Mudslide Charley – Main Street

Self-produced CD

www.mudslidecharley.com

11 songs – 47 minutes

Based out of Missoula, Mont., for the past 16 years, Mudslide Charley is a six-piece band that prides itself in delivering contemporary, original blues and soulful roots. A group that’s hits the Living Blues Top 20 album chart with three of its previous previous, they spent the last two winters composing an 11-tune tribute to their hometown. It’s a mix of blues and soul-infused roots guaranteed to keep Jack Frost at bay.

Like most long-running groups, Mudslide CDs has experienced frequent lineup changes during their run. They’re fronted by Marco Littig, the lead guitarist, who dropped out of graduate school in New York City to be a Delta bluesman and has been a musician ever since. He’s been sharing vocals with Missoula native Liza Ginnings for the past three year. She’s a Missoula native who first set foot in a recording studio at age seven and has been hooked on music ever since. Keyboard player Russ Parsons’ first love was Big Easy blues. And old-school bluesman, he’s been entertaining professionally since high school.

Both harp/horn player Phil Hamilton, who accompanied jazz great Nanci Griffith for a while, and bassist Paul Kelley spent years in Austin, Texas, and as bandmates in the Big Sky-based Lost Highway Band, which regularly toured the Pacific Northwest and Canada. And percussionist Roger Moquin attended Berklee College of Music in Boston for a couple of years before a six-year tour of duty in National Guard concert and marching bands. They’re augmented by vocalists Christine Littig and Lee Rizzo, trumpet player Jeff Stickney and trombonist Naomi Siegel.

Polished but with a rough edge, the band opens the action with the Delta-tinged “Judgement Day,” featuring Littig on six-string and Ginnings on the mic.” It opens quietly but quickly heats up as Liza advises folks that better days are ahead despite your life situation. Parsons’ mid-tune break soars. The pace changes with the jazzy “Blues for You,” a piano- and keys-driven, syncopated pleaser, and shifts again as Littig takes command with “City Boy,” which finds the title character overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of his home and desiring to move on to a quieter place where the buffalo roam.

The Chicago-flavored “Almost Through” is built atop a mid-tempo shuffle. It celebrates the forthcoming end of hard times that have left the community longing for another sunny day. The Delta feel returns with “Rolling Forward,” which flows like the mighty Mississippi as Marco and Lisa describe a stormy relationship that will survive by taking it one day at a time. The funky blues, “You Can,” provides support for folks who want to live their lives in whatever way they desire. It’s powered by Hamilton’s harp. Then the sound moves uptown for the contemporary blues, “Black Train,” a haunting number that features modulated vocals and a driving beat.

The hypnotic “Sisyphus” finds Littig mourning the loss of a loved one before the harp-driving “Blues Farm” finds the band headed to the country for what’s about to be a real hoot. “Drivin’ Home” builds in intensity to follow, using the imagery of packing up and heading out as an allusion to the ebb and flow of human life before the sweet “Stardust Motel,” a showcase for Parsons on piano and Ginnings on vocals, bring things to a close.

This is a well-conceived CD. The tunes vary in structure but flow throughout. Definitely worth a listen, different, upbeat and fun.

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.

Amaury Faivre – My Americana

self – released

www.amauryfaivre.com

10 tracks – 37 minutes

Amaury Faivre was born in Besancon, France. At age 8, he blew his father’s harmonica for the first time and immediately became passionate about the blues. He spent his teen years listening to Robert Johnson, Lightning Hopkins, and John lee Hooker among others. He then started playing the chromatic harmonica and added the guitar and started singing. He launched his career at age 15 at the Jeunesses Musicales de France, a group dedicated to teaching musical awareness for the children of France and offering over 2,000 shows, workshops and tours every year for youths. He won an Audience Award at the event. He obtained a degree in Musicology in Besancon and then added two years of jazz guitar studies at the University of Montreal. After that he returned to Geneva, Switzerland.

He formed a duo with Geneva guitarist Yves Staubitz, winning the Swiss Blues Challenge in 2017, which brought them to Memphis to compete in the International Blues Challenge, where they were a semi-finalist. They placed fourth at the European Blues Challenge. He has performed in electric blues bands, acoustic duos and even with a symphony orchestra dropping albums along the way in his various configurations.  During the pandemic, he developed the One Man Blues Show and released an album, 2020, that took him back to his folk blues direction.

