Almost the Best of Guitar Shorty

David Kearney, best known as Guitar Shorty, was among the three major rediscoveries that Black top made (Robert Ward and Bobby Parker are the other two. The Florida born singer-guitarist was heavily influenced by Guitar Slim who made some choice recordings for Cobra Records and the LA based Pull label. For a period he was married to Jimi Hendrix’s stepsister and would swap ideas with the future legend. Kearney had recorded a wonderful My Way or the Highway for the English JSP label before joining Black Top where he recorded three albums, Topsy Turvy, Get Wise To Yourself, and Roll Over, Baby. After leaving Black Top, there were live albums on Collectables followed by Evidence’s I Go Wild and more recently he signed to Alligator.

Shout Factory’s The Best of Guitar Shorty: The Long and Short of It, is taken from the JSP album, the three Black top CD and the Evidence. It is not as consistent as the Black Top albums because Shorty’s latter albums (Especially the Evidence and Alligator are a bit too tailored for rock audiences and lack some of the subtle touches and superior bands used by Black Top). Even if Go Wild! is forgettable, the stunning remake of Hard Life, You Better Get Wise to Yourself, Swamp Dogg’s I Want to Report a Crime and a duet with Carol Fran, I’m So Glad I Met You. The two selections from the JSP disc, No Educated Woman and Red Hot Mama, are almost equal to the Black Top discs but using such first-rate players like Lee Allen Zeno on bass, Herman Ernest III, Shannon Powell or Raymond Weber on drums, David Torkanowsky on keyboards, Kaz Kazanoff on sax..

Oddly the only number from Black Top that had South Central, his working band of the nineties was a credible rendition of Hey Joe, a tribute to Hendrix which is ok, but there are some other selections that are missing, especially his rendition of Al Kooper’s I Love You More Than You Know, derived from Donny Hathaway’s recording. Hathaway was a major influence on Shorty as a singer, but you would never know it from most written about him that focus on his guitar playing and Hendrix connection. Given the more rock-oriented production of his recent recordings, his vocals also suffer.

But if this gem had replaced the tracks from the Evidence album, then the title would be more accurate as opposed to really being Almost The Best of Guitar Shorty. Still this will have to do until Topsy Turvy and Get Wise To Yourself are reissued. The JSP may still be in print.

This review originally appeared in the September-October 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 286). I likely received a review copy from a publicist. 

JP Soars Promising Debut CD

Boca Raton guitarist and singer, JP Soars, was the 2009 winner of the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge where he also won the Albert king Award for Best Guitarist. He took an unusual path to the blues having initially played in heavy metal bands. later as his musical pursuits took him into gypsy jazz he started developing a passion for the blues. He has a self-produced debut album, Back of Mind.


Soars playing on this displays none of his early heavy metal music days. He has become a deft guitarist who has become quite a versatile player incorporating elements of T-Bone Walker, Guitar Slim, Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson and others. On this he is backed by his Red Hots, bassist Gary Rimmington and drummer Chris Peet. There is a good mix on this recording, opening with the trio on a hopping jump blues, his autobiographical, Born In California Raise In Arkansas, followed by an augmented band that includes saxophonist Terry Hanck for Guitar Slim’s Letter to My Girl Friend, with Hanck ripping off a hot tenor sax solo before Soars rips off a hot solo in the Guitar Slim-early Johnny Watson vein. Of the songs that Soars covers, this one is probably closest to the original.


Soars’ marbles in mouth vocals with some backing vocals revive Willie Dixon’s 29 Ways, while his original Will I Ever, is a nice soul tinged ballad. His rendition of Muddy Waters’ Gypsy Woman, reworks the Delta blues into how Boz Scaggs may have done it in the seventies with a solid tenor sax solo, atmospheric organ from John Epstein and terrific guitar playing. There is a hot T-Bone Walker shuffle that almost has a rockabilly feel and J.B. Lenoir’s dirge-like Been Down So Long becomes a late-night modern blues. This disc closes with on an acoustic vein with the low-key blues Baby I Used to Follow You, and the marvelous nod to gypsy jazz Blue Drag.


