Jason Elmore & Hoodoo Switch -Tell You What

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.