Cover photo © 2024 Bob Kieser

 In This Issue 

Bucky O’Hare has our feature interview with Robert Finley. We have four Blues reviews for you this week including new music from Steve Baker, Paul Reed Smith Eightlock, Kevin Burt & Big Medicine and Ingvay. Our Video of the Week is The Cash Box Kings. Scroll down and check it out!

Steve Baker – Too Much Is Never Enough

Timezone Records

www.stevebaker.de

10 songs time – 43:17

English singer-songwriter-harmonica player and slide guitarist Steve Baker presents an Americana-Roots program. It’s all acoustic guitars, upright bass and occasional drums or percussion, with his melodic harmonica being the star of this show. All the musicians are sympathetic to each other. Steve wrote all but one song.

“Poison Chalice” is relevant in regards of some current political dilemmas. The CD title is a lyric lifted from this song. Mournful and melancholy harmonica and slide guitar set the atmosphere. Here and elsewhere his harmonica playing is melodic and limber, unlike many current players. There are some very interesting beats on the upbeat “Take Me For A Fool”. “Distant Shore” appears to be about the afterlife.

The narrator speaks of an uplifting partner in the love song “Too Broken To Mend”. I find “Fools Paradise” and “Terminal Road” to be a bit pessimistic. That being said, “Terminal Road” stands out for its’ infectiously funky harmonica riffing. “Charles Delondes Ghost” is one song that I am not sure of the subject matter, but it maintains a profound quality. Steve commits a good version of Bob Dylan’s “I Dreamed I Saw Saint Augustine”. The slow and tender “Gina’s Lullaby” is for his daughter Gina who does the harmony vocal near song’s end. It is a lovely sentiment to conclude this moving record.

This close to acoustic recording is both relaxing and thought provoking. All the instrumentalists are very good, with Steve’s harmonica playing being a revelation. Robert Carl Blank and Uli Kringler provide guitar support throughout. Mr. Baker is now based in Germany and many of the musicians appear to be German. It is encouraging to see music such as this get international recognition. There are subtle elements of the blues incorporated here, but it is largely a singer-songwriter affair. One that is surely worthy of your attention.

Reviewer Greg “Bluesdog” Szalony hails from the New Jersey Delta.

Paul Reed Smith Eightlock – Lions Roaring in Quicksand

Steele Records SR003

www.eightlockband.com

14 songs – 64 minutes

A revered guitar builder and six-string stylist with an international reputation, Paul Reed Smith and his band, Eightlock – the name stands for eight musicians locked together, hit on all cylinders on this CD, which took three years in making and delivers strong statements against a world at war and the belief in the healing power of love and forgiveness.

Smith’s toured with Santana, the Doobie Brothers, After Bridge and others in addition to fronting his own bands for decades. The Maryland resident is a Vintage Guitar Magazine hall-of-famer, and he’s joined here by an equally impressive roster of sidemen.

The second and third guitar chairs are held by vocalists Mike Gault a fixture in the Washington, D.C., music scene and a studio musician who’s worked for both the Discovery Channel and National Geographic in addition to performing with David Grissom and Davy Knowles, and St. Louis native Bill Nelson, who toured nationally for decades before becoming director of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. He was invited into Eightlock because of its commitment to raising funds to support patients and their families.

Baltimore native Mia Samone, a gospel-trained vocalist who works with Sol Roots and Detroit James, delivers lead on the mic throughout while Gregory Grainger (Whitney Houston), Dennis Chambers (George Duke, Chambers Brothers) and JuJu House (Roberta Flack) add drums and percussion and Gary Grainger (Nancy Wilson, Bill Evans) holds down bass. The disc also features guest appearances from Benjie Perecki on keys and Gregg Erwin on slide guitar, and Chuck Brown and Sugar Bear Elliott lend their voices, too.

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Smith and James Zimmers, this set features ten originals and four covers. “Sarah” opens the action with a beat-heavy, discordant feel before quickly shifts as Mia joins the action and describes her grief after hearing the title character’s song of despair. After a stellar mid-tune solo from Paul, however, she’s on a journey toward more fortunate days ahead. More encouragement comes through “Never Give Up on Livin’,” which advises “letting go is enough for me,” and the upbeat “I’m Ready” because the singer knows the secret to her survival.

