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March
2009
Steve
Strongman
Blues In Colour Self
Even after a well-received debut CD, Honey, the hard work continues. With a particularly effective showcase at the Blues Summit behind him, Steve Strongman keeps the ball rolling with a sparkling new CD. With release parties in home base Hamilton and here next month, the momentum should keep growing. He certainly has the songs and the performances here to make that happen. It’s basically a trio session, with multiple-award winning Alec Fraser on bass and producer Dave King on drums. Strongman overdubs some fine harp, especially on the rocking opener, “Mean To Me’. The only cover is up next, a solid take on Freddie King’s “Woman Across The River”, with the trio handling the changes superbly. “That’s What She Does” would have hit single written all over it if hit radio played these things. With a catchy melody delivered in his distinctive, plaintive voice, it’ll be in your head for days. The jaunty “Can’t Back Down” switches gears to acoustic with Strongman on slide and King on brushes. Another winner. “Take My Arms” is a long, slow blues and it doesn’t disappoint, with perfect guitar accompaniments to the vocal and a stunning solo. Electric slide dominates “Can’t Stop But I’m Tryin’”, a song about vices (with Paul Intson on bass). “Heart” is a lovely acoustic ballad. “Lie To You” is another rocker with electric slide with a catchy chorus. “Plain Hard Truth”, with its unison vocal and guitar lines, is another slow blues that except for the chorus is so downhome it would not sound out of place on an R.L. Burnside album. A very good lyric too. The disc concludes with Strongman on his National saying, passionately, “Just Sorry”. The Hamilton CD release is on March 21 at the Hamilton Place Studio Theatre. Tickets for that show are on sale now. The Toronto date is at The Silver Dollar Room on April 25th. His web site is www.stevestrongman.com.
David
Rotundo Band
No Looking Back Stone Pillar
As much as I liked the last, live, album this one is a solid treat! The new songs are uniformly excellent, the performances and the recording top-flight. The interlocking guitars of Dan Dufour & Desmond Brown are augmented by Enrico Crivellaro on several of the songs. Dave Murphy adds organ for a rich, full sound. Shane Scott on bass & vocals and Chuck Keeping on drums round up the band behind Rotundo and his amplified harp. With his gritty vocals and soaring harp, you owe it to yourself to check out this band. The new songs are very much in the style we’ve come to expect from this group, with “Don’t Lie To Me”, “Shake It Down”, “I Don’t Need Nobody” and “That Girl” only slightly better than the others on a very good set list. The CD Release Party is at Roc‘n Doc’s in Port Credit on the weekend of March 13th & 14th.
Layla
Zoe
The Firegirl Self
Layla Zoe generates quality original material at a rate most artists can only dream of. You’ve heard her on blues standards where she ‘solos’ vocally as easily and fluently as any guitarist. Her compositions, on the other hand, especially on The Firegirl, have the advantage of preparation. This is rather fortunate for acoustic guitarist Dallas Neudorf, her only accompanist, because the (often lengthy) songs lack any obvious structure. The most straightforward blues here are the two a capella ones, “I’ve Been Down” and “I Hope She Loves You Like I Do”. Of the others, “Long Black Glove”, “Birthday Song”, “Crazy Man Eyes” (with Zoe on synthesizer) and “That Would Be So Sweet” more directly relate to blues without having particularly bluesy music but all the songs bear repeated listening. She supplies lyrics in the booklet and sings fabulously throughout. Find out more at www.layla.ca.
Lester
Quitzau
The Same Light LQ/Outside
Music
Lester Quitzau’s musical journey continues with a bucolic, mostly acoustic album produced between gardening and other household chores as he and Mae Moore enjoy life on an island between Vancouver and Victoria. His journey began in the roughest blues bars of Edmonton but the albums generated along the way were not what you’d expect. Acoustic folk & blues, some jazz, very loud electric blues, Hendrix songs played on amplified cello, all showed an inquiring mind and much else. He certainly fit well into the concept behind Tri-Continental and that added much world music to the journey. The Same Light begins with “”In Your Arms Again”, which he does not list as one the album’s blues tunes, but the quietly electric song works for me. The instrumental “These Blues” & “Find My Way Home” are the blues he lists and they are quietly fine. In between comes “The Only Cure”, a seven-minute Stax-imbued paean to love, complete with horn section. “Ferris Wheel” is a Bill Frisell-flavoured instrumental and “Shape Shifter” a more experimental piece for electric guitar and percussion. Joby Baker is the percussionist and he contributes enormously throughout the disc. “To My Old Brown Earth” is the Pete Seeger song and Quitzau blends the musical flavours of the album in a most ambitious way to highlight our shared responsibility towards our ‘fragile, beautiful planet’. Letting the disc play reveals a bonus track, “Free Frogs” - there may be a lot of frogs on their island but I suspect he’s done some processing! His web site is www.lesterq.com.
Hills And Lemelin Neither Here Nor There H&L
Calgary’s Bill Hills & Ray Lemelin are a no-frills acoustic blues duo. There are no gimmicks or guests, just live off the floor harp & guitar in a pleasing program of originals and several covers. Asking Tim Williams to produce was inspired. As a duo, they remind me more of John Cephas & Phil Wiggins than Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, especially in their choice of topical material: “Fowileedee”, for example, deals with such things as politics and street gangs. Their worn-in voices are rather similar and you need to consult the booklet to figure out which is singing but you certainly don’t need to, they are both excellent communicators. Other highlights are “Easy Rider”, “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” with both singing and (going where there’s) “Sunshine Everyday”. This is very difficult music to perform well, especially with the greats right at hand for comparison. Hills And Lemelin does it well. Go to www.hillsandlemelin.com.
Guy
Davis
Sweetheart Like You Red
House/Outside Music
Guy Davis album releases have become major events for me. So much care and effort from a major talent warrants immediate & unqualified close attention. I have yet to be disappointed. He has presented us with a wider range of styles this time out. The CD’s title and opening song is from Bob Dylan’s Infidels and Davis says in his always-delightful liner notes that he believes Dylan was ‘reincarnated from a big fat black bluesman’. He then proceeds to make the song his own. His remarkable sense of humour is always close by and “Slow Motion Daddy” is only the second song. There’s a serious nod to Sonny Terry in his harmonica work, whoops and all - no doubt in preparation for his return to his theatre roots, playing Terry in a new production of Finian’s Rainbow in New York this month. Lead Belly and Son House are also saluted with new arrangements. He’s not afraid to tackle Muddy Waters either, with a stunning new “Hoochie Coochie Man” and “Can’t Be Satisfied” played on a 5-string banjo. It’s his original compositions that draw us now though and they are very good indeed. “Words To My Mama’s Song” leads this group in a fascinating progression from “Uncle Tom Is Dead”. Son Martial contributes spoken words and vocal percussion here too in an updating of John Lee Hooker. Mama’s words deal with hard times and that maybe now there’s hope for the future. With new compositions such as this one, there’s no need to worry about the state of the blues. The gorgeous hymn-like “The Angels Are Calling” with its gospel quartet harmonies is helpfully followed by a less intense slide guitar-led blues, “Going Back To Silver Springs”. It benefits from his description in the booklet. Helpfully because the CD concludes with a much more intense and moving adaptation of Lead Belly’s “Ain’t Goin’ Down”. Davis hopes he did justice to ‘this lament of a soul weary sharecropper’. I think he does. His regular producer, John Platania, has once again created a gorgeous soundscape for Davis’ work, with the cast of eight accompanists contributing most effectively.
- John Valenteyn, jvalenteyn8724@rogers.com
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