This album continues his trip through the roots of American music. He plays the harmonica, guitar, mandolin, banjo and bass on the album. Julien Compagne plays drums and percussion and Jeremie Tepper adds pedal steel guitar on track four. The album consists of nine original songs and one cover.

The album opens with the gentle, folky “Tumbleweed” with the guitar, harmonica, and banjo intermingling in the song as he notes “I just roll with the wind like a tumbleweed”. “Don’t Think About It” kicks up the sound with a steady drum beat and his harmonica as he sings, “If you want to be free, want to be happy, focus on the things we want to change / if you want to be here, want to be complete, just hold your breath and don’t think about it”. Next, he declares “I cannot find no place to call my own, I am just a “Doggone Soul”, with a bit of a reggae sound and his ever-present harmonica sailing through the song. “Take My Heart” is a quiet, acoustic song with a slight country tinge utilizing Jeremie’s pedal steel to underscore the love song.

Keb Mo’s “Am I Wrong” is the sole cover on the album and features Amaury’s slide guitar burning through the song. “It’s Time for Me” “to dry my tears, it’s time for me to face my fears” as his harmonica cries over a lost love. He states that “when it comes to falling in love, I am a “Repeat Offender”.

He notes that she is a “Wonderful Girl”, “but just not for me”.  The slide guitar tears through another song with a declaration “when you wake up with the sweats, it is hard to forget, you have been “Fooled Again”. “Goodbye Joe” concludes the album with a short instrumental featuring his harmonica.

The term “Americana music” was defined by the Americana Music Association (AMA) in 2020 as “…the rich threads of country, folk, blues, bluegrass and rock in our tapestry.” By naming his album My Americana, Amaury is clearly indicating that he is exploring music across the many genres of roots sound. His harmonica is certainly the standout instrument on the album, but his overall instrumental presentation is also excellent. Vocally, he delivers songs with a soft, passionate quality that is appealing. Some songs do have a thread of blues, but many are in the folk vain. It is an enjoyable listen, but with a recognition that it is not ultimately a blues album.

Writer 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.

Kevin Gordon – The In Between

Crowville Collective

www.kg.kevingordon.net

10 songs – 37 minutes

Kevin Gordon is one of those artists who seems to consistently fly under the metaphorical musical radar of mass success, despite releasing a series of first class albums.  The In Between is Gordon’s seventh album and his first since 2018’s critically acclaimed Tilt & Shine and is probably more unapologetically rock & roll than any of his previous releases. Since 2018, of course, the world has lived through the Covid-19 pandemic and Gordon has lived through radiation and chemotherapy to successfully treat his throat cancer. The In Between was recorded partly before his diagnosis and partly after completion of this treatment.  Thankfully, his singing voice survived the process, and it crackles with life on every song.

Gordon wrote all 10 tracks on The In Between and he is backed by a crack band, including producer Joe V McMahan on guitars, Ron Eoff on bass, Dave Jacques and Josh Hunt on drums, Fats Haplin on fiddle, acoustic guitar and pedal steel and Luella Wood, Todd Bolden and Adrienne Reagan on backing vocals.

The album opens with the lead single, “Simple Things”, a track written during the pandemic that explores the importance of human contact and interaction through Gordon’s own personal perspective as an artist interacting with an audience. The grinding, bluesy, swampy “Keeping My Brother Down” follows, nailing a righteous fury as Gordon traces a line from Emmett Till to Eric Garner and the events of Ferguson, MO.

Autobiographical lyrics pervade the album. Both the title track and “Coming Up” have echoes of another great American songwriter, Tom Petty, in their simple structure and ear-worms of a vocal melody. The latter song addresses the break-up of the marriage of Gordon’s parents in 1980 and his escape into playing electric guitar in a punk band, while the proto-punk of “Love Right” sees Gordon casting an analytical yet forgiving eye over his father’s failings as a parent and as a human being.

“Marion”, a tale loosely based on a real-life coworker at Gordon’s first job, as a dishwasher in a restaurant owned by a gay man in Monroe, Louisiana, recalls the wistful longing of peak-era John Hiatt. Meanwhile, the gently sway of the fiddle in “Tammy Cecile” belies the wretchedness of a doomed relationship as remembered by Gordon.

