Joanne Shaw Taylor – Black & Gold

Journeyman Records – 2025

www.joanneshawtaylor.com

11 tracks; 49 minutes

Originally from the UK, Joanne Shaw Taylor has established herself on the blues-rock scene over a series of well received releases, the last few involving Joe Bonamassa, on whose label this release appears. The album was recorded in Nashville (now Joanne’s home base), produced by Joe’s longtime engineer, Kevin Shirley and features nine originals, alongside two covers. Joanne handles lead vocals and guitar, Anton Fig is on drums, Alison Prestwood bass, Jimmy Wallace keys, Doug Lancio and Audley Freed on guitar; Joe Bonamassa plays guitar on two tracks and Savannah Madigan plays violin on two cuts. Background vocals are by Joanne, Savannah and Sheridan Gates.

The album opens with “Hold Of My Heart”, acoustic guitar and violin giving the tune a folk feel; the tune builds in intensity and is capped by a spiraling guitar solo from Joanne. “All The Things I Said” has a lighter, poppier sound with bright rhythm guitars and an earworm chorus. The title track was written by Australians Samuel Falson and Jesse Rogg and originally released by Sam under his stage name, Sam Sparro. It’s a dramatic tale of love and despair with a superb guitar solo mid-tune. A similar lyrical theme emerges on the slower-paced “Who’s Gonna Love Me Now” and it is clear that Joanne’s natural vocal rasp is ideally suited to such songs.

Next up is the tongue-twisting title “I Gotta Stop Letting You Let Me Down” which starts with some real blues guitar, soon overlaid with a series of powerful riffs and rock-tinged vocals from Joanne who sounds genuinely angry here! You can certainly appreciate the three guitarists on this one, Joanne again taking the main solo but all three heavily involved. “Summer Love” has a suitably melodic touch with attractive riffs and another catchy chorus, including the fine couplet “It’s only forever, forever till September”.

“Grayer Shade Of Blue” is the second tune with violin, again giving the tune a wistful tone that suits the reflective lyrics: “Oh, tell me where the time goes, am I the only one who wants to know?” Joanne then lets her hair down and rocks out, determined to have one “Hell Of A Good Time” before “Look What I’ve Become” which switches between probably the heaviest guitar riffs on the album and quieter moments. “What Are You Gonna Do Now?” is another of the lighter tunes here; vinyl lovers should note that this is the tune that does not appear on the ten track LP version.

The album concludes with a cover of a rather obscure English song, “Love Lives Here” which originally appeared on The Faces’ 1971 album A Nod’s as Good as a Wink… To a Blind Horse. The verses are played pretty straight but Joanne explodes into an extended solo on the outro that moves the ballad into Blues-Rock territory.

After a couple of albums that concentrated on the blues and one with a gentler approach, Joanne has now given us a blend of styles that should please her fan base; an enjoyable album of melodic Blues-Rock.

Blues Blast Magazine Senior writer John Mitchell is a blues enthusiast based in the UK who enjoys a wide variety of blues and roots music, especially anything in the ‘soul/blues’ category. Favorites include contemporary artists such as Curtis Salgado, Tad Robinson, Albert Castiglia and Doug Deming and classic artists including Bobby Bland, Howling Wolf and the three ‘Kings’. He gets over to the States as often as he can to see live blues.

Long Tall Deb & Colin John – Light It Up

Vizztone Records

www.longtalldeb.com

10 Tracks – 40 minutes

Texas born “Long Tall Deb” Landolt got her start as many vocalists have by singing in her church. Her debut album with The Drifter Kings.  Diamonds on the Desert Floor, was released in 2009. Her sophomore album, Raise Your Hands, was released in 2012 to much acclaim and radio exposure, particularly on Sirus/XM. She was joined on that album by Colin John on guitar. Colin was born in Cleveland but moved to Hawaii where he pursued his love of surfing and music. He toured with many blues artists including Little Mike and The Tornadoes, Henry Gray, Pinetop Perkins and Hubert Sumlin among many others. He also did a stint in The B.B. King Tribute band in Memphis. He released several solo albums beginning in 2003 before connecting with Long Tall Deb.  The twosomes’ musical connection was immediately solidified with the release of a four song EP, Streets of Mumbai, in 2015, and their 2nd co-titled release, Dragon Fly, in 2018.

The collaboration continues with this release with Long Tall Deb on vocals and Colin playing guitar, six-string bass, lap steel, and baby sitar. Chris Butler co-produced the album and added bass, drums and percussion on several tracks with Jason Edwards also playing drums and adding percussion on some tracks.