A slowed-down open to Al Green’s “Love and Happiness” takes you to church before the guitars enter the action and the strong bottom drives the mood higher and higher. It’ll put a smile on the good Reverend’s face. The funky “Man in the Moon” keeps the heat on high as Samone recounts a lover who was big on promises but now is nowhere in sight. The pace slows for “Breathe,” which stresses the necessity to step back from your troubles to gain second sight. It flows into a tasty cover of Barrett Strong’s “War” and it’s familiar tagline: “What is it good for? Absolutely nothin’.”

A drum solo kicks off “Phoenix in My Blood,” a complaint about being “tormented and destroyed by the tides of love,” which gives way to the much more pleasant memory of “Drivin’ at Night” – forever – with the good man at the singer’s side. The percussive “Look at the Moon” mixes in spoken words as it addresses the blessings delivered under the orb’s spell.

Alejandro Alex Gonzalez Trujillo and Fher Olvera Sierra’s “Ay, Doctor” returns to the subject of troubled romance atop a Latin beat before “Echoes,” “He’s the One” and Elliot Theodore Denenberg’s “99” bring the disc to a successful close.

Definitely not your old-school, one-four-five blues, this is a tremendous package loaded with outstanding musicianship, deep beats and tunes that are thoroughly contemporary, have lush arrangements and material that’s both thought-provoking and healing, too.

Blues Blast Magazine Senior writer Marty Gunther has lived a blessed life. Now based out of Mason, Ohio, his first experience with live music came at the feet of the first generation of blues legends at the Newport Folk Festivals in the 1960s. A former member of the Chicago blues community, he’s a professional journalist and blues harmonica player who co-founded the Nucklebusters, one of the hardest working bands in South Florida.

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Kevin Burt & Big Medicine – Thank You Brother Bill: A Tribute to Bill Withers

Gulf Coast Records

www.kevinburtmusic.net

13 songs – 53 minutes

Kevin Burt has been thrilling audiences from his home base in Iowa for better than 25 years with a soulful delivery that’s beyond compare, and he hits the high notes with the stellar CD, which should finally give him the international acclaim he deserves. It’s a deep dive into the catalog of soul-blues master Bill Withers, one of his primary influences.

Possessing a powerfully warm, smooth and relaxed mid-range voice that’s perfectly suited for the material, Kevin puts new life into a dozen of the songwriting legend’s tunes – many of which have worked their way into the American songbook – and adds a loving tribute to his idol, too.

As he explains in the liner notes: “Listening to Bill Withers…sing a song instantly attaches itself to my soul. His story relates to my story. His songs relate to different points in time in my life like no other as an artist. I hope to someday have an impact on someone else’s world the way Mr. Withers has had an impact on mine.”

A self-taught musician, actor and road dog who’s an inductee of the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame, Burt plays more than 300 dates a year. He captured this set at the Sound Box Recording Studio in Cedar Rapids. He accompanies himself on guitar and harp here with backing from his regular band, Big Medicine, which is composed of Ken Valdez on lead and rhythm six-string, Scot Sutherland on bass and Eric Douglas on percussion. And they cook steadily in support throughout while giving Kevin plenty of space to shine.

The depth of Burt’s affection for the material is evident from the opening notes of “Who Is He (and What Is He to You?,” a number that first appeared on the “Still Bill” album in 1972, was featured in the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown and has remained in regular circulation on the airwaves ever since. It features a deep, funky beat and a biting mid-tune guitar solo. A solitary drumbeat and brief harp run open “Kissing My Love,” which appeared as the first cut on the B-side of the LP, and professes eternal affection for a lady. And Kevin works out on the reeds mid-tune, too.

