Eric Allen – Prowlin’ Lobo Blues | Album Review

Eric Allen – Prowlin’ Lobo Blues

Self-Release – 2022

www.facebook.com/ericallen40years

13 tracks; 56 minutes

Originally from Indiana, Eric Allen has played and lived in New York for over a decade but the music on his second album is rooted in the West, as he explores themes set in the world of railroads and small towns, conjuring up images of hobos, illegal alcohol production, swamps and chain gangs. The music is all original, mainly acoustic, five tunes are solo efforts with Eric on guitar and vocals but the remaining eight tracks add other musicians, such as bassist James Thomason and guitarist Michael Maslennikov who appear on several tracks; there are also appearances by Tom Peng on mandolin, Dadan on banjo, Maikel Liem on electric bass, Noak Hokker on trumpet, Pikar Rozi on double bass, Tamir on fiddle, Greg Luttrell on harmonica, Kenny Leonore on keyboards and Hikmat Yakha on guitar.

Eric has a gruff voice which works well on the material here and helps to evoke the images in the lyrics. The title track opens the album in jaunty style, mandolin, banjo and guitar underpinned by warm double bass as Eric describes the routes taken by the wolf as he roams his domain in the Old West. The fast-paced music allows the players to show their dexterity and Eric’s own ability as an acoustic player can be heard on the following “Itinerant Blues” on which he is accompanied only by double bass on a song about hoboing during the Great Depression. The lyrics also explore what is termed “the poor man’s divorce”, when the man felt too ashamed to return home to his wife (or perhaps that he was actually enjoying his new-found freedom). “Black Water Buff” is a song about taking revenge on an unfaithful partner, in this case shooting the straying woman and then following the lover down to Louisiana to kill him too! Played solo by Eric, it’s a brooding tune with Eric’s semi-spoken lyrics conveying the guy’s rage. A second version of the song entitled “Terrebonne” (the place in Louisiana where the protagonist tracks down his enemy) appears later on the album, same lyrics, but an electric version which gives the tune a little more drive, but perhaps less menace.

The brooding “Penance” is mainly instrumental, the single verse being a dark message about paying for one’s actions and the confessional “Somewhere Beyond” is also played solo, Eric’s gruff tones describing how he feels safe on the stage, singing his songs. “Ball In The Street” looks back at his Indiana home while “Short Line Rag” lives up to its title with the fast-paced rhythm being a ‘rag’ while the lyrics describe the race between two railroad companies to reach Promontory Point, Utah, first, with the novelty that the song is written from the perspective of a short haul train that fears being made obsolete, a clever song.

The remaining songs add more musicians and instruments. “Workin’ On The Blues” is a change of style with trumpet adding a jazzy feel to the choppy rhythms created by two guitars and bass, the lyrics describing the life of the working musician. There is a story that Al Capone’s mafia transported alcohol from Canada to Chicago by train, using border town “Moose Jaw” as their base of operations and Eric has written a song about that and adds harmonica and washboard to his acoustic guitar while double bassist Pikar Rozi creates a driving rhythm that evokes the trains. “Fire In The Canyon” starts with lugubrious fiddle and builds in pace and intensity to create a real feel of threat from the fire, though Eric’s notes suggest that the song may be more about us being manipulated to fear certain groups of people. “Tomcat Stroll” is the closest we get to the blues here, piano and harp certainly giving the song a familiar feel to blues fans and Eric closes the album with a lighter, folky feel on “Free Blue”.

Eric has written some impressive songs here and conveys them well with his gruff vocal style and adept acoustic guitar, ably aided by other musicians on some songs. The music is mainly in the Americana style, but there are occasional elements of blues. Those readers who enjoy acoustic music with strong lyrics may well want to hear this one.

Please follow and like us:
0