Doug Duffey and Badd – Trapped in the Blues
Independent
9 Tracks – 41 minutes
Louisiana native Doug Duffey says, “There has never been a time in my life when I wasn’t making music”. He started playing in clubs in local clubs over 50 years ago and released the first of several albums under his own name in 1994. He has written songs form any other artists including Marcia Ball, George Clinton, Funkadelic and Rare earth to name a few. More recently, he joined with his band, Badd and released their first album in 2019. The liner notes call the music “100% Original Louisiana Blues, Delta Soul, Bayou Funk, Gumbo Jazz, producing a sound best described as Swampedelic”. Rather his music is a cross breed of music from the deep south ranging from Memphis to New Orleans and the Delta region.
The band consists of Duffey on vocals, acoustic grand piano, Hammond B3 and Fender Rhodes; Dan Sumner and guitar, bass, percussion and vocals; Benjamin Ford on bass; and Adam Ryland on drums. Lisa Spann joins with the band for some additional vocals on this album. Doug and Dan self-produced the album.
“All Your Time”, a piano-driven blues with a carefully laid in guitar, kicks off the album with a bit of rock as he tells his woman that he wants her “to spend all your time with me.” The title song opens with a smooth guitar and Doug offering “When you are down and discouraged and nothing seems to be going right / all alone broke, sick, and worried, don’t think you can make it through the night”. He continues to say that he “will be there to give a helping hand”. No question that he defines everything that would cause someone to be “Trapped in the Blues”. Dan’s guitar defines the song with Doug’s B3 floating in the background.
Doug cries that they tried too hard to hold onto a “Good Love Gone Bad” as they “have waited too late to fix it”. He tells her to “Talk to Me” as he demands she “come over here, open your ears, let me make things perfectly clear.” “You seem to be upset, but you won’t tell me why”. On “Somethin’s Gotta Give”, a smooth, jazzy guitar carries the song as Doug’s piano underscores his concern that sometimes you “feel like you are banging your head against the wall / you do your best, but nothing ever gets better /everything you make never pans out no matter how hard you try.”
Doug proclaims, “Nobody Cares About You” as “it’s a damn, sad fact…unless you got something they want”. “People will stab you in the back while grinning in your face”. “Let ‘er Rip” really gets the music jumping as he finds some positive directions. Lisa Spann adds to the vocals bringing to mind songs from Delaney and Bonnie. Here he is ready to “party like I lost my mind”.
On “Every Dog Got It’s Day” he states, “When I first started sniffing around your door, it was love at first scent / when I got a taste I wanted more, but you slipped the collar on and off you went / you kept me in the doghouse tail tucked between my legs / always making me beg.” The song is certainly cliched and Doug even acknowledges in the song that the title is an “old saying that people used back in the day”. The album ends with Doug’s organ dominating the sound on “and leads into a fine guitar solo by Dan. On the song, Doug tells the tale of individuals that might look or act a little different, but they are “Gettin’ Along Just Fine”.
The band is never less than top-notch with Doug’s smooth vocals and well-conceptualized lyrics identifying many of the concerns that leads to individuals suffering the blues. The pandemic certainly caused many to suffer the doubts and depression expressed in the initial songs on this album. While he establishes in the notes mentioned earlier that his music comes from the Delta, I find this album might have more in common with The Atlanta Rhythm Section than New Orleans. It is a very enjoyable album, but perhaps moving into a more current, popular sound. Not a bad thing, but maybe a shift in the band’s sound that should be recognized.