The sound level drops but the intensity remains the same for “World Keeps Going Round and Round,” a slow-paced number that stresses no matter how many roadblocks or successes you’ve enjoyed, the globe keeps spinning and more are on the horizon. The Withers-penned “Just the Two of Us” – which was a monster hit for Grover Washington Jr. – follows before Kevin delivers the bittersweet ballad, “I’m Her Daddy,” in which a man discovers six years later that he’s a father and peppers the mother about the child.

You’ll love Burt’s version of “Ain’t No Sunshine,” the 1971 song produced by Booker T. Jones that hit the No. 3 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart and launched Withers into the stratosphere, and “Lean on Me,” which follows and ranks No. 208 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest songs of all-time. The light-and-airy “Let Us Love” features more reed work throughout and yields to the cautionary “Another Day to Run,” which advises taking a good look and correct yourself or else you’ll be repeating the same mistakes for all time.

Three more Withers standards — “Grandma’s Hands,” “The Same Love That Made Me Laugh,” and “Hope She’ll Be Happier” – follow before the album closes with the original, “Thank You Brother Bill,” which states: “There would be so many holes in the souls if your music wasn’t here to fill.” Kevin cleverly incorporates many of the titles of the songs that preceded this one in his works of gratitude.

Run, don’t walk to acquire this one. It’s a winner on all counts!

Blues Blast Magazine Senior writer Marty Gunther has lived a blessed life. Now based out of Mason, Ohio, his first experience with live music came at the feet of the first generation of blues legends at the Newport Folk Festivals in the 1960s. A former member of the Chicago blues community, he’s a professional journalist and blues harmonica player who co-founded the Nucklebusters, one of the hardest working bands in South Florida.

This video is The Cash Box Kings complete first set of their CD release party at at Rosa’s Lounge back in May of 2023 for their latest album, Oscar’s Motel. (Click image to watch!)

The Cash Box Kings are performing at the Winter Blues Fest in Des Moines, IA  on Saturday, February 10th, 2024.

For tickets and info on this great Blues event visit https://cibs.org or click on their ad in this issue!

“At the end of the day nobody can be you but you. I think a lot of people spend too much time imitating somebody else rather than being themselves. It won’t happen until you start being yourself. You have got to be different. There’s no way around it, you have to be different. If you’re imitating someone else, they’ve already lived that dream. You have to be yourself. That’s what brings out the best in you. And that’s what people are looking for, the best. They expecting the best. At the same time, they want you to give them joy. If the audience can leave happier than they came, they’ll always come back. In my case I’ll be a hell of a lot tired-er than I was when I got there (chuckles), but I got time till the next show.”

Robert Finley is an indomitable spirit. A success story in his early 60’s, Robert is, on face value, the epitome of the classic “discovered” Bluesman living in obscurity and finally finding recognition. But, that well worn narrative does disservice to this warm, thoughtful, and joyous artist. A tall man who always sports a big hat, Robert’s deep bassy voice animates his Southern accent, which has flecks of the Midwest. His hometown of Bernice is after all only a short drive south of the Arkansas border in Northern Louisiana. Robert’s mostly original music is all about community and love. Finding success through collaboration especially with label owner, producer, and Black Key Dan Auerbach, Robert has found his voice soaring to the heights of international stardom. But, Robert is humble and appreciative, it’s how he has persevered.

“You’ve got to love it to do it. If it wasn’t for the love of the people, I couldn’t do it. I could drop a quarter, it might hurt me to bend over and pick it up. I might just leave it there for the floor sweep. But if the music playin’ and the crowd is screamin’, then the energy, I feed off the crowd. The more they scream, the more I’ll do. If I have to turn myself backwards, then that’s what I’ll do. Cause I come as an entertainer.”

Being an entertainer has been Robert’s lifelong calling. At an early age Robert found he could express himself through song, make friends and draw in a crowd.

“When I was in elementary school I played guitar on a talent show. It was a thing they used to have, Family Fun Night. All the teachers and parents would come out once a year for Family Fun Night. That was the first time I played guitar in public and a friend of mine played harmonica. We would all get together and do that. I know I wanted to be an entertainer from childhood, from way childhood. Just watching Elvis Presley, and James Brown, and Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles. I wore out many pairs of shoes trying to do the James Brown side walk. My dad’d buy me a new pair of shoes, I’d tear ‘em up doing the James Brown. All I know was ‘oh I feel good.’ I probably felt good cause I wasn’t out in that damn cotton field. I felt good clownin’ on the sidewalk tryin’ to entertain the little girls.”

