The Memphis based band led by Daddy Mack Orr has a new disc on inside Sounds, BluesStones, that brings the leader’s vocals and guitar together with his solid band that includes brothers James (rhythm guitar) and Harold Bonner (bass) and drummer William Faulkner with Charlie Wood adding color on keyboards, for a collection of recordings that are performed straight with little artifice.
This has a nice selection of material and the band plays with a driving groove that is almost suggestive of Magic Slim although Daddy Mack is not as compelling a vocalist as Slim. The album opens with a solid rendition of the Z.Z. Hill hit, Shade Tree Mechanic, followed by Junior Bonner’s Plain Man. Slim Jenkin’s Joint is an instrumental from the Booker T & the MG’s songbook whose melody seems based on the Freddy King recording Going Down. It is a feature for Daddy Mack’s stinging guitar work. Savin’ My Love is an original soul-blues ballad, while the band gets a nice groove. Mack’s guitar is very effective on Royal Shade of Blues, as he describes his style of blues. Here he sings while he does not claim to be king, he plays a royal style of blues. He is not quite able to vocally handle the soulful That’s Where Its At.
Overall this was an enjoyable, if not exceptional recording.
This review was written for Jazz & Blues Report but may not have been published. I likely received a review copy from the record label or a publicist for the label. According to Amazon, Daddy Mack Blues Band has at least one more recent release.
Here is the Daddy Mack Blues Band doing an Albert King classic.
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