Debbie Bond – Live at the Song Theater
CD Baby
12 Tracks – 52 minutes
Debbie Bond was born in California but moved to Europe and then Sierra Leone, West Africa with her family where at age 13 she played her first performance. In 1979 she returned to the U.S. and settled into Alabama where she started making the rounds of juke joints and festivals in the region. In the early 80’s, she started playing with Johnny Shines until his death in 1992. She them worked with Eddie Kirkland, Little Jimmy King, and Alabama blues man Wilie King. She toured with the latter bluesman until his death in 2009. She released her debut solo album, What Goes Around Comes Around in 1998. She was recognized as a Blues Achiever by the Alabama Hall of Fame, inducted into the National Blues Hall of Fame and in 2023 was nominated for UK Blues Federation’s “Best International Blues Act”.
The album was recorded at the Song Theater in Columbian, Alabama. The band consists of Debbie on guitar and vocals, her British-born husband “Radiator” Rick Asherson on keyboards, harp and keyboard bass, Marcus “Jukeman” Lee on drums, and “Magic” Sam Wilson on sax.
“That Thing Called Love” is the title song from her 2014 album. Debbie explains “Love is a power so simple and strange, you just can’t explain, a mystery and magic, so simple and plain”. “Road Song” rocks out as she says, “this old road don’t own me”. “We just keep rolling from town to town”. “Watch Out for Your Heart” warns “Girl, don’t lose your head. You gotta watch out for your heart. That man’s no good.”
“Let Me Be” shifts into R&B as Debbie declares “I am trying to break the shackles locked around my heart.” “It’s a dangerous world out there filled with fear and doubt”. “Some Kind of Wonderful” written and recorded by The Soul Brothers Six in 1967 and later popularized by Grand Funk Railroad shifts into Motown with Sam’s sexy sax slithering through the song. She offers a social message as she asks, “Don’t you feel the winds of change blowin’ in the wrong direction” on “Winds of Change”.
She notes “I ain’t old but I have been “Been Around a Long Time” on the song written by Delbert McClinton, Glen Clark and Gary Nicholson and recorded by Delbert in 2013. Rick plays some sharp honky-tonk piano and a short shot of harmonica on the song. She then covers Ann Peebles’ 1972 “I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down” which was written by Edward Randle. Rick takes the lead vocal as they venture into New Orleans for “Going Back” as he notes “We’re gonna dance all night long to a zydeco beat and a two-step Cajun song”.
“She explores the contradictions of life on “Nothing but the Blues” as she chastises “You claim you’re killing for peace to set people free, but people are dying is all we can see”. On the whimsical blues shuffle “Wishbone”, Debbie expresses concerns “Went to the doctor said what’s wrong with me… She checked my heart. She checked my mind. Just one more thing he had to check my spine. Don’t take no x-ray vision it’s plain to see, got a wishbone where my backbone should be.” The album closes with “Blues Without Borders” from her 2021 album of the same name as she cries “The whole world’s in trouble, got to find our common ground. Come together people or we won’t even be around”.
Debbie delivers a fun album mixed with expressions of social concerns. Debbie and her husband have been touring together for twenty years and clearly establish a musical rapport now supported by Sam’s sax and Marcus’s rhythmic excellence.
