Granvil Poynter – Cigarettes and Gin
Self-Released
14 tracks – 53 minutes
Arkansas native Granvil Poynter got his start playing in the roadhouses in his native state. But then he relocated to San Antonio where he was won that city’s Best Blues Artist. His sound was originally based in the blues rock of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton, but he extended his interest in the blues with an appreciation of John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Albert King and others of the old masters. Billy Gibbons recognized his talent and has included him on both his solo shows and on ZZ Top bills.
Granvil’s band includes him on guitar and vocals with Raul G. Garcia on drums, and Davis Meissner on drums on eleven tracks. Tracks 1,3 &4 has George Rains on drums and Jack Barber on bass. Armen J. Chakmakian also adds B3 and Wurlitzer organ to tracks 2,4, & 12.
The album comes out rockin’ with “Hot Rod Baby”, which he says is “the fastest thing in town”. An easy-flowing guitar follows in a slow blues that says it is “just another night of “Cigarettes and Gin”” as “my baby tells me to just come on home and quit messing around with that guitar”.
He then moves to a slow rockin’ cover of Rory Gallagher’s “Texas Girl”. “The Hurt” is another slow groove blues with the organ providing an undercurrent as Granvil sings “When the hurt is over, there will be no more pain”. New Orleans’ “Rockin’ Sidney” Simien’s “Tell Me” is the next cover and again is given some tasteful guitar fills. That is followed with another cover, Little Walter Jacob’s well-known “Blues with a Feeling”.
“Cadillac Love” gets everything rocking again as he says he is “living in luxury and the glamorous life for me” and will be “cruisin’ all night with my baby and me” with a slight 60’s style surf sound. The traditional “This Little Light” follows. On “Real Tuff”, he says “Baby, you’re not so big, but you’re real tuff. ” While not similar in approach, I cannot shy away from thinking of The Fabulous Thunderbirds’ “Tuff Enough”.
He calls for someone to bring me a bottle of “Whiskey”. “I found out yesterday that my baby ain’t my baby no more”. On “T-bird A Go Go” he brings in an array of guitarists for a series of guitar flash. Jimmy Spacek, Sam Massy, Dennis Fallon, and Van Wilks join Granvil for an instrumental interlude. On “Tacoland”, Granvil sings “it is three o’clock in the morning” and “You know you are going to get yours, one day the axe is going to fall, and I hope I am around”.
A cover of Peter Green’s “Looking For Somebody” which notes that “I Have a feeling that blues is going to be my only way.” “You are looking for somebody and I am looking for someone too”. He ends the album with his obvious vehicular obsession with “Fast Car” in another rockin’ boogie.
Granvil’s guitar is never flashy, but instead in his terms, he is known as the “master of the less is more approach to blues”. An apt description of his easy picking guitar style that makes the album comfortable ear candy. His vocals are also smooth with a slight wear to them.
