Approved By Snakes (CD) By Jason Ricci & The Bad Kind

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Approved By Snakes, Blues, Jason Ricci, John Lisi

Approved By Snakes

Jason Ricci & Bad Kind

EllerSoul Records 2017

Review by David Bowling

 

Jason Ricci is one of the best harmonica players working today, period. Backed by his band, Bad Kind, he has just released his 11th album Approved By Snakes.

It is not an album for the faint hearted. “My True Love Is A Dope Whore,” “Something Just Arrived,” “Demon Lover,” Terrors Of Night Life,” and “Got Cleaned Up” deal with drugs, the seediness, sexuality, and the darker side of life. His gritty voice compliments the explicit lyrics as he communicates his messages.

Still, any Jason Ricci album revolves around his harp. He and guitarist John Lisi are able to play off of each other and their music comes across as more of a jam band approach.

Ricci’s albums are always musically interesting and creative but many times they have an uncomfortable element to them. Recommended but hold on.

Rating: ***1/2

Positively Bob: Willie Nile Sings Bob Dylan (CD) By Willie Nile

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Willie Nile, Willie Nile Sings Dylan

Positively Bob: Willie Nil Sings Bob Dylan

Willie Nile

River House Records

Review by David Bowling

 

This new release by Willie Nile is a keeper. A lot of musicians have covered Bob Dylan, but very few better than Nile. He is one of the better American rock and roll artists working today and he is able to fuse his rock tendencies with Dylan’s folk/rock material.

He shines on some of Dylan’s classic compositions, “Rainy Day Women #12 X 35,” “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall,” and “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” but also explores his catalogue a little deeper, “Abandoned Love” and “Every Grain Of Sand.”

He re-invents two eternal folk songs, “The Times They Are A Changin’” and “Blowing In The Wind,” His gritty vocal brings a new energy to these old chestnuts.

Positively Bob: Willie Nile Sings Bob Dylan is the latest chapter in the musical career of Willie Nile. It is an album to sink your teeth into and hang on.

 

Rating: ****

Run Skeleton Run (CD) By David Childers

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David Childers, Run Skeleton Run

Run Skeleton Run

David Childers

Ramseur Records 2017

Review by David Bowling

 

David Childers is the O. Henry of Musicians. Each song on one of his albums is a short story that holds your attention and leaves you wanting more. He has returned with his new album titled Run Skeleton Run.

Childers took a convoluted journey to becoming a musician. He was a football player, poet, painter, and practiced law. He gathered life-experiences along the way, which are incorporated into his music.

His last album, 2014’s Serpents Of Reformation, focused on religion. Now he has moved on to aging and fate, and all the skeletons that go along with those subjects.

His music runs from blue grass and country to rock and roll and a little blues. Still it is his stories that draw you in.

Run Skeleton Run is an interesting album to explore and enjoy and you don’t even have to turn the pages.

Rating: ***

 

 

Beneath The Blood Moon (CD) By Jim Roberts And The Resonants

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Beneath The Blood Moon, Jim Roberts

Beneath The Blood Moon

Jim Roberts and The Resonants

Jim Roberts and The Resonants

Review by David Bowling

 

Jim Roberts has had two distinct periods to his music career, divided by 16 years as a police officer and raising a family. Before leaving the music scene he opened for such acts as Ricky Nelson, Della Reese, and Danny O’Keefe. He even made a television appearance on the Mike Douglas Show during the 1980’s.

Today he is firmly entrenched in the blues, who backed by his band The Resonants, has just released his new album Beneath The Blood Moon. He is an excellent slide guitar player but it is his expertise with a three-string cigar box guitar that defines his sound. It gives his sound a more primitive feel, which is an important part of his approach to the blues.

Roberts music is direct and hard-hitting. Songs such as “Dog Done Bit My Baby,” “Gold Train Fever,” “Dark Down The Delta,” and “The Hell Hounds Due” are all energetic excursions in the realm of the blues with some stops in Americana and roots rock.

Jim Roberts has re-invented himself as a first class bluesman. If you like your blues direct and at times raw, then Beneath The Blood Moon is an album for you.

Rating: ***

No Time Like Now By Strongman

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No Time Like Now, Steve Strongman

No Time Like Now

Steve Strongman

Sonic Unyon 2017

Review by David Bowling

 

Steve Strongman is a guitar player who just attacks the blues. He is able to bend the strings in a way that creates a sound that is unique to him.

He has just released a new album titled No Time Like Now. It consists of nine original tunes written with producer/bass player Rob Szabo and the classic rocker “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” composed by fellow Canadian Randy Bachman, who guests on the track.

Strongman is able to fuse the blues and rock so that it emerges as an energetic concoction that washes over the listener.

Steve Strongman has produced a solid album of modern day electric blues. Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed.

Rating: ***

Meeting My Shadow (CD) By Vanessa Collier

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Meeting My Shadow, Vanissier Collier

Meeting My Shadow

Vanessa Collier

Ruf Records 2014

Review by David Bowling

 

I always have a soft spot for saxophone players and Vanessa Collier is an evolving force on the instrument. She studied at Boston’s Berklee College Of Music and was further schooled on the road with the likes of Annie Lennox and Willie Nelson. She has just released her second album titles Me And My Shadow.

