Terry Hanck I Still Get Excited

Terry Hanck
I Still Get Excited
TVR/VizzTone

It has been three years since The Terry Hanck Band's last album, "From Roadhouse To Your House Live," which I summarized captured "the engaging and strong blues, R&B and rock of the Terry Hanck Band… ." Hanck returns on this new release with his saxophone and vocals with his band of guitarist Johnny' Cat' Soubrand, bassist Tim Wager and drummer Butch Cousins along with the keyboards of Jim Pugh and guitar, bass and more from Kid Andersen. Anderson co-produced this recording with Hanck, which has several special guests including June Core on drums, Rick Estrin on harmonica, Chris Cain on guitar, and Tracy Nelson on vocals.

Reviewing that live recording, I observed that "Hanck is quite a congenial vocalist with a bit of grizzle whose robust saxophone with a mix of King Curtis yackety-yak with Junior Walker honking." There is no reason to change that observation based on the performances here that range from blues, rock and roll, and swamp pop. It also does not hurt to have such an excellent band, including the guest musicians. This is heard throughout the 11 performances here, starting with the opening title track. It is a gem of rock and roll with a tagline "I might be old as sin, but in my mind, I am just a kid, lawd I still get excited." Pugh channels Johnnie Johnson or Lafayette Leake, Soubrand takes a rocking solo with Hanck riding the song out with some honking and high note screeching.

Louis Jordan is among Hanck's influences, as shown by a cover of "Early in the Morning," but also on his original "Smooth Tyrone." This song sounds like the Jesse Mae Robinson-Louis Jordan penned "Blue Light Boogie." In this song, Hanck has provided original lyrics replacing those of the original. Pugh, Soubrand, and Hanck all shine musically here while Kid Andersen on bass and June Core on drums keep a relaxed shuffle groove. "Here It Comes" has a relaxed early 60s' R&B groove while it incorporates a bass riff from the Solomon Burke classic "Cry to Me." In addition to a heartfelt vocal, Kid Andersen contributes some neat Spanish-tinged acoustic guitar. On the Chuck Willis-styled shuffle, Rick Estrin adds his sax-like harmonica on "Come On Back," soloing as well as having interplay with Hanck. It is followed by the appealing instrumental, "Rosita (No Wall Call Hold Our Love)."

Several remakes are not far removed from the originals recordings. These include Bobby Charles "Why People Like That?" with some 'yackety-yak" sax and "Howlin' For My Darlin'" with Soubrand channeling Hubert Sumlin. Also heard are energetic renditions of Eddie' Cleanhead' Vinson's "Hold It Right There," and "Feel So Bad," based on Little Milton's Checker recording, with more exceptional Soubrand guitar. One exception is an older Little Milton recording, "Spring," that Hanck and Tracy Nelson, in marvelous performance, transform into swamp pop. It stands out in another splendid collection of blues and roots performances by Terry Hanck.

I received my review copy from VizzTone.  Here is a video of Terry Hanck performing "Sweet Tyrone."

 

The Blues Broads Heard And Seen Live!!!

The Blues Broads is a musical revue that brings together four strong voices together with a tight backing band that began as a collaboration between Tracy Nelson who would join Angela Strehli on West Coast gigs. Later they added various vocalists for an annual BBQ event, "The Blues Broads" before Dorothy Morrison (best known for "Oh Happy Day" as part of the Edwin Hawkins Singers) and Annie Sampson (of a Bay area band Stoneground) became part of what was now a regular group that took the name of the BBQ Event.
               
Delta Groove has just issued a eponymously titled CD/DVD package of The Blues Broads, recorded and filmed live at the 142 Throckmorton Theatre in Mill Valley California. They are backed by a band that includes Steve Ehrmann on bass, Paul Revelli on drums, Gary Vogensen on drums and Mike Emerson on keyboards. Deanna Bogart is a special guest on keyboards, saxophone and vocals. The CD has ten songs which are all on the DVD along with Annie Sampson singing Bob Dylan's It's All Over Now/ Baby Blue. The sequencing of the songs differs on the DVD from the CD.