There is an easy poetry to the lyrics that at times recalls another brilliant Louisiana songwriter and poet, Chris Smither.

It’s probably fair to say that The In Between is more of a rock & roll album than a blues/Americana release, but if your tastes lean towards the rockier end of the musical spectrum, you will find a lot here to enjoy.

There seems to be something about the Deep South and its relationship with its past or, as Faulkner put it: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Likewise, Kevin Gordon has looked to both his own past and the music of earlier generations to produce a thrillingly contemporary album.  Really good stuff.

Reviewer Rhys “Lightnin'” Williams plays guitar in a blues band based in Cambridge, England. He also has a day gig as a lawyer.

Jay Lang – Blues Vol. 1

Self- released

www.jaylangmusic.com

11 Tracks – 42 minutes

Jay Lang is a Mississippi native who grew up in the Delta, where he attended many local blues festivals featuring the Piedmont and Delta styled blues. T-Model Ford was an early influence. Later he moved to Oxford, Mississippi where he played with members of the Burnside family and started his first band, Jay Lang & The Devils Due. Jay has since moved to Wisconsin, but his focus is still on the music he grew up listening to and playing. This is his third album release.

The album grew out of the pandemic. During his downtime, he reviewed his backlog of unrecorded songs and determined the time was right to do an acoustic record. The album consists of ten original songs and one cover. Jay plays guitar and bass on most cuts along with providing all vocals. He is joined on some cuts by Paul Taylor or Brad Porter on drums, Harold Tremblay on harmonica, Eric Carlton on piano, Bob Dowell on trombone on one track, and with Nate Robbins playing bass on tracks 8 & 10.

He opens the album with a solo on “Sweet Honey”, who he says is “long, tall and fine”, “she knows how to do it right, drinks corn whiskey and wine much too light”. He quickly establishes a fine finger-picking style on the guitar and a smooth voice clearly suitable for the blues. On “No Name”, he proclaims he is “going back to Mississippi knock the dust down off my shoes / going back to Mississippi got nothing left to lose” “nothing has changed except now I have no name”. “Hopalong Tracy” is a fun song telling the story of a woman who “only got one leg but she’s every bit a lady / don’t see too well one eye is hazy/ don’t look too close the other one is lazy / Hopalong Tracy she don’t care / head held high and debonair”. “Can pick off a fly with a BB gun”. Jay again takes a solo for the song.

Harold’ s harmonica joins on “Short Skirt” as Jay tells a woman with a skirt up above her knees ” I got just what you need”. Bob’s trombone gives “My Sweet Mama” a New Orleans feel as Jay says “she looks sexy with that red dress on, gonna shake me all night long”. “Bootsy’s Walking in the Rain” again features Harold’s harmonica in another character study of a man “who has nothing left lose, but nothing to gain” and “he has cobwebs in the corners cause spiders living in his brain”. “He has a bottle in both hands”

Charley Patton’s “Shake It, Break It” is the sole cover on the album. Eric’s funky piano joins with Eric’s fine guitar playing. “Too Much” establishes that he “was not born no seventh son, ain’t no rolling stone, the sky ain’t crying, I ain’t lying no meat shaking on the bone”. “I got troubles, got no second chance, make the best of what I got, take the devil out for a dance”. Harold’s harmonica adds to the dismay of the song. And all of that leads into “Pine Box” dealing with the inevitability of death and his acceptance of it coming citing, “When I die, bury me in an old pine box. I don’t need nothing fancy, just fill my grave with rocks”. Eric has a barrelhouse piano rolling along in this one.

He establishes himself as a “Snake Oil” salesman proclaiming “nothing approved by the FDA, a little gypsum weed, some prickly ash, chariots of sour mash…a miracle drug for all your needs, your hair will grow and will cure the lame”. “Give you a deal, two for one”.  He closes the album as he started with another solo and stating, “I’ve Been Saved”. and knows “he’ll be saved when Jesus visits him on his dying bed”.