In addition to being a talented saxophone player, she is also a vocalist and an adept songwriter who penned eight the album’s eleven tracks.

While she travels into pop and soul; she is at heart a blues artist as her music presents her stories and experiences. She has a wonderful soul-styled voice that compliments her sax sound.

Whether it be her own “Whiskey And Women” and “”Devil’s On The Downslide” or covers of Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s “Up Above My Head I Hear The Music In The Air” and “Deadric Malone’s “You’re Gonna Make Me Cry;” she presents her music with a combination of simplicity and sophistication.

Vanessa Collins is an artist whose music is well-worth exploring as she continues to progress and evolve.

 

Rating: ***1/2

Corey Ledet & His Zydeco Band (CD) Standing On Faith

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Corey Ledet, Standing On Faith, Zydeco Music

Standing On Faith

Corey Ledet & His Zydeco Band

CD Baby 2017

Review by David Bowling

 

The origin’s of Zydeco music are lost in the mists of time. It ‘s history traces back to combining French Creole music with rhythm & blues and expanding outward from there.

Corey Ledet is one one the leading practitioners of Zydeco music today and he has just released his ninth album Standing On Faith.

Ledet is an accordion player/songwriter/vocalist/band leader who fuses Zydeco rhythms to other musical formats.

The song titled “Intro” is a funky album opener. He quickly moves in a pop direction with the instrumental “Love Never Felt So Good” and the smooth title track. He then adds a little reggae influences with “A Good Day” and finishes his gumbo concoction with the bluesy “Street Light.”

Ledet has developed the capacity to create Zydeco music as it should be. Standing On Faith is a joyous romp through the world of Zydeco music.

Rating: ***1/2

Joy Comes Back (CD) By Ruthie Foster

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Joy Comes back, Ruthie Foster

Joy Comes back

Ruthie Foster

Blue Corn Music 2017

Review by David Bowling

 

Ruthie Foster’s voice and ability to interpret songs is a force of nature. Her albums tend to key off of where she is in her life’s journey and the type of material she chooses to cover.

Her new album, Joy Comes Back, was recorded in the midst of a relationship break-up. The material she chooses to explore range from the blues of the Mississippi Delta to the funk of the Staples to an odd but wonderful cover of an old Black Sabbath classic. It all adds up to an emotional album of loss, therapy, recovery, and ultimately joy.

Her sound is more elemental than in the past, which puts the emphasis on her voice. There is a high-tension gospel cover of the old Four Tops ditty “Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever.” She is at heart a blues singer and she takes Mississippi John Hurt’s “Richland Woman Blues” out for a ride. She explores Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” as a blues jam. “Forgiven” is a ballad that just lets her voice soar.

Ruthie Foster has received numerous Blues Awards nominations and travelled with the likes of The Allman Brothers, Bonnie Raitt, and Susan Tedeschi. Hopefully Joy Comes Back will garner her some well-deserved mainstream acclaim.

Rating: ***1/2

 

Austin Hanks CD Alabastard

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Alabastard, Austin Hanks

Alabastard

Austin hanks

Alabastard Enterprises

Review by David Bowling

 

Austin Hanks is a road warrior who has spent the last decade plying his craft in front of audiences large and small. He has opened for such rockers as The Allman Brothers, The Black Crowes, Bad Company, and his old pals ZZ Top. He recently took some time off to record and release his first album in years. The title, Alabastard, represents a wanderer who left his home in Alabama in search of a better life.

He is a straight ahead country rock musician, who channels ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynnrd at times. His singing has a soulful appeal, which many times runs counterpoint to the music.

He presents his music without frills as his brand of boogie rock and blues would be at home in a juke joint late at night. “This Ain’t No Jukebox,” “Toughest Part Of Me,” “”Rise Above,” and “Alive & Untied” are all energetic blasts of rock power.

Alabastard may not cover any new ground but it is a solid album of music that is fit for a late-night party.

Rating: ***

 

Smoky Greenwell CD South Louisiana Blues

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Smoky Greenwell, South Louisiana Blues

South Louisiana Blues

Smoky Greenwell

Greenwell Records 2016

Review by David Bowling

 

There’s nothing like a Smoky Greenwell album on a cold Maine night. His brand of southern blues and hot harp work is a cure for any winter evening.

Greenwell’s harp virtuosity is always a blues delight and it dominates his latest album South Louisiana Blues. Backed by a host of New Orleans musicians, he blasts through four original and eight blues tunes.

“Boogie Twist” is a fun-filled romp fueled by his harp play. “Lonesome Lonely Blues” is a laid back poignant piece. “Pick It Up” has a wonderful melody with a hook that will keep bringing you back. The album opening “Animal Angels” is a fusion of rock and blues.

South Louisiana Blues is another solid another album from the mind, hand, and mouth of Smoky Greenwell. It is well-worth a listen of two.

Rating: ***1/2