Like many young men in late 60’s and 70’s, Robert was drawn into the military. Joining in 1970, Robert was soon identified as a musician and began to play in military bands. Although the military lifestyle didn’t suit him, the lessons he learned in the military still stick with him. “Everything I had learned has been paying off.” Robert theorizes, “working with different musicians all the time in the military, I could perform with pretty much anybody. That was a blessing in itself.”

Robert further explains his process:

“As long as the bassman play the bass right that’s all that matters. Ain’t no problem with that lead or the drums, everybody just do what they came to do. With me, I say, I work better under pressure. I don’t like to practice, I don’t like to rehearse. I just like to do it. Cause if you practice and you rehearse, you know what everybody’s supposed to do, they do somethin’ different you lookin’ at them crazy. Everybody in the building know they did something wrong cause everybody in the band lookin’ at that one person. So best thing to do is have a jam session and sound check and let the rest be. I tell my band, just follow me. Don’t worry about nothin’ else, don’t worry about the sheets. If I’m rockin’ and the crowd rockin’, if I want to take it for another round, I don’t need you stopin’.”

After the military Robert “never quit playin’ in church.” He boasts full of pride, “matter of fact this past Sunday we just celebrated 20 years of me playing for the same church, New Hope Baptist Church in Bernice.” But, Robert hadn’t made it big as a professional musician. He developed his skills as a carpenter. But, when his eyesight deteriorated significantly he was no longer able to work. That’s when the Robert’s hustle kicked in and he began to focus on his music and opened up to opportunity.

“I was in South Arkansas, I was at the King Biscuit Festival in Helena, AK. Just goin’ down without anyone knowing I was coming. I was able to play at a jam session and got an introduction to the Music Maker Foundation. Different people just heard me and came to see me on the streets. If you playin’ on the streets and people stop and just stand there and listen, that means you got something worth holdin’ on to. So a guy came up and ask me did I mind him takin’ a picture and I said no. But it kind of tripped me out because he was all in my face with the camera, I didn’t like that part (haha).”

“He passed it on and next thing I know they invite me to do a show for ‘em. I went down and actually recorded first and then they sent it out to Fat Possum records. Next thing I know Bruce (Watson), the head man at Fat Possum, he and his wife had drove out to my house in Bernice. I guess they didn’t believe I was actually me so they wanted to come and see for themself. I grabbed a guitar and played them a tune or two and they recorded. But you know promises is promises, but then I was recording for Fat Possum Records. Next thing I knew, Fat Possum had talked to Easy Eye Sound about the new guy they had just recorded.”

Thus begins the real fulfillment of a lifetime of preparation. Age Don’t Mean a Thing, Finley’s excellent Fat Possum debut is smooth and soulful. But, the trio of records he has done in collaboration with Dan Auerbach for Easy Eye Sound are vital, revelatory Soul Blues. Pairing Auerbach’s Garage Blues aesthetic with Finley’s straight from the heart singing and songwriting, Robert says, “to be honest it was something meant to be. Me and Dan we just happened to click.”

Robert recounts:

“We had never seen each other until we actually went into the studio. I had never really heard of him or The Black Keys. I was busy doing my thing as a carpenter, very little time off. I didn’t have, really, no extra time to keep up with music and such. But my daughter went online and looked up The Black Keys and Dan Auerbach and she said, ‘Daddy, these Rock stars.’ I laughed at her, I didn’t pay it too much attention. But then she got to pullin’ up their music and what they were doin’ and I was like alright. But the one thing I liked about being in the studio was I didn’t have to do nothin’ but be myself. Evidently they had already heard enough that they requested I come.”