Jay is a talented songwriter with some interesting stories to tell, all of which just adds to his warm vocals and intriguing acoustic and slide guitar work. While his solo efforts stand out, his band’s performers provide an added range and edge to every song, each of which are clearly from the Delta. A fine effort for Volume 1. Watch for Volume 2.

Writer 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.

Chicago bluesman Fernando Jones cannot wait to relaunch his acclaimed theatrical play. “Spring of ’25—we’re puttin’ it on again,” said the guitarist, vocalist, performer, songwriter, author, playwright, lecturer, historian, visual artist, actor and educator about his play, I Was There When The Blues Was Red Hot.

Now scheduled for performances at Chicago’s ETA Creative Arts Foundation, 7558 S South Chicago Ave., Jones’s enthusiasm is palpable. The charismatic man of many creative pursuits, with Blues Music at the center, makes believers of his audience.

“When we first opened at the historic Palm Tavern it was supposed to run for two nights, Friday, October 2 and 9, 1998. It ended up running for three years. 256 shows.”

For a historical perspective, the inaugural performance of “I Was There When The Blues Was Red Hot” took place at the Palm Tavern back in ’98. The tavern was on the city’s knock-down list to make way for new construction that has yet to come about. The last crown jewel standing on 47th Street in Brownsville, The Palm Tavern entertained the likes of Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughn, Billy Holiday, B. B. King and most every star who played at the Regal Theater across the street from the 1930s on.

“One day we were rehearsing for the play, and Howard Reich from the Chicago Tribune came by to talk to Mama Gerri [Oliver]. He had no idea who we were or why we were there. In those days there was never more than 2 people in there all day. It was the end of the line for the Palm Tavern. It and Mama Gerry were on borrowed time. Unbeknownst to us—the cast— there were City plans to get her place removed from 47th Street. Howard was there to do a feature story showcasing Gospel and Jazz, and discovered us, The Palm Tavern Players. Long story short, when we got wind of the potentiality of the Palm Tavern’s closing that Fall, I started a petition to keep it open. Besides, we had a theatrical production to mount in October,” said Jones.

Thus, it became Jones’s theater venue which extended The Palm’s life before it finally succumbed to the wrecking ball in 2001.

Jones’s own musical journey began at the age of 4. He admired his musically inclined 12-year-old big brother, Greg, so much that he wanted to follow suit to be accepted. Greg was the third son in a family of four boys and Fernando was the youngest. At first, the youngster attempted to play his brother’s instruments when he was away or at school. Fernando was frequently caught. But after being busted so often, big brother Greg began to show little Fernando some chords.

“Greg not only played guitar, he played everything else. He was like Prince, man, back in the day. He had a Wurlitzer organ where he showed me how to stretch my fingers out on keyboard. Not many people had organs in their homes back then. If you wanted to learn it, you’d usually have to go to church or school. But he had one. And to this day I still have that Wurlitzer.”

Jones grew into the Blues through club visits accompanied by his brothers.

“When I was a little guy, my older brother, Foree who we called Big Flo, would take me to Theresa’s Lounge when I was like four or five years old. My earliest memory was meeting Junior Wells. He was the first significant Bluesman that I’d met. But when I got to college, I was able to go into the clubs on my own. Theresa’s had moved to 43rd Street, a couple blocks East of the Checkerboard. I got a chance to play the Checkerboard as a teen. Big Flo would play other venues and frat parties, and I would get a chance to go and play too. So, I’m one of those guys that has always been there, but it wasn’t planned for me to be anybody— it wasn’t like we were trying to be the Jackson 5 or anything, not that anything would have been wrong with that,” he laughed.

Jones had a keen radar for observing cultural shifts and the sounds that accompanied them; musical influences planted many seeds in his fertile mind. As a child, he projected himself into seeing and hearing the world through his elder’s eyes and ears.

“On one hand, I was interested in the guitar on my own but, by way of my brother, I was exposed to so much. When 1968 came around, we’re coming up on the Woodstock era, right? There were hippies, black hippies, and there were Blacks playing music and experimenting with narcotics and things like that. And the music reflected it. So, my brother was listening to all the Rock and Roll stuff, you know: Deep Purple, Iron Butterfly, Santana; all of the things that you might find in a Eurocentric household were also in mine. Then you had my parents and all the other Black parents in the neighborhood listening to Stax and Chess recordings. And my Godmother up the street in the ’70s, whenever that came to be, you know, maybe 1974/75, she was playing the Philadelphia sound. It was all there for me to absorb.”

