"She's Gone" by GA-20

 

Theodore Roosevelt is not often mentioned on indie music blogs, and with good reason. However, Theodore Roosevelt Taylor is more than worthy of a few words. Known to his friends and fans as Hound Dog Taylor, he was a renowned blues performer. He made no claim to being a master technician on the guitar, but he justifiable took pride in creating a guitar sound that conveyed energy and thrilled the audience. One of my most prized vinyl albums is Hound Dog Taylor & The Houserockers self-titled 1971 release for Alligator Records.

Most of you will never have that piece of vinyl unless it is re-issued. But I have good news for you: Boston blues trio GA-20 has recorded Try It ... You Might Like It. Consisting of ten songs written and/or recorded by Hound Dog Taylor, it will be released on August 20 via Colemine Records in partnership with Alligator Records. In our opinion, Hound Dog's memory deserves it, and we all deserve more Hound Dog, so this is a win-win. And just so you know that you are getting authentic-sounding interpretations of the master's tunes, lead track "She's Gone" is not out as a single. Boogie onward, my children.

GA-20 is Matt Stubbbs (guitar), Pat Faherty (guitar/vocals), and Tim Carman.

Website

Facebook

Bandcamp for album

Various links for album

Robert Finley - Sharecropper’s Son

 Robert Finley is an actual sharecropper’s son, and he has a hell of a story. Fortunately, for our purposes, he also is a hell of a singer. On Sharecropper’s Son, he displays a sort of vocal dexterity that sounds like the result of a lifetime of listening to and singing everything from gospel to country to R&B and guitar rock. I hear echoes of Al Green in the way Finley is unafraid to launch a high falsetto croon (like at the beginning of opening track “Souled Out on You” and most of “Country Boy”). 

 

But he’s got the sense to know when, and the talent to be able, to drop down into an guttural growl where the material calls for it. And on a lot of the songs here, he simply stands in front and sings like a rock and roll frontman in an R&B-inspired guitar rock band, only coming from Finley, lines like “working from can ‘til can’t” have a particular resonance that you don’t expect to hear from someone singing in 2021. And, again, he is a terrific vocalist and has the charisma and showmanship to lead a rock band. 

 As hard as it may be to believe, listening to him sing, he only took it up as a profession in his 60’s after military service and a lengthy career as a skilled carpenter, when due to a bout with glaucoma, he became legally blind. Finley has enjoyed the ability to get his stories out in the world: “One of the things I love about music is that, when I was a boy growing up in the South, nobody wanted to hear what I had to say or what I thought about anything. But when I started putting it in songs, people listened."

Here’s the title track, “Sharecropper’s Son”:

 

That one puts me to mind of something like “Lodi” or (not to be too “on the nose”) “Cotton Fields” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, with the kind of imagery that Fogerty used to do such a good job of drawing with his lyrics and fleshing out with his guitar sounds. Speaking of expressive guitar sounds, the producer of the album, and guitarist and co-writer on a lot of the material here, is The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach. This record was recorded and produced at his Easy Eye studio in Nashville, and you can hear his stinging lead guitar as a counterpoint to Finley’s vocals at key moments throughout the record. It's out right now (released 5/21) on Easy Eye, and available to stream or buy physical copies at the links below. 

Robert Finley - Sharecropper's Son at Easy Eye Sound 

Robert Finley Instagram 

Robert Finley Twitter

"Neve Give Up" by Son Little

One of our favorite records of the year so far drops at the end of the month. The artist is Los Angeles' Aaron Earl Livingston, who performs under the name Son Little. The title of the album is aloha, and it will be release via Anti-.  Of course, we will have more words about the fantastic set of songs later, but for now we will leave a taste for your ears in the form of the video for album track "neve give up".




Website
Facebook
Twitter
Bandcamp for aloha
Links to pre-order aloha
Anti- page for Son Little's recordings

"Regrets" by Jorgen Sandvik

We begin the week with "Regrets", a wonderful blues/folk track from Norwegian artist Jorgen Sandvik.  Jorgen released a well-received album titled Permanent Vacation last year, winning the Norwegian recording industry's prize for best blues album.  He previously recorded with award-winning folk/pop band Real Ones.

"Regrets" is available as a digital download via Lekrofon, check your preferred digital retailer.


Website
Facebook
Twitter

"Green Doesn't Look Good On You" by Lord Willing

This is a public service announcement from Justin, aka Lord Willing, our friend in Los Angeles.  He wants you to know that "Green Doesn't Look Good On You".  And because you may be devastated by that news, and he doesn't want you to be sad, he has recorded this bluesy, soulful musical message to make it all more bearable.