JP Soars is a marvelous musician who brings a fresh approach to some classic older blues. The only negative is that his gruff vocals are not on the same level which is a shame because there is plenty to like about this. It is available from cdbaby.com.


I received my review copy from a publicist for this release and wrote this review in 2009 but I do not believe it was published.

Lloyd Jones "Trouble Monkey" Worth Searching Out.

A major presence on the Portland, Oregon blues scene, guitarist and vocalist Lloyd Jones brings a compelling mix of blues and funk to this new release Trouble Monkey (Audioquest). Jones has a husky voice suggestive of Delbert McClinton, and as a guitarist occasionally suggests Guitar Slim with his slashing string popping, particularly on the New Orleans R&B flavored When I Get Back Home. Jones handles a variety of grooves and textures and his songs and the arrangements evince a variety of influences, from the high stepping funk of the opening Can’t Get You Off My Mind, to the latin funk of I’ll Be Laughing When They Break Your Heart, with punchy horns. Then there’s the rumba high stepping of Fats Domino’s Rosemary, which finds his guitar string-popping leading into some exciting slide work. I Broke My Baby’s Heart sounds like a vintage piece of deep southern soul, with the horns coming off like the Memphis Horns on an Otis Redding album. Most of his driving band (with a terrific horn section are new to me, although I believe alto saxophonist Warren Rand is a veteran of Robert Cray’s band, and the rhythm section of keyboard wizard Glenn Holstrom, bassist Victor Little and drummer Reinhardt Metz deserve specific praise. Jones wrote most of songs on this album which continue to resonate in one’s head. Even Jones’ cover of a Sleepy John Estes classic, Drop Down Mama, is a fresh and totally original performance. As typical with Audioquest, this is beautifully recorded and packaged. Kudos to Jones, the band and producer Joe Harley for a superb recording. This review appeared in the December 1995-January 1996 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 207) although this CD may be hard to find as a CD, one can find it as a download. Jones also recorded for Blind Pig a few years later and has a new CD which is mostly solo acoustic, Highway Bound, that I will be reviewing shortly.

Roy Gaines' Excellent New Frontier Lover

Influenced by T-Bone Walker, Roy Gaines has a six-decade career as a blues guitarist and singer. He has done countless sessions with the likes of Bobby Bland, Junior Parker and Jimmy Rushing and recored a number of albums over the years. Roy just issued on his Black Gold label Tuxedo Blues which I will be addressing in the next few weeks. In 2000, Severn records issued New Frontier Lover. It was his last US issued recording until Tuxedo Blues. Gaines did subsequently have a CD issued on the Japanese P-Vine label, “Guitar Clashers from Gainesville, Tokyo,” with Japanese guitarist, Mitsuyoshi Azuma. The following review of New Frontier Lover appeared in the January-February 2001, Jazz & Blues Report (issue 249).


Roy Gaines’ latest, New Frontier Lover (Severn), is among the best of 2000. David Earl has put together a terrific band behind him including Steve Gomes on bass and Benji Porecki on keyboards and there are some nice horn parts on most tracks. Its a collection of new material, although one can hear echoes of some of the greats Gaines was a contemporary with and played with.

Many of the songs have memorable hooks and some of the catchphrases from the tunes will be lingering in your mind after you listen to this The title track is funky number where Gaines gets to boast about his prowess. It is followed up by my favorite track, The World’s Biggest Fool, a terrific slow blues suggestive of Guitar Slim’s Something to Remember You By, with the band sounding like Slim’s band on his Atlantic sessions. What’s the Reason is a nice shuffle with a latin tinge to it while Roy is in a T-Bone Walker vein on You Can’t Make Nobody Love You, although Gaines plays with a somewhat dirtier tone here than Walker.