The album consists of eight original songs and two covers beginning with the title song. Long Tall Deb advises “let’s take grief, let’s take hunger, let’s take fear, let’s take suspicion, let’s take misinformation, let’s light a spark and start a new kind of fire”. and questions “How can change really happen until we change how we feel?” Colin’s guitar punctuates every soulful declaration she makes.  Zac Var guests on drums with a pounding beat on “My Love” as she explains “you got to give the love you want to receive” and Colin rocks out. “Lessons In the Ground” continues her concerns about social fears citing we are “waiting for a voice to turn this world around”.

The first cover is “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”, originally recorded by The Eurythmics (Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart) in 1983 in the song that proclaims “as you travel the world and the seven seas, some of us want to abuse you, some of us wants to be abused by you…everybody is looking for something”. The pop song shifts into a slightly heavier approach here.  On “Hear Them Moan“, she explains “I was a young child raised on the Holy Ghost. I never questioned the faith. But as I got older, saw the black and white, that’s when the skies got a break…and as I broke from that old-time religion, that is when the steam started to rise”.  The second cover is Howlin’ Wolf’s “Spoonful” with Steve Marriner guesting on harmonica with Deb kicking a bit of a growl into her vocals.

She turns back to her concerns about current social ills on “Deflection Blues” noting “Because he says it doesn’t make it true, deflection blues, create diversion…create distraction, we got a problem, it’s nothing new”. Colin pulls out his lap steel and sitar on the song.  Deb Plays a Contra Bass Violin on “Black Light Wolf” and sings “There’s a most peculiar painting on the wall, a black light wolf, you can almost hear him howl. His eyes follow me all around the room”. “Sometimes I wonder if the Wolf were here, I wonder what he would do”. as she offers the whoo-hoo well known from Howin’ Wolf.

“Out For a Rip” features Alastair Greene and Pascal Fouquet on guitars in an instrumental showdown with Colin John. Deb questions if “We have had enough of these “Crooks, Thieves and Liars”? “They’ll burn the house down before it’s too late”. Colin again rolls his lap steel in a slow ballad.

The 1960’s saw numerous albums crying for change with anti- war messages and concerns about civil rights. The current sentiment calling for change again has been rising on numerous albums. This album delivers powerful lyrics giving rise to that theme. The cover songs feed to the overall social element of the originals noting “sweet dreams” and “everyone fighting for that spoonful”. Long Tall Deb has a very soulful voice, bordering on a gospel edge, perfectly suited for delivering her messages and Colin’s guitar floats through and rises in punctuation to her powerfully delivered concerns.

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.

Gary Moore – Live from Baloise Session

Provogue Records

www.mascotlabelgroup.com

8 tracks – 55 minutes

On November 13, 2008, Gary Moore took the stage at the Baloise Session, an event held In Basel, Switzerland featuring A-list artists in an intimate club setting. Many consider this performance to be one of the best of his career. Three years later on February 6, 2011, he passed away at age 58 while on vacation in Spain.

Gary was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1952. He started playing guitar at age 14. Although left-handed, he learned to play on a right-handed guitar. By age 16, he joined Phil Lynott in the hard rock group, Skid Row. Lynott left the group to form Thin Lizzy. Gary stayed with Skid Row for two more album releases, but then briefly joined Thin Lizzy in 1974 before joining Colosseum II. He rejoined Thin Lizzy from 1977 -1979. He departed that group after he had success with his first single, “Parisienne Walkways”, an early stroll into the blues.  He released his first solo album, Grinding Stone in 1973.

He fashioned his guitar style from Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Peter Green. The latter sold Gary his primary guitar that he used for most of his career. A number of albums followed that initial release, most following his harder rock sound garnered from his earlier band connections, although some blues rock did find its way into some songs. In 1990, tiring of hard rock, he decided to return to the blues style that he initially craved from his influences. The result was Still Got the Blues, an album with special guests Albert Collins, Albert King and George Harrison. The remaining albums in his career remained primarily in the blues. In 1994, he joined a short-lived super group, BBM with former Cream stablemates Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker. The group disbanded after releasing one album, Around the Next Dream.  He released his final studio album, Bad for You Baby” in 2008. 

Live from Baloise Session consists of both a cd and a Blu-ray version of the concert. The band consists of Gary Moore on guitar and vocals, Pete Rees on bass, Brian Downey on drums and Vic Martin on keyboards. The session moved easily from his blues numbers through some harder rock elements and moving back into the blues.