“Dan listened to the CD (Age Don’t Mean a Thing) and he liked it, so he wanted me to do the voice over for him on Murder Ballads (soundtrack accompanying the same titled graphic novel). We did way more than was expected. We had four days to do four songs. I think we did ‘em all in about four hours. Dan was like how this guy just walk in off the street and do all this? I said well it’s a childhood dream. We were laughing about it. We had three more days left. Dan asked me would I be interested in doing an album. I was like ‘man, it’s a childhood dream.’ We had three days left to do the album (what would be Goin’ Platinum) and we did more than the album. It was how they say ‘get ‘em while you can,’ we recorded everything and didn’t release them all.”

Goin’ Platinum made a splash, but it was the duo’s follow up Sharecropper’s Son that set the bar. Focused on Robert’s original lyrics, Sharecropper’s fully fused Robert’s improvisatory style into the collaboration.

“When we went with Sharecropper’s Son we didn’t use any stuff we already had recorded. We had fun starting from zero. Most of the songs were made up as the music played. As a matter of fact ‘Country Boy,’ ‘Country Child,’ and ‘Sharecropper’s Son’ was actually all one song. But it was too long, we knew we would get no radio time, no play time. So cut it down and changed the name and changed the rhythm and made three songs out of one. Yeah we coulda made four. It came so far and cut it off and picked up on the other one.”

“I just had to go down memory lane,” Robert further explains his writing process which flourished during the sessions. “I didn’t have to make up something, just tell the truth. When you tell the truth you don’t have to write it down cause it ain’t ever gonna change. I get ideas and I just stay with ‘em. Sometimes when the band is doing a groove I get a chance to. Cause I don’t sit down with a piece of paper and write cause I’m a blind man, I’m legally blind. So I have to trust on my memory. But if it’s something I say, or even if I’m at a party talking I’ll say something, that can be used in a song. You want to write about the real life and reality, not a fantasy world. You want to deal with something that people deal with on a day to day basis.”

Released in 2023, Robert’s third Auerbach collaboration, Black Bayou, deepens the improvisation and the grooves. Robert also digs deeper into his thoughts and perspective.

“Each album kinda like a chapter. Goin’ deeper and deeper. You know the thing is, it’s educational. It teaches young people history. They’re not gonna pick up a book and read, but they’ll listen to a song. History to the new, to the young people. It’s new to the young people and it’s history to the elder people. So the elderly look at it like it’s a trip down memory lane. I don’t know, it’s a great thing. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

“The song ‘Nobody Wants to be Lonely,’ cause we all gonna end up in the old folks home if we live long enough. Ain’t but one way to keep from gettin’ old and that’s to die young. I mean you don’t know if your kids’ gonna take you in or whatever. The best is just to prepare yourself and make the elderly home a great home rather than a go away house, you know what I’m sayin’. If we can work for it being perfect now for the elderly, when we go there we be going to a perfect place. Let the elderly know they cared about, nobody want to be forgotten about. So that song has it’s own meaning. Anybody can relate to it with personal experience.”

“Nothing was written. The song ‘Living Out of a Suitcase,’ we were driving down the interstate. One of the guys said something about we needed to wash or something. I said ‘man, that’s the price to pay, we livin’ out a suitcase.’ We laughed about it and the next time out in the studio I sung about it. It wasn’t somethin’ that we sit down and written.”

A key part of Robert’s vocal delivery was developed while working with Auerbach, his falsetto. With his Southern drawl the word comes out “fall-set-a,” Robert describes the moment Dan and he discovered this effect.

“I just started that stuff playin’ with Dan. I always could imitate anybody so I never worried about that. We had did the song ‘Holy Wine,’ we did that song on the first album. We had completed it, I did it in a baritone voice. We listened back to it and I went into falsetto and Dan like ‘damn, that sound good.’ I was like yeah whatever. But we laughed about it. He said, ‘you think you could do the whole song in that?’ You know what, Dan, I never tried it. But, play it back let’s try it. We played it back and I sung it in falsetto. We got rid of the original track and kept the falsetto. So yeah it was a spirit of the moment thing. But then after I did it live in front of an audience and I saw how much the audience was getting into it, I started doing it on every album. It was something I just stumbled into. It was a gift I knew I had, I just wasn’t using it.”