Jones expressed his observations on the instrumentation that came to the fore with each ensuing musical period.

“Coming out of the ‘60s, you had the Rock and Roll guitar; if you didn’t have a guitar in your band, you didn’t have a band. But somewhere around ’68 to about ’72, if you didn’t have an organ in your band, you didn’t have a band because there was Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and all those different groups. And you had Stevie Winwood and Traffic and all that kind of stuff. And then in the mid ‘70s, if you didn’t have horns, you didn’t have a band. You know, it was cyclical. So, I was inspired by all of those different sounds.”

The impact of television was also significant to the musical prodigy. The music shows like Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert and The Midnight Special were nighttime staples and dance shows featuring guest performances—American Bandstand and Soul Train—were afternoon favorites.

“All the while, I’m looking at these guys play. And I’m putting my fingers in the frets where I’d see their fingers go. So that’s a part of my training. My older brother: pure Blues. TV and radio: everything else. I had these two worlds coming in strong; a modern world and an ancient world,” he laughed again.

The deeper into Fernando’s past, the more his emotional stake in the Blues is revealed.

“The most progressive Black blues song that I can remember hearing on WVON was ‘Wang Dang Doodle,’ the Koko Taylor version. And you kind of knew it was Blues yet modern, Funky and radio friendly, but then sometimes you’d hear a deep track of Muddy. And because my folks had all come from Mississippi, I’d hear stories. I had relatives that knew these people, knew Muddy and Howlin’ Wolf. Knew them and loved them.”

As a Chicago born child of dyed-in-the-wool Mississippi migrants, lessons were hard-earned and not taken lightly.

“My family-at-large always talked to us about race, race relations, how to survive, and how not to be a victim. Most Black women, whether mothers or teenagers at the time Emmett Till was killed, especially the Blacks who had migrated from Mississippi to Chicago, identified with the horror of those circumstances; consequently, it impacted what you did with your own children: your kids went to Mississippi for the summer to be in touch with their other family members. And then every other summer, your Mississippi cousins came to the Chicago.”

He continued, “We always knew we were Black, and we didn’t look at it as a strike against us, but it became a reality of who we were, and our pride, and how to be two or three times better than whoever you were competing against, so on and so forth. When I came up, White folks didn’t hide letting you know that you weren’t them, like them or have privileges and access to the world, information and finer things in life like they had.”

“I remember watching Martin Luther King’s funeral procession on TV. When it took place, I was at the next entrance in an apartment with one of my little playmates watching their black-and- white TV. I saw the wagon and casket and I knew what that meant. I understood life and death, and I understood hatred, and I understood the power that music had in bringing people together. And that’s what the Blues is about for me. It reflects a condition and provides a means to share the feelings to deal with it.”

Jones reflected on his chosen instrument and what it means to him.

“I always play because I’m always creating. I’m always writing songs and I have a responsibility to the band to create the content. But it’s so natural. I was able to look at the guitar as my friend, more so than as an instrument that makes music. I think I was dependent on it because it was a way for me to be sociable and to cover up from areas that I might’ve been shy in. But unlike a lot of my contemporaries that started playing at 16 or 20 years old, I didn’t know that you were supposed to pattern yourself after somebody. I was just trying to fit in with my brothers!”

“There are times when I think it might’ve been a much easier road for me to start playing at 16 and copy the four or five great guitarists and imitate them, but that was not my road. And my hat is off to the cats that have done that and can do it. But not having copied anyone because I started so early, maybe for me it’s a more organic thing. I treat it as my own language—which is what they say any musician is supposed to develop into anyway.”

Fernando Jones’s musical language has matured and evolved in innovative ways. His prolific songwriting brilliance is showcased on CDs, Stranded, Whodoyuvoodu, The Slaves Eat First, and his groundbreaking genre-busting American Bluesman (available on all music platforms). Moreover, he has compiled a surplus of recorded original material in his digital archives that may eventually see release. In addition to penning the cooker “Oil and Water” for Nellie “Tiger” Travis, songsters and songstresses Barkin’ Bill, Foree Superstar, Marilyn Clair, Jackie Scott and the late great Eddie Shaw have been recipients of Jones’s formidable composing talents.

