Grant Lyle – And Now
Seismic Blues Music
9 Tracks – 35 minutes
The Canadian born, Toronto-based guitar player is releasing his eighth solo album. He started playing and writing songs as a teenager, His first album, Brotherhood, was released in 1998. That title carries over as the name of his backing group. In 2002, he teamed with fellow Canadian guitarist and music venue owner, Jeff Healey, for a six song EP, Live at Healy’s. His influences come from classic rock, soul and blues. He is well-recognized in Canada for his expressive guitar work. He stated in an interview with the Music Network blog, “If I can’t put the blues into what I’m playing then I feel like I am not properly contributing to the music. The sound and feel of the great blues musicians are what I aspire to. The other stuff just seeped in as a result of being exposed to it.”
In addition to Grant on guitar and all lead vocals, he is backed by bassist Scott Brammer, drummer Michael Sloski , percussionists Al Cross and Owen Tennyson, keyboard player Rob Gusevs, Roly Platt on harmonica and backing vocalists Jenna Harding and Pat Dickinson.
The album consists of eight originals and one cover and kicks off with “Won’t Let You Go”, a slow, soulful start with Grant saying, “all I want from you is to believe, I never want to let you go”. He tells her “Thank You” and says “your love is the light that’s in the sky”. On “Lose It” he continues his love story and tells her “I don’t want to lose you, baby”. “Holdin’ you should have been easy, but lovin’ you sure defeats me”.
“We’ll Carry On” continues the romance with a statement of his perseverance, and optimism for the future. The song is another slow, romantic blues with that proclaims “there is a light around you when no one is around. He next declares “We may fall, but we’ll carry on”. He then advises “Flying way too high and fail to touch the sky …but with “Asylum” in your arms I can weather any storm.” Roly’s harmonica helps to drive this sentimental song. He picks up speed on “One Desire” as he determines “I believe I am on top of the world, I can see that I gotta get back to you.” His one desire is for her “to take me higher, set me on fire”.
The title song “And Now” certainly anchors his emotional approach to the album as he expresses that the “light is all around you, right here and now you shine”. “Over the horizon I can still hear you callin’ deep inside me.” On “Givin’ Away”, Grant asks “Who will call your name louder every day and wait for your reply? Who will stand aside, go in your pride, and love you more each day? I’ve been searching so long for someone who won’t lead me on.” He maintains a strong, emotional touch to every original song and carries that on into the sole cover on the album, an energetic cover of The Spencer Davis Group’s 1966 song “Gimme Some Lovin'”. You get the feel of the original song which seems to also have a touch of The Steve Miller Band thrown into the mix. Grant concludes the album with some fine guitar mixed with Rob’s organ.
Rob and his band deliver smooth, soulful blues throughout the album perhaps with some throwback to 1970’s blues albums. His guitar carries the same emotional pull as generated by his voice. His sound may be from the past, but it is something not commonly heard on many of today’s recordings and is certainly a welcome, enjoyable listen.