The concert opened with a cover of Albert King’s “Oh, Pretty Woman”, a solid blues rock version of the song with Gary’s easily recognizable vocals and his furious fret work.  The song was originally on Still Got the Blues, which was performed with Albert King. A Moore composition, “Since I Met You Baby” follows. It was originally on his album After Hours and featured B.B. King on the song. Vic’s organ sails along underneath Gary’s guitar driving the song’s sound.

Chuck Berry’s “Thirty Days (To Come Back Home)”, originally recorded on Close as You Get is an all-out rocker with Gary providing some blistering lead guitar. Al Kooper’s “I’ll Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know” becomes an emotional centerpiece at a length in excess of twelve minutes. His guitar shifts into a slow, moody cry with Vic’s organ smoothly floating in the background and a steady beat established by Brian’s drum. The song was originally released on Bad for You Baby. 

In a tribute to his old buddies in Thin Lizzy, he drops Phillip Lynott’s “Don’t Believe a Word” keeping his blues licks flowing into the song before he gets things rocking out in the latter portion of the song and lets his guitar loose in a searing solo. His title track “Still Got the Blues”, perhaps his best-known song and considered by many to be one of the greatest blues anthems ever recorded, is delivered with a deeply emotional touch.

Also, from Still Got the Blues, a cover of Jimmy Roger’s “Walking by Myself” follows. The song was an iconic song for Moore and was regularly a featured staple for his performances. This is delivered as a hard driving blues rock number in which he encourages everyone to get up on their feet. He closes the concert by declaring “The Blues Is Alright”, a song from Milton Campbell that was originally covered by Gary on After Hours.

Gary never gained much following in America during his playing days, but he was considered in the epitome of blues rock acts in Europe. This album demonstrates why he gained tremendous respect there and why many consider him one of the best guitarists of all time. His vocal capabilities are also proven an equal to his guitar playing. The album represents an artist at the peak of his prowess.

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.

Reid Parsons – Back To Back

Self-Release – 2025

www.reidparsons.com

10 tracks; 45 minutes

Born and raised in Vermont in a family with diverse musical interests, this is Reid’s debut album, though she has previously released an EP and several singles. Reid wrote all bar one of the songs here, arranged and produced the album, handles the lead vocal and plays occasional acoustic guitar and piano, aided by a rhythm section of Russ Lawton on drums and Luke Fox on bass, Steve Simollardes and Ian Mack on electric guitar, Derek Price on keys, Danica Cunningham on fiddle, Emily Taubi on cello, Brett Lanier on pedal steel, Connor Young on trumpet and Avery Cooper on sax and flute. As the line-up suggests, this is not really a blues album, the mainly gentle music more in the Americana/singer-songwriter vein.

Reid has a relaxed style of singing that brings a wistful tone to many of the songs here. The title track opens, Reid’s lyrics counterpointed by trumpet and strings, a song about a relationship being maintained while the lovers are separated by distance. “Get Out Of Bed” has a brass accompaniment that adds a jazz element and sweeping Hammond that brings in gospel to a song which seems to be about depression.”Lightbulb” has pedal steel and strings, a country-inflected song about that ‘lightbulb moment’ in a developing relationship while “Heavy Load” is a tender ballad about sharing life’s burdens or, as the old saying goes, “a problem shared is a problem halved”. Scheduled as a vinyl album, ‘Side A’ concludes with “Show Me You Love Me”, the jagged rhythm of a more uptempo tune, complete with some scat singing and solid trumpet and sax work.

“Holiday” returns to a more introspective style, flute featured on this one, another song in more of a pop vein. The sole cover is Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire”, played at similar pace to the original, pedal steel prominent in the music. Reid switches into French for part of the lyrics to “Figure It Out”, hence her reference in the accompanying notes to ‘The French Song’! It’s another introspective ballad with fiddle and piano featured and a strong trumpet solo in the later part of the song as Reid concludes that the pair may never resolve their issues. Pedal steel underpins Reid’s vocals on a song about routines and boredom entitled “Same Old” on the cover but clearly the song has an additional word in the title when you hear it! The album concludes with “Where Are You Now”, another introspective tune with mournful cello and pedal steel.

“Making this record has been the most meaningful thing I’ve done in my life” says Reid in the accompanying biographical notes and the songs are clearly deeply felt and expressed, the lyrics well crafted and seemingly deeply personal. The record is well produced and the instrumentation varied and well played. However, there is little or no blues here, the music mainly at a tangent to the main interests of the readers of a blues magazine.

Blues Blast Magazine Senior writer John Mitchell is a blues enthusiast based in the UK who enjoys a wide variety of blues and roots music, especially anything in the ‘soul/blues’ category. Favorites include contemporary artists such as Curtis Salgado, Tad Robinson, Albert Castiglia and Doug Deming and classic artists including Bobby Bland, Howling Wolf and the three ‘Kings’. He gets over to the States as often as he can to see live blues.