And because good style advice can be hard to find, you may want to download this Lord Willing track from your favorite digital source.



Facebook
Twitter

The Foghorns - ... on a Dog's Ass Sometimes

I was thinking today (hence the splitting headache), Seattle is a city on the shore of a body of salt water with a major port and a fair amount of fog and mist, so it really should have a band called The Foghorns.  Then I remembered, Seattle does have a band named The Foghorns.  And while some members are from other places, including New York, exotic Iceland and even more exotic, Wisconsin (as is the writer of this feature), they are ours for now.  However, they seem to be planning to disband, and their new record is meant to be part 2 of their farewell album.  They may change their minds, but in case they don't, this album is a total joy, and the digital is only $5

The Foghorns are a generous band, and when they get a good idea, they give their listeners two shots instead of one.  Hence, there are two songs where the title references a motor vehicle, two songs with 'dirty old man' in the lyrics, two songs with a style of dance in the title, and two songs that reference a foreign location.  They are a bit of a musical Noah's Ark, I suppose.  It is true that only one song title references Jesus, but the band probably figured he could carry the load solo.  The gang has great taste as well -- "Spanish Accusations" is a cover of Jon Rooney's song, that was one of my favorites from the Secret Kids album by his Virgin Of The Birds project last year.  Enjoy a stream below.  But first, a farewell project deserves a full list of credits:

Bart Cameron: vocals, guitars, harmonica 
Jason Kopec: drums, pots and pans 
Ken Nottingham: bass 
Lauren Trew: bass clarinet, vocals 
Colin Nelson: choir-leader, drums, percussion 
Matthew Ploszaj: choir 
Casey Ruff: choir 
Peter Colclasure: piano, accordion 
Paul Beaudry is in the choir, but does not appear on this recording 
Elin (Ella) Cameron: appears at times on the recording 
Recorded by Colin J. Nelson at Her Car Studios. Mastered by Carl Saff.




Facebook
Twitter
Bandcamp

Howe Gelb - Sno Angel Like You

A decade ago country musician Howe Gelb, who also records as Giant Sand, traveled from his southern Arizona home to Ottawa, Canada to record a project called Sno Angel.  Sno Angel was comprised of Gelb singing his loose-jointed country compositions with backing vocals by a Canadian Gospel Choir called Voices Of Praise.  The recording included seven songs composed for the Sno Angel project, three covers of Giant Sand songs, and three songs by the late slide guitarist Rainer Ptacek.  The album was slyly titled Sno Angel Like You.  The combination of Gelb's earthy sandpaper-soaked-in-Drambuie lead vocals, the evocative stories embodied in the songs, and the Gospel stylings of the backing vocals make for a transcendent listening experience.  The performances are bursting with life, with the performers playing off each other's contributions with building energy.  The production is amazingly clean, with the vocals high in the mix, as they should be.

For Gelb fans, I think this collection is a 'must have'.  But I submit that this is pretty close to a 'must have' for the collection of any music fan who isn't wedded to one narrow genre.  I've included streams of several album tracks below, and you can stream the entire album at the Bandcamp link

Sno Angel Like You is available now in a deluxe reissue on 3 CDs or 2 LPs.








Bandcamp for Sno Angel Like You
Facebook for Howe Gelb
Twitter
Website
Fire Records page for Howe Gelb

"Turns To Gold" by Jimi Charles Moody

The perfect venue for listening to "Turns To Gold", the new song from Jimi Charles Moody, would be a beer-soaked roadhouse at the edge of a dusty highway.  But rest assured that in our opinion there is no bad venue for listening to it.  Check out some more of Jimi's music at the Soundcloud link below, or by entering "Jimi" in this blog's search engine.  Get on the Jimi express -- which just may be an old big fin Caddy with red leather seats.


Facebook
Soundcloud
Twitter

"Death Row" by Jimi Charles Moody

We've been featuring the digital releases of Jimi Charles Moody since they began, and we happily note that we finally have a date for his first album release.  Islington will be out on vinyl in December.  To pass the time until then, Jimi has thoughtfully shared another album track, the fine "Death Row".  We still don't know the identity of the UK chart-topping artist providing these bluesy gems, but there is not question about the quality of his music.



