Doug Duffey and BADD – Ain’t Goin’ Back
Fort Sumner Music LLC
11 songs – 51 minutes
Based out of Monroe, La., and delivering a distinctive, unique blend of blues, soul and more, Doug Duffey and BADD produce music that’s fresh but delivers a loving tip of the hat to their rich, swampy roots on their latest CD. And the roux of bayou funk, bluesiana and Delta soul they produce simmers in a delightful, hard-to-define manner throughout.
Duffey fronts the four-piece unit on keys and vocals. A musician who’s been honored with a plaque on the Northeast Louisiana Blues Trail and induction into the National Blues Hall of Fame and two regional halls, too, Doug is a 50-year music veteran who playing professionally at age 14 and spent years touring in out of New Orleans delivering Big Easy sounds to the world.
He’s backed here by co-producer Dan Sumner on guitars, trumpet, bass and percussion along with drummer Adam Ryland and bassist Ben Ford. They’re augmented by harp player Dave P. Moore and horn players Jonathan Patterson (trombone) and Bert Windam (trumpet). The set wa recorded, mixed and mastered at Fort Sumner Studio in Monroe by Michael Rasbury.
A solitary six-string run opens “Whirlpool.” It’s a propulsive ballad with harp accents in which Duffey finds himself attempting to sleep but keeps awakening because of a reverie in which he’s trapped in the river and being pulled down by the undertow. The rhythm section’s rock-steady work mirror the water’s flow as it drives the action slowly but steadily forward.
The swamp feel continues and the action quickens for “You Got What It Takes,” which conveys the message that the singer knows that – if he’s not careful – his lady’s capable of grabbing everything he’s got. Discordant keys, horns and guitar add a foreboding feel. The bittersweet love song, “The Wishing Game,” is an acoustic pleaser with backwoods flair. In this one, Duffey describes his undying, unrequited devotion to a woman who was in a tortured affair with another, cheating man.
The hard-driving “Rock It All Night” promises plenty of good times at the local juke joint because it’ll be swinging all night long before the down-home “Front Porch Blues” speaks about the solidarity of living and alone in the country, which is propelled by Moore on the reeds. It’s a peaceful existence despite the sounds of a train in the distance and the realization that the singer’s going nowhere.
The intensity increases for “Get ’er Outa Yo Head,” a number that follows along the same lines as “The Wishing Well” but with the realization that it’s time to dwell on something else. The theme continues in “Turn It Around,” which finds Doug dealing with too many problems on the outside that he can’t deal with the ones in his head, and resolution in the rocker, “No Mercy,” albeit with the realization that his lady is “as hard-hearted as a body can be.”
“Promised Land” follows with Duffey yearning for something different in life but unknowing what that difference might be before “Gallus Pole” – a number whose title references traditional songs about the gallows – is equally as foreboding. All’s good, though, if – as the harp-driven closer suggests – Doug “Ain’t Goin’ Back.”
The dark messages here are as thick as the fog on a misty Southern morning. That said, the musicianship here is mighty fine and well worth a listen.
