Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King Live a Road Dog's Life

After taking a slight detour towards an unplugged recording on their Delta Groove debut, Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King have a new release for Delta Groove, Road Dog's Life. Returning to their fiery electric blues, they are supported by Willie J. Campbell on bass and Jimi Bott on drums with appearances by Kid Andersen on guitar and Randy Chortkoff and Kim Wilson on harmonica (and vocals). The mix of Kubek's husky guitar with King's jazzier playing and soulful singing (evocative of Otis Rush) continues to have considerable appeal. Kubek can rock the blues with the best of them, yet he always remains anchored in the blues with his well structured solos. King's singing can bring out a laugh as well as get down to the heartbreak one will experience.

On this, they mix in originals such as the opening Big Money Sonny, K9 Blues, the title track and Nobody But You (with Wilson and Chortkoff adding vocals on this title), with a couple of surprising covers. Big Money Sonny is an amusing tale about a gambler who (loves the dice and cards) has a nice marriage by convenience and handles everything in cash with some outstanding guitar. In contrast Come On In, Bnois welcomes back a lover that he tells her he won't be upset when she leaves because that is her style. The two have some nice unison playing during the short guitar breaks. With Wilson and Chortkoff adding harp and trading vocals with King, King leads them singing how much they want their lady in Nobody But You. Its a terrific shuffle with Campbell and Bott being terrific.

The title track, penned by Kubek's wife Phyllis, is a nice blues-rocker about the ins and outs of being a road dog that is a blues performer's life. Things start poor for King on K-9 Blues, as King's fiancé complains about his eyes wandering, calls him a dog, and sets him free since he doesn't deserve a good woman like her. Wilson adds harmonica on this with more strong blues guitar. That Look On Your Face is enlivened by a Tex-Mex accent (again Campbell and Bott are stellar). A change of pace is provided by covers of George Harrison's Don't Bother Me, and The Stones Play With Fire, as King providing his own take on these renditions along with Kubek's crisp playing featured. Chortkoff adds harmonica to the latter number.

Throw in the rock and roll of I Ain't Greasin' (with Kim Wilson) and the Muddy Waters' inspired Talkin' 'Bout Bad Luck (on which Kubek plays lap steel) and one has another first-rate addition to Kubek and King's recordings.

I received a review copy from Delta Groove. Here is a clip of Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King in performance.

Kubek and King Do Some Roadhouse Research

After a number of well-regarded discs for Bullseye Blues, Smokin’ Joe Kubek and B'nois King have a new disc, Roadhouse Research, on Blind Pig. The Texas pair combine Kubek’s muscular guitar playing with King’s soulful singing (suggestive of a cool Otis Rush) and slightly jazzier fretwork and tasteful rhythm playing. The contrast of Kubek’s in-your-face guitar and King’s vocals make for an appealing combination. 

The ten originals include some typical lyrical themes about hard times, women and the philosophical Better Be Getting It On, a hot shuffle whereKing tells us the while life may seem like a mystery, one better can move on while Kubek taking a strong, blistering solo. It perhaps is unsettling to hear King’s slightly distorted vocals on the opening Healthy Mama while Kubek’s soloing on Crying Shame would not have sounded out-of-place on some psychedelic recordings three decades ago. 

Kubek pulls all the stops on the slow blues, Runnin’ Blind, before King sings about having his woman running through his mind, but moving way too fast. Make It Right has a nice latin groove and a bit laid back feel for King’s plea that all he needs is his woman to make it right. Adding to the album’s variety is Kubek’s forceful slide playing on I Need More. 

Kubek is such a strong player that he can avoid the excesses that otherwise could make his tone and frenetic fretwork come off as overbearing. He also maintains an ear out while King sings so he never overwhelms the soulful singing. The result here is a varied and entertaining blues recording.

This review originally appeared in the June 2003 DC Blues Calendar although I have made some minor changes from what originally appeared.  Here is the pair with some roadhouse Texas blues.

The acoustic side of Smokin’ Joe Kubek and B’Nois King

For their latest recording (and Delta Groove debut) Close To The Bone, Smokin’ Joe Kubek and B’Nois King unplug themselves for an album of acoustic performances. The two are supported on this recording by a variety of individuals over the course of the 14 that include Randy Chortkoff, Bob Corritore, Pieter 'Big Pete' van der Plijim, and Lynwood Slim on harmonica; Kirk Fletcher, Shawn Pittman and Paul Size on guitar; Fred Kaplan on piano; Willie J. Campbell on bass; and Jimi Bott on drums. Most of 14 selections are originals with a couple of the songs adaptations of recordings from the Texas blues tradition.

This does present a different side of the two. While they both play quite vigorously on this album, their contrasting guitar attacks much more effectively play each other when amplified. While they play acoustically, neither is adept at early blues guitar style, so their rendition of a Ramblin’ Thomas or Texas Alexander song has a distinctly different flavor than the original country blues recording. This is not to complain about the music contained here, but to make you aware of what one will not hear.

The music is quite well played. B’Nois King is such an appealing singer and they have some quite appealing songs. A lively rendition of Ramblin’ Thomas’ Poor Boy Blues opens this album with some nice guitar interplay as King sings about rambling from Louisiana to Texas. My Best Friend has a wistful lyric about not having listened to this lady who told him slow down and not grow up too fast. Shawn Pittman contributes a slide guitar solo that adds to the feel here. Keep Her Around is a lively shuffle with a with a strong King vocal and a harmonica trio (Chortkoff, Corritore and Big Pete) that is part of the driving small group. She Got Rid Of Me, is a tale about a high school lover who King supported through college. When she finished her schooling she schooled him, getting on her feet and kicking him out to the street, making big dough and telling B’Nois he had to go.