Facebook
Twitter

"Bad Feeling" by Skin and Bones

Skin & Bones honed their sound busking in Southern California.  The core of the group is Taylor Borsuk, who sings and plays guitar, and Peter Blackwelder, who plays the violin both in conventional and less conventional ways.  For live shows, they sometimes call upon Amir Oosman (drums) and Bruce Stone (bass) to flesh out the sound.  Their sound is bluesy, folky, and lo-fi.  A particularly good introduction is the band' new single.  Why is it a good introduction?  Two reasons: (1) Very good song and very well performed; and (2) Free download.  We have the Soundcloud stream with a download button below, as well as a video of Taylor and Peter performing "Bad Feeling" and "Fire".  You also can check out their 2013 LP Someday Soon at their website link (the digital download is 'name your price').  Personally, I have a good feeling about this "Bad Feeling".






Website
Facebook
Twitter
Soundcloud for Bad Feeling

Introducing: Jimi Charles Moody

Following a week of no posts due to my bicycle crash and subsequent journey through modern pain pharmacology, it seems appropriate to recommence activity with a singer songwriter about which we can write very little, because very little is known.  According to one theory, Jimi Charles Moody is the alter ego of an artist that has charted well in another guise.  We assume that he is in the UK, as that is where his publicist is based.  What we do know is that he has unleashed two very good songs this year.    He sounds to me like Kelvin Swaby of The Heavy, but I'm on drugs anyway.  The most recent is "Other Man".  The impassioned vocals, piano and organ, and big choruses may take you back to Joe Cocker or the heyday of Stax Records.  And Jimi, while we can feel your virtual pain on seeing your love with another man, we love the resulting song.

The other track is the earlier released "Blue Honey", which delivers a lighter touch on keyboard-driven soul rock.

Jimi Charles Moody has that voice that we hope for when we listen to new music, and the songwriting chops to showcase it appropriately.  This is great stuff, folks.





Facebook
Soundcloud
Twitter

Cheating Sons - Cheating Sons

In our tireless search for good sounds in popular music, we find ourselves in Singapore, grooving on the self-titled album from Cheating Sounds.  Roots rock, blues, and a touch of country twang blend together in a spicy helping of musical comfort food.  The band draws on additional performers for strings, horns and additional percussion, and secured the production services of Los Angeles-based Manny Nieto for Cheating Sounds, who was flown into Singapore over the course of two years to help shape this self-funded labor of love.

Cheating Sons follows the band's previous LP by four years, but care, dedication and sacrifice is evident in the quality of the result.  The songs benefit from an intricacy of structure and precision in performance all too rare in popular music.  Perhaps I'm a pushover, but for the most part I was sold on the album by the opening track, "Courage, Courage", which I played several times before continuing.  Each succeeding song increased my appreciation until the penultimate offering of Roy Orbison-style wonderfulness, "Honeymoon".  At that point there could be no doubt.  I pulled on my boots, stood up and sang along (my apologies to my wife; my apologies to my dog).  What a lovely album!







If I have the players right, Cheating Sons are Lazarus Wang Renyi (vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica, lyricist), Leong Chee Shan (lead guitar), Donovan Loh (bass, mandolin, banjo, ukulele, lap steel and slide guitar) and Andy Liew (drums and percussion).  Additional contributions were made by Teoh Ying Da (trumpet), Joel Lee (sax), Joy Loh (violin), Kaitlin Wolfberg (violin), Natalie Soh (violin), Koh Zhong Ren (cello), Kevin Mthews (piano & keys), Fredo Ortiz (percussion), Rachael Teo (backing vocals), Narelle Kheng (backing vocals), Lee Yinqi (backing vocals), and Tok Xue Yi (backing vocals).

Facebook
Bandcamp
Twitter

Los Tones - Psychotropic

Please don't tell Sydney's Los Tones that the '60s are over.  Please.  Their brand of bluesy, psychedelic, surfy garage rock is perfect for ears that crave such sounds -- like mine.  And now that the band has given us Psychotropic -- a full LP of the delicious stuff -- we can band together to protect this treasure and keep the pipeline going.  We can do it -- don't mention the date!

This is dirty, gritty, primal garage, the stuff you fell in love with when you first heard The Sonics' belt out "Psycho", "The Witch", or "Strychnine".  The band has released singles previously, some of which were featured here, but I believe that Psychotropic is their debut album.  It is available in digital, CD and vinyl versions.  All versions can be sourced, and the entire album streamed, via the Bandcamp link below.







Los Tones are Bodie (guitar/vocals), Shaun (bass/vocals), Leigh (drums/vocals), and Nick (guitar/vocals).  They recently completed a European tour.

