Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters Beyond the Blue Door

Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters
Beyond the Blue Door
Stony Plain Records

Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters have returned with this latest recording. Earl, one of the premier blues guitarists, is joined by his Broadcasters: The core group of Broadcasters – Dave Limina, Hammond B3 and piano; Diane Blue, vocals; Paul Kochanski, bass and Forrest Padgett, drums. Also joining them Anthony Geraci, piano; Peter Ward, guitar; Mario Perrett, tenor sax; Scott Shetler, Baritone Sax, Larry Luisgnan, guitar; Michael Rush, bass and Scott MacDougal, guitar. Also appearing are special guests David Bromberg, acoustic guitar and vocals; Kim Wilson, harmonica and vocals; and Greg Piccolo, tenor sax. Bromberg also provides notes on each of the 15 songs.

I have enjoyed Diana Blue on prior Earl recordings, but her cover of "Brand New Me" surprising me with her stunning singing. With Earl's subtle guitar and horns in the background, she delivers an impressive cover of an Aretha classic. Diana Blue also is heard on a medium-tempo shuffle, "The Sweetest Man," with Limina stretching out while Earl is excellent  behind Blue's splendid singing. She also puts her own stamp on Timmie Thomas' "Why Can't We Live Together," and she is superb on the revival of "A Soul That's Been Abused," with Earl dazzling, and Limina greasy. This song first recorded on a Hubert Sumlin Black Top album with Mighty Sam McClain singing and Ronnie playing the second guitar. Then there is the superb slow blues Earl wrote with Steve Gomes, "Peace of Mind." The Broadcasters create an after midnight ambiance behind Blue's vocal while Earl's playing is sublime. There is a terrific updating of the Gamble Huff Philadelphia soul classic "Drowning In a Sea of Love," with Earl spectacular as he pulls out all the stops.

Kim Wilson, Anthony Geraci, and Peter Ward join on a remarkably fresh interpretation of Howlin' Wolf's "Baby How Long." The tempo is slowed down into making this a relaxed shuffle with the marvelous interplay between Wilson's harp and Earl's skittering guitar with Geraci on piano and Peter Ward in rhythm guitar. Earl adds some scintillating obligatos behind Wilson's vocal. Wilson also takes a terrific harmonica solo, and there is some excellent, nuanced guitar by Earl and Ward. Wilson is also heard on Little Walter's "Blues With a Feeling." This is taken at a slower tempo than the original. Special kudos to bassist Kochanski and drummer Padgett for maintaining this slow drag tempo. Earl's backing again is exquisite behind Wilson's vocal and harmonica. Wilson and Geraci also join in on Earl's take from a phrase in "Smokestack Lightning."

"Drown In My Own Tears" displays Earl's impeccable phrasing and nuanced use of dynamics, and only the late Earl Hooker showed such an ability to convey such feeling with similarly small tone variations. Greg Piccolo contributes a strong chorus on tenor sax as well. A duet between Earl and Piccolo, "Alexis' Song," has Earl chording behind Piccolo's probing sax. "T-Bone Stomp" is a T-Bone Walker-inspired relaxed shuffle with Limina also featured. The closing track is a moving "Blues For Charlottesville," with Earl's guitar conveying as much feeling as any lyric might.

The least memorable track was the duet between Earl on his Stratocaster and Bromberg on acoustic guitar, a cover of Bob Dylan's "It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes a Train To Cry," that is a bit too loosely played. It is a minor blemish on another marvelous Ronnie Earl recording.

I received my review copy from a publicist. This review appeared in the September-October 2019 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 386). Here is a short video animation clip for "The Sweetest Man."

 

Selwyn Birchwood Pick Your Poison

Selwyn Birchwood
Pick Your Poison
Alligator Records

This is the second Alligator release by the Floridian blues talent and his marvelous band of Regi Oliver: Saxophones, Flute, Background Vocals; Huff Wright: Bass Guitar, Background Vocals and Courtney 'Big Love Girlie: Drums, Percussion, Background Vocals. This followup to the award-winning "Don't Call No Ambulance" has a baker's dozen of Birchwood originals for which he did all of the arrangements and much in the same mold as the earlier release.

While having a somewhat limited vocal range, Birchwood is an appealing and convincing vocalist with a gravelly, raspy delivery. This is evident on the opening "Trial By Fire," with its North Mississippi Hill Country groove, Oliver's flute and his whining slide guitar. He changes mood on the high stepping gospel-flavored "Even the Saved Need Saving," with observations of religious hypocrisy as Oliver baritone pushes the groove before Birchwood's slide guitar break that here shows the influence of the sacred steel players. "Guilty Pleasures," built on a guitar riff, has a lyric about not liking various vices, such as not liking gambling but liking his luck, as Oliver's baritone echoes the guitar. "Heavy Heart" is a straight-forward blues about a relation coming to an end, with blistering guitar as Oliver's multiple horns add to an intense performance.

