harp solo. The remainder of this recording shares the virtues of Karp's songs, his earnest, appealing, gritty vocals and a terrific band with  terrific playing from (especially) Gruenling and Taylor. Not strictly a blues recording, but the spirit of the blues infuses pretty much this entire recording. It must have been quite a night at the Bottom Line and the music was hotter than the Arson's match.

I received my review copy from a publicist. Here is the performance of the title track from The Bottom Line.