Facebook
Bandcamp

RIP Johnny Winter

Blue guitarist great Johnny Winter died  yesterday in a hotel room in Zurich.  I would take every opportunity to see Johnny.  The thought in the front of my brain was, "This is probably the last time I will ever see him play."  Johnny beat the reaper for decades.  Years of alcohol and heroin abuse,  from 1980 through 2005,made Johnny a perennial top draft pick in "death pools."  Winter resumed his career 2006 after kicking multiple habits.   I saw him a couple of years ago at the 35th Reunion for Vegetable Buddies - an iconic midwest music club.  Gaunt and frail but still capable letting loose with monster licks.

 In 1968,  Winter signed a contract with a bonus of $600,000 after being "discovered" by Columbia Records executives sitting in with Mike Bloomfield ad Al Kooper at the Fillmore East.  The following Spotify playlist is Winter's 1969 major album release.

 

Johnny left his own indelible mark when playing other artist's originals.  Everyone has their favorite Bob Dylan cover.  My favorite is Johnny's cover of "Highway 61 Revisited' - a version so rousing that i once found myself unintentionally driving over 100mph while lost in his guitar playing.

My favorite Johnny memory is from 1981 ChicagoFest on Navy Pier.  Muddy Waters was playing the blues stage.  I had scored tix on the SS Milwaukee, an old Lake Michigan ferry, 29 feet behind and 20 feet above the stage.  It was a humid 90 degree night with the audience packed cheek to jowl.  The fist half was classic Muddy and then Johnny walked on stage.  Fire up the Enola Gay.  It went nuclear.  I recently found this recording of the concert.  

"Hitched" from Kent Goolsby

I was impressed by Trophies of Youth, the 2013 debut LP from former Only Sons member Kent Goolsby (review here), so I have occasionally wondered what KEG is up to. I received my answer a few weeks ago when the man wrote me to announce the release of "Hitched", his new single for This Is American Music.  The product of his sessions for his second album, "Hitched" finds Goolsby exploring a finger picking western swing style in the joyful title track.  The bluesy B-side, which you can identify by its name -- "B-Side Blues" -- is a soulful acoustic track that provides a nice contrast to the opening party.

"Hitched" is available today via This Is American Music as a digital download at iTunes and Amazon.




Kent Goolsby & the Gold Standard are Kent Goolsby (guitar/vocals), Steve Daly (guitar/pedal steel/vocals), Joey Kneiser (drums/percussion/vocals), and Bingham Barnes (bass).  Joey Kneiser also handled the recording, mixing and mastering duties.

Website
Facebook
Twitter
This Is American Music

Introducing: Owl John

Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit seems to have a restless muse.  In addition to his composing and touring with his main band, he recently drew pictures of bicycles for a charity event.  Now he is launching a side project called Owl John.  In addition to Hutchison, the members are Andy Monaghan (also of Frabbit) and Simon Liddell.   Despite the connections, Owl John does not sound like Frightened Rabbit, but rather something you might hear in an American roadhouse from a bunch of well traveled and well worn musicians working with a bottle of Jack Daniels at their feet.  However, it sounds good and I'm interested in hearing more.



Website
Twitter

"To Be Alone" from Hozier, EP out April 28

Brandishing his own personal take on the blues, with soul and jazz touches, young Irishman Andrew Hozier-Byrne has one of those rare voices that will quiet a room.  Not through sheer volume, but via the power of emotion and the precision of his expression.  His songs are poetic and deep, and with his voice and sincere arrangements, it is blues for modern times.  His first EP was the four-track Take Me To Church.  His second EP From Eden will be released near the end of this month.  Here is a live version of one of the tracks, "To Be Alone", performed in Kilkenny, Ireland.




Here is the lead track to his first EP --


Website
Facebook
Twitter

D.D Dumbo - D.D. Dumbo EP

D.D Dumbo, the stage name for Castlemaine, Australia's Oliver Hugh Perry, is a pop and indie rock soul with an adventuresome, even unrestrained, delivery.  Using 12 string guitar, loop pedals and voice that rivals some of the top vocalists of the genre, he will paint you a musical picture using blues, psychedelia, dream pop, and, in a highlight moment, Roy Orbison's "Crying".  Interested?  I assure you that you should be.  I regret to inform you that the vinyl version of his five-track, self-titled EP is already sold out (blame your local blogger for not telling you sooner).  However, it remains available at digital outlets.  Lucky SXSW visitors can catch him live on the 12th and 15th of March (other dates likely will be added).

Devote your ears to the slashing blues riffs and soulful moan of "Tropical Oceans".  You won't regret it.