While songs like Yankin’ My Chain, and She Got Rid Of Me, explore typical blues themes of the relations between the sexes, there are a couple of very strong topical blues, Drowning in Red Ink, and Ordinary Man. “Drowning” is a small group performance with a melody that suggests Charles Brown’s I Want To Go Home with Fred Kaplan adding piano while King sings about holding on to his job, his confidence being shot and just holding on till the next pay day as they are cutting back on everyone’s pay while the boss gives himself a raise. Ordinary Man (another small group performance with Kirk Fletcher added on guitar although Kubek and King solo) lambastes politicians who put on a suit and wave old glory while playing games with folks lives. Lynwood Slim adds some very nice harmonica to the duo’s rearrangement of Texas Alexander’s Bad Luck Child, an effective performance that tames the field holler qualities of Alexander’s original.

Close To The Bone is a welcome addition to the Kubek-King discography. While I would recommend other of their recordings prior to this one, their fans will likely, as I did, enjoy this change of pace.

I received my review copy from Delta Groove.

Have Blues Will Travel With Kubek and King

Back in 1996, I wrote "Dallas, Texan Smokin’ Joe Kubek’s icy demeanor on stage masks the incendiary flavor of his guitar, while B’Nois King provides a contrasting affable stage presence, and his solid rhythm guitar and jazzier guitar leads are combined with some fine singing, somewhat suggestive of a cool Otis Rush.” I have seen them a number of times since and their music continues to display this contrast of styles that also is the foundation for the distinctiveness of their music. This mixing of different approaches may also explain their appeal. Kubek brings his sizzling, trebly, twangy guitar while King soulfully delivers the songs against a solid rhythm section that can rock steady and still swing. Additionally the pair always bring fine songs melodic and lyrical hooks to each recording with interesting lyrics that mix humor, irony and a perceptive view of life and human relationships.

Kubek and King have a recent Alligator CD “Have Blues Will Travel,” that continues in this vein. The title track opens this disc and illustrates their songwriting craft with King tells his story about having the time of his life with his girlfriend and then discovers his wife is at the club’s door, and then after losing his job the next day, he decides its time to travel. Similarly, while he “Get You Out Of My Blood” he still can’t get his women out his mind with a catchy accompaniment that uses a neat repeated guitar riff. A hyper-charged Lightnin’ Hopkins riff opens “RU4 Real?” before Kubek takes a short searing solo against a lazy, if emphatic, groove, before King tells about this woman with Botox in her jaw, collagen in her lips and silicon in her chest, which has him wondering if this woman is for real. Whining slide guitar sets the tone for “Payday in America,” as King, who hates his job, can’t wait to cut loose and get some drinking done. Kubek has plenty of space to showcase his slide playing here. Other hot grooves include “My Space Or Your?,” with amusing lyrics employing computer terminology as a double entendre. King asks his lady, “can I text you baby, I want to do something digital to you,” and wants to show her his hard drive so they can download all night long. King takes the jazzier 1st guitar solo here followed by Kubek with his heavier tone. Next up King offers a bit of advice that if one goes to bed after a fight, one better “Sleep With One Eye Open.” In addition to King’s soulful vocals here, they both offer some tough guitar.

The mix of terrific material and strong performances make “Have Blues Will Travel” another first-rate release by Kubek and King that is easily recommended.


Afterword: Smokin’ Joe Kubek and B’Nois King were scheduled to appear at a DC Blues Society event in November, and I was asked, to help promote the appearance, if I could review their most recent release, “Have Blues Will Travel,” which had been issued several months earlier this year. I contacted Alligator Records who were so kind to provide me with a review copy and I drafted this review and submitted it. Subsequently, Kubek and King canceled the scheduled appearance, and the review is not scheduled to be published in the Blues Society's newsletter. I would have run this review in any event. Unfortunately I have no event to link it to help promote, but that happens. In any event, I look forward to teh two appearing in the Washington, DC area in the not too distant future.

Solid Smokin' Joe Kubek and B'nois King

I have had a fondness for Smokin' Joe Kubek and B'nois King since first becoming aware of them with their association with Rounder Records and its Blullseye Blues subsidiary in the 1990s. The pair has always had strong bands and their contrasting guitar styles as well as B’Nois King’s soulful blues singing make them a strong act to listen to and see live. The following review dates from 2004 and appeared in Jazz & Blues Report, and the review copy was most likely provided by the Blind Pig Label.

The pair of Joe Kubek and B'nois King continue to lay down some strong blues tracks with their latest Blind Pig release, Show Me the Money. Kubek's muscular and incendiary guitar playing is complemented by King's soulful vocals (suggestive of a cooler Otis Rush) and his own jazzier guitar comping and soloing. While one gets a sense of a rock feel to this music at time, perhaps a result of Kubek's tone at times, yet they never stray from the blues perhaps because of the solid and never overstated rhythm section. The album is full of solid new slow blues and shuffles including the cautionary She Can Smell Another Woman, where B'nois warns one that one day he is gonna slip up and she will sense when he has another woman and "you'll lose her and your girlfriend and wind up all alone." My Heart's in Texas is a rocker with as King songs about some places he's been and while he's seen Big Ben in London, his heart's in Texas as Kubek takes off on a short concise solo. Burnin' to the Ground has a funky little groove with a lyric about about a love that was too hot and high and came crashing down with some hot slide from Kubek who is quite capable of playing sheets of sound with his guitar but knows when to lay out. In fact this is reflected by the fact that the longest tracks here extend to slightly more than 4 1/2 minutes. There is plenty of passion invested into these performances, but they play with intelligence and keep their performances focused and concise resulting in this first-rate cd.