There are some singing marvelous singing to be heard and seen here. Several songs allow the ladies to share verses such as the Tracy Nelson and Gary Nicholson penned Livin' The Blues,' which opens both the performances up. The material mixes blues, classic R&B, and some contemporary blues-rooted roots. Tracy Nelson's vocal on Oliver Sain's Walk Away, is simply a great performance full of both with subtlety and power. Annie Sampson certainly has people take notice of her on Bring Me Your Love, but even more so on her fervent re-imagination of Dylan's It's All Over Now/ Baby Blue.

Strehli's Two Bit Texas Town, is a tough performance that has remember how she used to listen to Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters and more growing up in her two-bit Texas town. Deanna Bogart gets showcased on It Won't Be Long, which is a centerpiece of her live shows. Its brave of Dorothy Morrison to cover Tina Turner on River Deep, Mountain High, and its an enjoyable performance but doesn't really grab the listener or viewer as does the closing gospel numbers Jesus, I'll Never Forget, and Oh Happy Day, with her taking everyone to the Church on this closing performance.

This must have been quite an event for those who attended the performance where this was recorded/filmed. The filming is pretty straight-forward with little if any of distracting gimmicks some others might have inserted. While there perhaps only are a few exceptional performances, the level of the performances still is quite high and certainly this will rightfully appeal to a wide range of listeners who simply enjoy good music.

I received a review copy from the record label.  One can see a clip of The Blues Broads in performance at http://thebluesbroads.com.

Tracy Nelson Superb Retrospective On Some Favorite Blues

The latest release, Victim of the Blues (Delta Groove) by Tracy Nelson serves to illustrate Etta James' appreciative description of Nelson as "… a bad white girl … ." Since her recordings with Mother Earth 40 years ago, Nelson has brought a deep soulful style to whatever she sings, whether blues, country or roots. More recently she has suffered a significant loss when the 100+ year old farmhouse she lived in near Nashville was destroyed by a fire. The firemen told her they could save one room of the house and her personal belongings, and she choose the studio where she recorded this new release.

The release is built around a number of vintage blues and soul performances that represented what she was listening to growing up in Wisconsin and being turned on this great music listening to WLAC out of Nashville. It is a return to her musical roots and what inspired her decades ago. And she realizes the contrast between this music and what is viewed as blues today. As part of a Chicago blues tour that played a variety of festivals she was struck that “The music I heard back in the day in Chicago and what I was hearing from the current crop of blues acts bore little relation to each other.” This led to the recording of the present album.

She is supported by a fine band on this including Jim Pugh on keyboards, guitarist Mike Henderson, bassist Byron House, and drummer John Gardner, with Marcia Ball gusting on piano on one track and Angela Strelhi adding supporting vocals to another. The result is a wonderful collection of performances opening with a marvelous rendition of one of Howlin’ Wolf’s lesser known recordings You’ll Be Mine, with Henderson’s guitar dazzling in its own way as Hubert Sumlin’s was on the original. The one relatively recent songs is Earl Thomas’ Lead a Horse to Water, with some wonderful Pops Staples’ flavored guitar by Henderson with Pugh’s electric piano part of the foundation. Marcia Ball adds some rollicking piano and a second vocal to a lazy Jimmy Reed shuffle Shoot My Baby, while Henderson adds some blistering slide, while another Reed number Its a Sin, slows down the groove for a soulfully sung lament.

There is one actual nod to a classic soul recording, Marcia’s revival of Joe Tex’s The Love You Save, while on the title track, originally recoded in the 1920s by Ma Rainey, Nelson heartfully revives this blues from the “Mother of the Blues” against Henderson’s banjo and Pugh’s spare piano accompaniment. She delivers the vocal as naturally and soulfully with this backing as she does with a hard rocking Chicago blues styled accompaniment. There are also solid renditions of Wolf’s Howlin’ For My Darling, James Cotton’s One More MIle, and Joe Tex’s lesser known soul classic The Love You Save.

The performances of “ Victims of the Blues are inspired by the original recordings, but never come across as copies or imitations. It also is noteworthy that with the exception perhaps of Howlin’ For My Baby and Percy Mayfield’s “Stranger in My Own Hometown, the songs themselves will be new to most listeners. Not only Nelson, but also her band invests plenty of personality that allows her to salute some of the performers and songs that provided inspiration and a musical foundation for her. The result is this stunning recording.

A publicity firm handling this release provided me a download of this release that is being issued on April 19.