According to his website, Jason Elmore is a Dallas, TX-based guitarist/singer/songwriter who leads Hoodoo Witch, a high-energy trio that blends jump blues, Texas rock, vintage soul/r&b, and country chicken pickin'. Hoodoo Witch is comprised of Chris Waw on bass and Mike Talbot on drums and provide solid support for Elmore. On some of the performances, the trio is augmented by keyboards and horns. Overall, I found his new release with Hoodoo Witch Tell You What (Underworld Records) to be an engaging set of blues-rock and blues infused performances.
The opening Sharecropper Shuffle, is a rocking instrumental where he gets to display a nice tone and crisp attack (one can detect a Freddie King influence mixed in with some country boogie) with Hoodoo Witch providing a supple shuffle groove. It is followed by a bit more of a hard rock feel for Southbound, as he sings about being born to move and being southbound and never looking back. Cold Lonely Dawn is a heartfelt blues performance with horns and keyboards adding to the performance's tone. He sings with plenty of heart and pulls out all the stops with guitar here. When The Sun Goes Down is a likable southern country-flavored rocker with more nice horns in backing.
Country Mile is a blistering rocker with plenty of hot guitar and there is a tribute to Buck Owens in the instrumental Buckaroo. She's Fine is a relaxed shuffle that is represents a nice change of pace on this varied album.The album closes with a nice cover of William Bell's classic You Don't Miss Your Water, with a heartfelt vocal and atmospheric guitar supported by effective, restrained backing. This concludes a varied recording that even this blues traditionalist found quite entertaining.
A publicist provided my review copy. Here is a video of him performing When The Sun Goes Down.
I was familiar with Northwest bluesman Lloyd Jones from his recordings that mixed funky R&B and modern urban blues such as his excellent Audioquest CD Trouble Monkey. His latest album, Highway Bound (Underworld Records), is a definite change of pace as he is playing solo acoustic with the exception of one selection when he is joined by the harmonica of Charlie Musselwhite. He states this on this recording he is playing some of his favorite folk songs and that listeners will enjoy it as much as he did performing them.
Vocally Jones might suggest Delbert McClinton but here he brings a driving acoustic guitar style, sometimes just a driving groove on his original with some nifty finger picking in his short solo breaks. There is an interesting mix of material covered ranging from a briskly tempoed Careless Love, to the wistful When I’m Gone, which I believe was written by Elisabeth Cotton. On John Brim’s Ice Cream Man, Musselwhite joins in for a lively unplugged Chicago blues duo while on Blind Willie McTell’s Broke Down Engine Jones renders a performance in a manner that Taj Mahal might have done if he performed it as a Piedmont rag for a very original performance.
Jones picks up electric guitar for a percussively oriented rendition of Robert Johnson’s Last Fair Deal Gone Down, followed by a reflective take of Big Bill Broonzy’s Southbound Train. Mixed in with originals is an amiable take on John Hurt’s Don’t Want Me Baby, and Make Me a Pallet on the Floor. A take of Cry For Me Baby, that Elmore James originally recorded, comes off like a John Lee Hooker boogie, while Good Night Irene comes off as a gentle lullaby. Curtis Salgado adds harp to the closing tune, a treatment of the Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer Lazy Bones, given a nice low-key spin.
Jones does indeed play some favorite songs here. His skilled playing and vocals makes for delightful listening.
My review copy was provided by a publicist for the release.
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