Roy’s Theme is an instrumental evoking classic instrumental shuffles like Gatemouth Brown’s Okie Dokie Stomp, and Roy’s driving attack here compares favorably to the best of them. Hinds Ends & Elbows is another hook-laden song, with Gaines’ hot vocal and guitar evoking the memory of the late Johnny Copeland. Gaines also handles a medium tempo Chicago blues shuffle, My Woman, My Blacksnake and Me, with Steve Guyger adding his harp to the blues stew. Guyger is also present on the rollicking closing number, Roll Your Own Biscuits.

This release has been one I have been listening to constantly since I got the advance of it. I am not sure if it will be in the stores when you read this, but it is one that is sure to be on my best of 2000 list. Look for it.

This was on my Best of 2000 Blues list and the music holds up well a decade later. This should still be readily available. I received a review copy from Severn Records for the review.

Ronnie Earl Spreads The Love

I first saw Ronnie Earl (Horvath) in 1978 when he was the guitarist with Sugar Ray & the Bluetones where they were backing J.B. Hutto at a New York club. At that time I bought an EP which included his rendition of some Earl Hooker number and his wonderful way with a guitar was evident then. In the years since he had a stint with Roomful of Blues before starting his own group, Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters, initially with vocalists, but increasingly oriented towards a straight instrumental focus. At the same time he collaborated on numerous recordings with a variety of blues greats and had such as Robert Lockwood guest on his own recordings. He is a dazzling guitarist who plays with a voice-like tone and can evoke mentors like Lockwood, Albert Collins and Guitar Slim while also displaying his awareness of the lessons of Grant green, Kenny Burrell and Wes Montgomery. I would be hard-pressed to think of another guitarist than can play straight blues, straight jazz and them a mix of the two that is so completely unforced, natural sounding.


His latest recording with the Broadcasters, “Spread the Love” (Stony Plain), was recorded in March 2010 with Dave Limina on keyboards, Jim Mouradian on bass and Lorne Entress on drums with Paul Kochanski playing bass on a couple selections, and Tim O’Connor and Jason James playing on “Blues For Slim.” From the opening moments of his take on Albert Collins’ “Backstroke,” to the last lingering country blues styled licks on “Blues For Bill,” one can be dazzled by Earl’s virtuosity yet soothed by his taste and soulfulness. “Blues For Donna” seems inspired by Lightnin’ Hopkins and one can almost Hopkins or Lowell Fulson singing “Lord have mercy, forgive me for my sins,” against his playing as he well spin of a cluster of notes and then a chord and a few riffs. His playing exhibits awareness of the lesson that Albert king that the silence and space between the notes say as much as what one plays.


Kenny Burrell’s “Chitlins’ Con Carne,” is given a lively reading with Limina sounding quite nice on organ and then followed by a moving version of Duke Pearson’s “Christo Redentor,” that was first on a Donald Byrd album. Blues fans will know of this from Charlie Musselwhite, but Earl is really wonderful here with his guitar sounding vocalized here against Lumina’s deep organ backing. This is a rendition that will certainly join the others as a classic performance. The trio of instrumentals, “Happy,” “patience,” and “Miracle,” are marvelous tone poems, followed by Lumina’s rollicking “Spann’s Groove,” which he sets the tone on piano playing some boogie-laced piano before Earl enters with responsive, rocking riffs and complimentary chords and then takes off with some explosive playing. My favorite blues instrumental here is “Blues For Slim,” which Earl builds upon the foundation that Eddie ‘Guitar Slim’ Jones, provide for “Things I Used To Do,” and while he evokes Slim’s playing, it is as inspiration as opposed to simply copying. Earl also gives Jones co-composing credits here.


Ronnie Earl can takes us from the alley up into the heavens with his playing. He can play with grit yet touch us in our hearts and soothe our minds. As Earl’s friend, Rev. Deborah J. Blanchard, states about when Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters play, they “spread the love when their soulful notes brush the hearts of all of us who gather to listen and receive.” The level of Ronnie Earl’s recordings is generally of such a consistently high level and the superb “Spread the Love,” is simply the latest demonstration of this.




Per FTC requirements, I received the review copy from the firm handling publicity for Stony Plain Records’