"I'm Hungry" is the twelfth album by the Kansas City-based singer-guitarist and songwriter Jimmie Bratcher. Bratcher is also an ordained minister known as "The Electric Rev." This present recording is devoted to songs related to food with a bit of whimsy in many of the songs. Bratcher contributed ten of the twelve songs, three collaborations. There are two covers. Besides his guitar and vocals, he is backed by Craig Kew on bass, Terry Hancock on drums, and Aaron Mayfield on keyboards. John Selle, Larry Van Loon, and Eric Stark play keyboards on several selections, while Joe Selle and Brandon Draper are on drums on several tracks.
There are plenty of good-time blues to be heard. Bratcher is a top-flight singer with a touch of grit and able to delight in delivering his wry songs such as the insistent slow blues "Bacon on My Mind," where he calls out John Selle's first-rate blues piano. Selle is also responsible for the rollicking barrelhouse rock and roll piano on the opening "I Love Her Name." Then there is a whimsical lament about the doctor telling him he has to eat healthy on "Mama Won't Fry No Chicken," with a funky shuffle groove. Then there is the jazz-tinged lounge song with its double entendres, "Baby I Like What You're Cooking." His restrained jazzy guitar is very appealing. It is followed by a funky rendition of Keb' Mo's "Government Cheese.
A driving shuffle, "Where You Gonna Stop," is a musical travelogue of hot Kansas City food stops. On this track, there is some noteworthy guitar with some hot licks. His sense of timing and his phrasing is top-flight. "Greasy" is a funky blues instrumental with some nifty playing. "Green Bananas" is a delightful number set to a second-line groove. At the same time, the Titus Turner classic "Grits Ain't Groceries" is perhaps Bratcher's finest straight blues here. "Bologna Sandwich Man" is a delightful country-blues-flavored performance with scintillating slide guitar.
Kudos to the rhythm section and the various keyboard players who provide terrific backing throughout for Bratcher on this marvelous recording that should satisfy most appetites for the blues.
I received my review copy from a publicist. Here is "Bacon on My Mind."
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