So where else would this energetic multi-talented musician, playwright and entrepreneur apply his skills? Teaching, of course. Along with a self-designed Blues curriculum at Columbia College Chicago, his Blues Kids Foundation’s Blues Camp is a thriving learning entity that is going on 16 years of success now. And his Blues Kids of America program is in its 36th year. The program is attractive not just among the college-aged, but to young and aspiring Blues musicians.

The evidence of Fernando Jones’s musical talents can be witnessed far and wide in night clubs, televised performances, YouTube, on CDs and media platforms. His achievements in pedagogy are evident in schools and cultural centers as a noted educator and lecturer. Last, but not least, his drawings and communication design are testimony to his visual acumen. What can’t the man do?

Catch Fernando Jones & My Band feat. Felton Crews and Patrick McFowler appearing at the 15th Annual Blues Camp Holiday Fundraiser “Red Party,” Sat. Dec 14th, 6PM-Midnight, Knotty Luxe, 3442 W. 159th Street, Markham, Il. The event will include special guests The Kappa Choir, and TMM and the Blues Mamas & Daddies.

For info: (779) 258-3763 or BluesKids.com. Attendance is Free, Donations Appreciated.

For info visit https://www.fernandojones.com

Journalist Peter Hurley is a noted Chicago Blues writer and photographer. Mr. Hurley’s passion for Blues music and its accompanying photography was first inspired by the 1960s albums Chicago Blues Today Vol. 1, Jr. Wells’ It’s My Life, Baby and the Chess Records Little Walter compilation Hate To See You Go.

Randy Lee Riviere – Concrete Blues

Wilderness Records

www.randyleeriviere.com

12 Tracks – 48 minutes

Randy Lee Riviere is a wildlife biologist involved in large-scale efforts working to protect and restore important elements of the Native American landscape. He has been involved in a leadership role in protecting over 40,000 acres of wildlife habitat with permanent conservation easements. The title of this album refers to the impacts of dams on watersheds in Western America. He cites an example of over 1300 dams in California blocking river flow for the usage in Metropolitan areas.

Music has been an equal part of Randy’s life. He splits his time between a home in Montana and one outside of Nashville. His songs reflect his love of the natural landscapes, but also focus on the human condition today. Randy says he is a country boy at heart, but he gravitates to the 60’s and 70’s rock bands, particularly ZZ Tops “Tres Hombres” album. The album was produced by Tom Hambridge, who also plays drums, percussion and adds backing vocals for the album. Randy plays guitar and provides the lead vocals. The remainder of the band is Kenny Greenberg and Bob Britt sharing duty on guitar, Stephen Mackey and Robert Kearns sharing on bass, and Mike Rojas on keyboards.

The album opens with “Mania” with a certain discordant sound reflecting a rise in his behavior as he asks, “Do you want my mania?” “The Wayside” moves to a more conventional sound as Randy’s gruff vocals discusses a man “who nearly died, don’t talk much about politics”. “No one gave him nothing, got no family tie.” “Change is Strange” offers the advice that we must “move on”. The guitars shine here, and Mike’s keyboards are featured, but lyrically it offers mostly a single repetitive statement.

He is “just living out here alone and “Just Trying To get Back Home” in a light-weight boogie. “Magic Bullet” lets the guitars cut loose and the music gets an up-tempo rhythm that would fit ZZ Top. The song seeks a magic bullet that would correct the world’s problems. He declares he has a “Stranger in My Head” as he slows things down with a touch of country and cites “I spend all day drinking and smoking”.

On “Thanksgiving”, he repetitively cries “Liar, if it’s Thanksgiving you want” in an intense rocking song. “Moccasin Lake” offers a step “down to the swamp” and presents a haunting story of an implied murder.  As cited earlier, “Concrete Blues” is an environmental song about the impacts of dams on nature with a burning slide guitar and Mike’s piano offering an interlude.