Track two is "I Woke Up Covered In Sand" -


Facebook
Twitter
The Blue Rider

REVIEW: Jimbo Mathus and the Tri-State Coalition - Dark Night of the Soul

Jimbo Mathus is a veteran of a number of musical styles (The Squirrel Nut Zippers' swing and The North Mississippi All-Stars' blues, to name two), but judging by the contents of Dark Night of the Soul, all of that was prelude to this. And this is, by any measure, a great American Southern rock album. I hear echoes of The Band, Crazy Horse, The Allman Brothers and Leon Russell, but that is by no means an exhaustive list of influences and cohorts for this album, which is, frankly, a bit of a masterpiece.

In addition to his band The Tri-State Coalition, Mathus is joined here by Eric “Roscoe” Ambel of the Del-Lords (and any number of great country rock albums - The Bottle Rockets' Brooklyn Side and Cheri Knight's The Knitter, to name only two) and Drive By Trucker Matt Patton. The band is terrific, and as great as the guitars - lead guitars on the uptempo rock tracks and pedal steel on the country rock stuff - are, it's Mathus' singing that is front and center. And that's as it should be, because he is equally comfortable with soul shouting on tracks like "White Angel", country crooning on "Shine Like a Diamond" and full-on roaring as on "Burn the Ships" and "Fire In the Canebrake". Here's a video of the latter - more laid-back than the album version, but you can hear Mathus' terrific vocal:



Here's "White Angel" - a perfect example of the expansive nature of the music on Dark Night, and probably overall the best track on the album:



The album was made in Mississippi at Dial Back Sound, owned by Fat Possum’s Bruce Watson. Watson and Mathus apparently pared down 40 songs to the 12 that made this album, and are to be applauded, based on the 12 that appear on Dark Night. Sequencing, production, it's all done extremely well. Every song on the album is terrific - "Casey Caught the Cannonball" swings, "Hawkeye Jordan" rocks, and "Medicine" is an old-style blues along the lines of, say, Howlin' Wolf's "Goin' Down Slow". Really, this is just a great rock album. Call it Americana - in the sense that it encompasses a lot of American musical styles (blues, country, soul, rock), that description probably fits as well as anything. But, above all, be sure to call it rock when you tell people about it, because above all, that's what it does. The album is out now (released Feb. 18) on Fat Possum/Big Legal Mess Records.

Jimbo Mathus website
Facebook
Fat Possum/Big Legal Mess Records

REVIEW: Leo Welch - Sabougla Voices

"I don't know what you come to do," says Leo "Bud" Welch on the opening track of this album, "but I come to praise his name." So Sabougla Voices is a gospel album, but a rollicking, hard-rocking blues gospel album that brings his Savior great honor (and probably great enjoyment). Welch, an 81-year old logging worker from Sabougla, MS, has played church music most of his life - fortunately, the large number of churches in Mississippi have created a rich gospel musical tradition that not only birthed the blues and related musics, it continued to feed a sacred strain that has had artists like Robert Randolph bubble up to national consciousness from time to time. After living his whole life in his birthplace, Welch is ready to enter our consciousness and has a topic he's proud to sing about.

Welch addresses the Saturday night/Sunday morning dichotomy that's become a truism over the years, and musically, he makes a mockery of it. His music is hard rocking and pure joy - in it, you hear echoes of fellow Mississippians Howling Wolf ("Mother Loves Her Children") and Muddy Waters ("A Long Journey"). That's not an idle comparison, or one inspired merely by geography. Welch is a truly great blues vocalist and he's assembled a terrific band here. In his words: “I believe in the Lord, but the blues speaks to life, too. Blues has a feeling just like gospel; they just don’t have a book (a Bible).” Welch continues to sing with two local gospel groups in the Bruce, Mississippi area, The Spiritualaires of Bruce, Mississippi and Leo Welch and the Sabougla Voices. You can also catch Leo hosting The Black Gospel Express TV show every 1st and 5th Sunday on WO7BN-TV in Bruce.

I know it probably sounds like a cliche - an 81-year old, undiscovered gospel blues singer, a manual laborer most of his adult life, calls the offices of Fat Possum imprint Big Legal Mess Records to ask if the label which featured Junior Kimbrough might be interested in his music. But it is very real. Welch has never released an album before Sabougla Voices, but when you listen to this thing, all you can think is, that doesn't matter. This is a wonderful record - please listen and share it with friends.

Check out the lead track, "Praise His Name":





Sabougla Voices is out this week (Jan. 7) on Big Legal Mess Records.

Leo Welch at Big Legal Mess Records