Dan’s friendship, and his willingness to promote him, has been very important to Robert, something he feels very grateful for.

“The first time we toured together,” Robert remembers, “it was the Easy Eye Review. That kinda broke the ice. I’m grateful he took me out there before thousands of his fans. Each time it was like, this is the time of a lifetime. Well it was like a dream come true. You never know how or when, but it happens.”

Robert Finely is a small town boy at heart. Even with international fame, he chooses to live in Bernice, a town of just under 1,700 people.

“I could probably live anywhere if I really wanted to. But, I kinda love it in a small town because, small town everybody knows everybody. I feel like super safe in a small town. In other words I can fall asleep on my front porch and not have to worry. All the neighbors know me, everybody in town know. I’ve had people pull up into the yard and blow their horn saying, ‘hey, you need to get up and go in the house.’ You couldn’t do that in the big city. Even before my musical career took off, I was workin’ in pretty much every house in the town, just small town small people. Everybody is humble, that’s why I just try to stay humble. I don’t let ‘em put me on a pedestal or nothin’ cause the higher you up the further you have to fall. And the worse it hurt when you do fall. I like to stay on ground. I get up in the morning and put this hat on my head that mean my head didn’t swell overnight. I can keep being myself.”

Robert is also practical about where he calls home.

“I went to Dan’s when big stuff was goin’ on in Nashville. I couldn’t get no hotel, he said stay in his guest house and ride out to the studio with him in the morning. And I just told him, ‘man, you know what? You livin’ my dream.’ He said, ‘it’s my dream too Robert, everybody can dream.’ I was lookin’ at the three story house and like wow. He said, ‘well they got one right down the street for sale.’ Shit (haha). I do appreciate that. I guess if I really wanted to I could be his neighbor now. But I’m gonna stay in the country a while longer. I kinda like being a big fish in a small pond. There so many Rock stars in Nashville I wouldn’t even be noticed. But in a small town of 1,600 people everyone knows who you are. It’s kinda better feeling.”

Although Bernice loves it’s local celebrity, sometimes culture shock can hit. Robert appeared on America’s Got Talent in 2019. It was a lot for his small town:

“When I was on America’s Got Talent, they brought the camera crew to the church and did some short clips in the church and around town. That was a big thing to a small town like Bernice that didn’t never have a big Hollywood crew come to town and runnin’ around everywhere. So it was a big issue for a small town.”

Robert is also trying to give back and is in the final stages of building a recording studio.

“There is so much local talent and it’s all about being in the right place at the right time. There is so much local talent down here that the world need to hear. The only way they get to hear it, somebody got to put it out there. I figured if I just take my dream and share it and give some of the artists a chance. Now I know some of the right people to get music in the right place I can introduce people to it. But I need to have their music already on a demo. It’s a dream that will help a lot of local talent, we’ve got good talent in Northern Louisiana.”

Robert Finely is a showman, an entertainer, and a road dog. Out on the road, doing his thing for the world, Robert leaves it all out on the stage. He takes the responsibility of entertaining paying customers seriously.

“I try my best not to be a rerun. Every show shouldn’t be the same. Cause no matter how good a mood someone is in, once you’ve watched it two or three times there’s no need to watch it no more because you remember the outcome. You know exactly what’s gonna happen. I’ve got to be unpredictable on stage. I never do the same thing on stage all the time. Even if I do, nobody know when or how or what. Cause if you follow me from one show to the other, I want you to see two different shows, not a rerun.”

It’s also a family affair with his daughter and granddaughter as his back up singer. “I always tell my daughter,” he gushes with pride. “I say ‘baby, this is my stage for this amount of time. If I give it to you then it’s your’s. We do our best, either we come back or we both out.’ (laughing) They don’t get one without the other.”

