Joe Payne – Blues Muze
Independent release
10 Tracks – 44 minutes
On the inside cover of Joe Payne’s album, the first thing you see is a note that says, “Special thanks to my brothers Gene, Gary and Larry for all these years of inspiration and friendship” From a bio provided by Joe, he explains that “I started my music journey with my three brothers Gene, Larry, and Gary in Sweet Springs, Missouri. My father, Berry Gene Payne bought a Kay guitar and a small amp. One day while my dad was at work, Gene went into my dad’s room and brought the guitar and amp out to our front porch. We began trying to play.”
“Gene got an offer to play bass in a local black rhythm and blues band. So, my dad, Gene and I went to a music store and bought a sound amp, an Egmund guitar, and a bass guitar. We soon brought our younger brothers into the mix. Gary soon took over the bass duties and Gene switched to vocals with Larry and me on guitar. Around 1970 we started playing professionally as the Payne Brothers. We played locally for 45 years and put out two cd’s – Blink of an Eye and Take on Life. After Gene passed, we added Chris Trimblett on keyboards and sax. We played with so many great musicians including Robert Top Thomas, Shawn Beamer and Scott Corwin. The band eventually disbanded.”
Joe now lives in Edgewater, Florida where he continues to play as Joe Payne and Friends. This led to his recording at Sonny Yambor’s Sun Splash Studios in New Smyrna Beach Florida. Musicians on the recording include Bryan Bennett on drums on track two through ten and Billy Dean on track one; Mark Evangelista on bass and harmony vocals and lead vocals on track three; Lois Ridgdill on Hammond organ and backing vocals; Ryan Little on electric piano; and Mike Kaye also playing bass. Joe said “We produced my first solo cd to give credit and tribute to all the great guitarist who came before me and influenced me to write this original CD.”
As Joe stated, the album consists of ten all original songs with “Blues Busters” rocking out of the gate with Joe proclaiming “if you are feeling lonely, if you are feeling blue, call on us we know what to do”. Joe’s guitar rocks out with Ryan playing a robust piano interlude. On “Honey Child”, he moves to a blues shuffle, Joe questions “Where in the world did you get your honey from…I just got to get me some”. “Iron Horse” gets the music rocking again as Joe tells a story about “when the full moon is rising up on the desert sky, the stagecoach is loaded tomorrow noon and headed for another town” “Rode into town this morning and the sheriff was looking for me.” Joe’s guitar is backed by Lois’s organ.
He gets back into full blues mode as he sings” Mississippi Blues Man ” “plays the blues for you, nobody gonna slow the Bluesman down.” “Johnny Was a Good Boy” ‘that is what they say, went to church to learn to pray.” “As he got older, he got into trouble with the law…hanging out with the wrong crowd”. “When he got out, he bought a guitar, everybody loved the music he played”. Lois’s organ again gets a workout in the song with Joe again ripping a guitar solo. “Sea Of Blues” slows things down as “hard luck and troubles were bound my way, going down for a third time cause I am drowning in a sea of blues”. Joe’s guitar rings out on this one.
Joe then asks, “Will the Blues Ever Change” with a guitar opening that reminds of Peter Green and the organ continues to flow through the song as Joe pleads “Oh Lord will things ever change, Oh Lord will they remain the same, all this pain and sorrow, will this be the same tomorrow.” Next Joe evokes some humor as she “told everyone I am just a fool, but you are running around breaking the all the rules”. “You are just not thinking right, your “Wig Hat” is too tight for your head.”
“Momma did not have much money, Momma just had ragged clothes.” “Life was not easy working on the plantation” as Joe sings of “Mississippi Freedom” and that’s where he wants to be. The album ends with a bouncy instrumental “Funky Avenue”.
Joe shifts gears constantly from song to song and even within a song letting his guitar soar at times and at other times content to let it slide along in the blues. Just as you think you pick up on some touch of a particular guitar style, he quickly and deftly shifts to another making the playing his own.