One continues to be impressed by Birchwood's ability to employ unusual melodies as on "Haunted." His acoustic steel slide guitar sets the atmosphere for the morose "Reaping Time," while with a delta blues slide riff, Birchwood launches a complaint about police brutality, "Police State," with its chorus "you have the right to remain silent, they have the right to remain violent." There is an urgent acoustic slide solo on this. Oliver's sax is featured on the blues lament, "Lost In You," where Birchwood sings about searching himself and hoping he can find himself again. This low-key performance is followed by the topical protest about working a 60 hour week while not wanting to be a cog in the machine that don't care about him, "Corporate Drone."

Like his earlier album, Selwyn Birchwood displays a fresh and immediately recognizable approach to his blues and has presented another varied and excellent set of fresh material, imaginatively and compellingly performed backed by his excellent band.

I received my review copy from Alligator.  Here he is performing the title track of his first album, "Don't Call No Ambulance."

Joe Louis Walker JLW

Joe Louis Walker
JLW
Verve

Joe Louis Walker’s new Verve release may be his breakthrough album with respect to reaching beyond the core blues audience. The material and the production may a bit more accessible without losing the music’s edge.

Perhaps the rhythm is recorded a little heavier, and Rain on My Mind sounds similar to some Stones’ tune. Those not familiar with the blues world of today may think it is Bonnie Raitt, not Angela Strelhi, on the soulful duet, Hold On. Besides Strelhi, guest appearances are made by the Tower of Power Horns on a couple tracks, Branford Marsalis on the nice soulful Inner City Man, and James Cotton on an acoustic Going to Canada - bassist Henry Oden’s take on the Dust My Broom riff.

What is unusual about this album is that Walker did not pen most of the songs.. There’s the intense version of the oldie Need Your Lovin’ Every Day, and the excellent rendition of Otis Blackwell’s On That Powerline that Walker had been recorded for the Otis Blackwell tribute album on Shanachie that also appears here. Walker himself is the source of the best material. 12-Step Lovin’ (co-written with Laurie Basson) has a clever lyric analogizing love as an addiction with the 12-step treatments for addiction, while Alone is a nice jazzy, soulful blues. Walker throughout sings and plays with the conviction and imagination that has always characterized his recordings and performances.

While it may not be as varied or jazz-inflected as his previous Blues Survivor, JLW is still typical of a Joe Louis Walker recording. It is first rate.

This review originally appeared in the October 1994 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 295). I likely received a review copy from the record company but may have purchased it. Here from over a decade after JLW, Walker is with Billy Branch doiig a Robert Johnson-Elmore James classic. 
 

Jimmy Adler Visits Grease Alley

Jimmy Adler
Grease Alley
Sprucewood Productions

Pittsburgh based Jimmy Adler is a triple-threat as a songwriter, singer and guitarist as evident on his new recording "Grease Alley." Adler traveled California California to record with Kid Andersen at Andersen's Greaseland Studio and was joined but a band that includes Andersen on bass, former Robert Lockwood drummer Junior Core, keyboard wizard Jim Pugh and saxophonist Eric Spaulding with Chris Cain guesting on two of the 13 selections.

"The opening "Say It Like Magic Sam," musically derives from "T-Bone Shuffle." Here, Jimmy sings that he's a guitar man who tries to "tell it like T-Bone, say it like Magic Sam," and contributes some solid T-Bone Walker styled fretwork. It is set against a solid shuffle groove played at a nice, relaxed tempo. The title track is an appealing rocker with a second-line groove on which Pugh adding organ grease. On this, Adler sings about going down to grease alley to get his groove on. "Drank Too Much," an easy rocking lament of overindulgence, has Adler playing slide and evoking Johnny Littlejohn and Homesick James. Adler plays some Muddy Waters-flavored slide on the rollicking closing "Hoodoo Highway."

"No Pain" opens with Albert King sounding guitar with Chris Cain sharing the vocal on a lyric about  the older he gets, the less one knows. "Cornbread and Lima Beans" is a jazzy flavored Albert Collins-type groove with Pugh's Hammond contrasting with Adler's slashing guitar while "Love Was Worth These Blues," has a late night groove with more jazz-tinged guitar and an appealing restrained vocal. Also of note is the reflective and soulful, "What I've Done."

"Grease Alley" is a wonderfully entertaining recording. Jimmy Adler is quite an engaging singer, and a very inventive guitarist/ Kid Andersen and the studio band has provide solid support and grooves that makes for memorable blues.

I received my review copy from Jimmy. Here Jimmy plays