Robert Finely is a profound talent. His instrument, his deep, at times ragged voice, expressing the complexity and nuance of human existence. His clever plain spoken, but always perfectly placed, lyrics tell of the toils and tribulations of a life lived. Robert’s joy and exuberance blast through his body and into the audience’s consciousness. After years of patiently waiting for a shot at his dream, he isn’t wasting any time. He isn’t wasting a single performance, a single opportunity to spread joy and love.

“I found out the smile is universal so it works all over the world. There used to be an old saying ‘monkey see, monkey do.’ So if I dance, the people will dance. So I try to just put on a smile and a joyful atmosphere everyone just join in. Like the song on the album says ‘nobody wants to be lonely, nobody wants to be sad’ so if you get to spread the joy it’s a well needed purpose. That’s my way of letting ‘em know what it means to me.”

Find Robert’s performance schedule here: https://robertfinleyofficial.com/ and check out his newest album Black Bayou on Easy Eye Sound.

Writer Bucky O’Hare is a slide guitarist, songwriter and singer. Based out of South Eastern Massachusetts, Bucky plays Slide Guitar Soul Jazz and Funk Blues inspired by the music of the 60’s and 70’s all around New England.

Ingvay – One Magic Mile

Jamtone Records

http://www.ingvay.com

10 tracks – 43 minutes

Ingvay (no designation of a first or last name) was born in Hanover, Germany. His press release states that he first became enamored with the blues when he heard his father playing JJ Cale records. He convinced his musician uncle to teach him how to play the guitar riffs.  As a teen this sets him on a path as a musician playing music across Europe and acting as a sound engineer for many years. As he traveled, he began to write songs about life on the road and explorations of his journey and explorations of his inner self.

This is his third album release. With Ingvay on guitar and vocals, Ulrich Rode on guitar and backing vocals, Uwe Seeman on bass and backing vocals, and Matthias “Maze” Meusel on drums, the group decided they wanted to record a live album exactly as would be heard in concert. They gathered in the studios of Magic Mile Music in Hanover and recorded the entire album in one extensive live session. The album consists of six original songs written by Ingvay, one co-written with Ulrich and four cover songs.

The album opens with “Midnight Journey”. The song rocks out with the dual guitars as Ingvay sings that the journey is “to find myself”. The music is immediately slowed down on “Here We Go”, a moving folksy ballad that identifies ” a road that will lead us into the light”. As might be expected given his previously stated penchant for JJ Cale, his first cover is “Call Me the Breeze”, a song well-connected to Cale. The song identifies that he “must keep movin’ on”, which certainly sounds like it fits Ingvay and one that uses the dual guitars to introduce a sound that makes the song unique to Ingvay.

“Turn Your Life Around” features a driving guitar and advises to “not let anyone bring you down”. “Working Time” gets a boogie going with some slide guitar moving into the groove amid rapid-fire lyrics as he identifies “Working time ain’t easy”. “One More Ticket” quiets things down again as he is “looking for the exit in our soul” and “life is just not what it seems and time flies”.

The album then returns to JJ Cale for another cover, “One Step Ahead of the Blues”, easily attributed to that musician but originally written by Roger Tillison. Ingvay’s vocals are certainly compatible with Cale’s on this song while putting his own touch to the song. “I’m On My Way” opens with an ominous sounding bass run and moves into a steady beat as he moves “through the years with the same old fears”.  The third cover, “Machine Gun Kelly” was originally recorded in 1971 by James Taylor and written by Danny Kortchmar. Slide guitar again drives the song and certainly makes it a top selection on the album.

He next advises to just “Walk On By” rather than “take a chance, it’s time to make up your mind”. “With a hurricane of thoughts in your mind, no one can stop you if you want to go.” The album closes with a final cover of Warren Haynes’ “Soulshine”. He moves to an acoustic guitar for his version of the song.

Guitar work on the album is excellent, and Ingvay’s vocals are smooth and pleasant throughout. I would judge the album to be more in vain of an Americana or roots album easily compared to the sound of JJ Cale.

Reviewer John Sacksteder is a retired civil engineer in Louisville, Kentucky who has a lifelong love of music, particularly the blues. He is currently the Editor of the Kentuckiana Blues Society’s monthly newsletter.