“Sail On Big John” is a tribute to an unidentified person named “Big John” who “can make America strong, say what they want you to say”. Tom Toms give the feel of an Indian chant against thBob Kieserriving guitars. “It’ll Be Alright” slows things down again with a quiet piano backing a vocal from Randy that shifts from the whiskey-voiced that is present through the earlier songs into a deep, but here is smooth and even captivating as he gives reassurances. The final track, “Drive”, features Mike on the B3 and piano with Randy layering in the guitar.

As noted throughout, Randy’s voice is very rough sounding and only on the last two tracks is much range or variation offered. Similarly, again with exception of a couple tracks, the lyrics are simple and mostly repetitive sometimes escaping a clarity of what was intended to be represented. The strength of the album lies in the band’s instrumental work. The guitars and Mike’s keyboard work stands out with a solid backing from Tom’s drums and the bass player’s efforts. The album probably falls somewhere in between blues rock and Americana with some songs being just conventional rock.

Writer 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.

Cole & Ward – Blues and Other Truths

Rawtone / Green Bullet Records

www.coleandward.co.uk

12 tracks – 45 minutes

This is the debut album from the duo of Mark Cole & Liam Ward. UK musician Mark has been performing for over 40 years in various bands and recording with and supporting on stage many famous artists including Pinetop Perkins, Richard Thompson, Alvin Lee, Dr. Feelgood and Eddie C. Campbell among a long list of major musicians. Mark says that he is totally self-taught on his many instrumental talents including rhythm and slide guitar, harmonica, mandolin, accordion, keyboards and “loves experimenting with other instruments and found objects”.  One of the many bands he plays in is the Sons of The Delta, formed with Rick Edwards, which in 2003 played for three weeks in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Liam Ward is an award-winning harmonica player. Among his awards is the National Harmonica Legue Player of the Year and is an officially recognized Hohner artist. He is a tutor on the instrument, which includes many on-line videos. Like Mark, he likes to explore the sounds of many other instruments including the washboard, saw, jug, and jaw harp. And like Mark, he has played in numerous other roots style bands prior to the current duo joining together. And like Mark, both have traveled across Europe, America, Canada and Mexico delivering their take on Southern blues and other roots genres.

Both Mark and Liam share vocals on the album in addition to the various instruments mentioned above. They are joined on the album by Tom Selway on Saxophone, Ruben Rogers on upright bass, and George Sluppick on drums. All songs on the album were written by the duo.

Just in time for Halloween, the opening track, “Deep Blood Moon” is the tale of a werewolf as they note “To some a blessing, some a curse/ I won’t get better, but I might get worse/ It’s not safe to hang around / when a full moon shines in prairie town”. “My Jolie Fille” translates to my beautiful girl as they dip into Creole country. “Midnight Motorway Blues” is a complaint about the inconvenience of nighttime road closures, particularly after a long night of playing music and citing “a musician’s life ain’t so good, it is hard to get good sleep and eat good food but the worst thing about it is something we cannot choose is those midnight motorway blues”.

“The More You Drink…” has a jug band feel as they declare “it will make you good, before it makes you bad. Make you happy before it makes you sad.” and offers a humorous take on imbibing and perhaps offering a cautionary tale. A protest against politicians who are taking “Food Off My Table” follows as they declare they are “lining their pockets just because they are able”. “Be Still My Soul” is a slow gospel blues with St. Peter telling him “It is not your time. There is a plan for you.”

A flamenco touch and some oddly haunting and compelling music delivers a story of his “Weird Dream”. “Who What Where When Why” gets things jumping as he asks her all the questions around ” Why are you leaving me?” “Itinerant Waltz” is another tale of a musician’s life while he ponders “all that I want is to be home with you”. 

He declares that “Mr. Big Shot” “is really getting on my nerves” and “how can anyone believe all your lies” in another rocker. “Darling, Please” is a slow stroll and a throwback to 50’s soul as he begs her “to please show me the heat in your heart.” The album concludes with “Honey’s Coming Home” …to me. Been too long since she went away, missing her more with each passing day.”

The duo blends their gentle music with interesting story telling in their lyrics. Mark’s vocals are smooth and clear with Liam’s ever- present harmonica is featured, but in a captivating manner, that enhances every song.  As indicated by the album’s title, the album does cross into blues but diversifies into many other styles of music even to the experimentation evident in the “Weird Dreams”. They are obviously enjoying their time together and are allowing us to come along for the ride.

Writer 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.