What many people find so healing about the blues is the catharsis they feel when listening to the raw emotion emanating from the musician. Kansas City-born and current Nashville resident, Amanda Fish, is a perfect example of such an artist, and Blues Blast Magazine was lucky enough to have the opportunity to spend some time with this Blues Blast Award and Blues Music Award winner during her East Coast Tour. Born into a musical family, including her well-known younger sister, Samantha Fish, Amanda was exposed to a variety of musical influences and learned to play several musical instruments.

“My Dad played guitar, and my mother was operatically trained. She was given a full scholarship to study voice and violin. I took piano lessons briefly to give me the basic understanding, but when my instructor passed, I didn’t want to go with anybody else. There were so many resources on the Internet at that point that you could teach yourself, so that’s what I did. I started on guitar, then I shifted next to piano. Our dad would have his buddies come over, so my sister and I would sit around the table with guitars and play along with them. Those were some of the happiest times.”

While her sister seemed to be on a straight path to musical success, Amanda’s life seemed much more turbulent. She tried various non-musical jobs, struggled with mental health issues. and was homeless for a period of time.

“I could ace tests, but I couldn’t focus on doing my homework, so my grades would tank. I ended up dropping out of high school and getting my GED. Then I worked as a dishwasher in a pizza shop, then I was a Waffle House waitress and line cook, and a pizza delivery driver. A family member had died by suicide and that messed me up for a while. I started taking an SSRI antidepressant, and my provider doubled my dose instead of gradually increasing it, which I think caused me to dissociate. You need to slowly taper off that medication, but I didn’t have the means to keep taking it and had to quit cold turkey instead and it was horrible. I had full blown hallucinations, paranoia, and physical symptoms that felt like electrical zaps, hot and cold flashes, I couldn’t hardly eat from nausea. Around that time, I was homeless too, because the medication had messed me up so badly it caused me to fully derail from life. I shaved my head during that time to halt the onslaught of opportunistic male sexual advances, and that bought me a little time and space to heal. It took me about two years to physically and financially recover from failing to get the proper treatment.  Then I got married and started working as a security guard. But our marriage didn’t work, so we divorced after two years, and I realized I didn’t want to be a security guard, as my passion was music.”

“I put together a band and started writing songs. Drummer, Kris Schnebelen, was in my first band. He sent our first album to VizzTone Records and said that I needed to go to the IBC to seal the deal. I went, but I had no money and had to sleep in a car. That trip led to me being introduced to many people in the business, and VizzTone decided to put me on the label, and we released Down in the Dirt in 2015. And, in 2016, I won the Sean Costello ‘Rising Star’ Award at the Blues Blast Music Awards.”

The VizzTone Label, home to many very talented musicians, is a partnership by Co-Founder/President, Richard “Rosy” Rosenblatt, Co-Founder/Chief of A&R, Bob Margolin, and Partner/General Manager Amy Brat.  Rosenblatt expressed how happy VizzTone was to welcome Amanda to the label.

“Amanda was introduced to the VizzTone label group in 2015 by former Trampled Under Foot drummer, Kris Schnebelen, who was a driving force in the Kansas City music scene.  He thought we’d be excited to hear Amanda, and of course, he was right.  VizzTone partner Bob Margolin, Amy Brat and I were blown away by Amanda’s distinctive, powerful voice and her deeply personal songs, all delivered straight from the heart.  Ten years later we have released three of Amanda’s albums and numerous singles. Bob and I have had the occasional pleasure of sharing the stage with her, and we are proud to claim her as a member of the VizzTone family.”

The tracks on Down in the Dirt are proof that Amanda is not afraid to tackle difficult topics. Her insight into bad relationships can be seen in “Player Blues” when she sings “he holds me close and keeps me warm some nights, if only for an hour or two…I hold his face in my hands and kiss him goodbye and send him on home to his wife”. And, in “I Don’t Need It” she describes worrying about a loved one irresponsibly driving under the influence, sleeping all day and refusing to get out of bed, noting “I don’t need that kind of bullshit in my life”. The title track fearlessly addresses the sexism that can sometimes be found in the music industry, noting, “dirty old man don’t care what I have to say.  He don’t want to hear the songs I have to play. He judges my worth by the length and the width of my skirt, I keep him down in the dirt.”

Amanda is currently married to the drummer in her band. They met when he showed up at a jam she was hosting in 2016. “Glen (James) and I got together in 2017, and I hired him as my drummer in 2018. Then we got married in 2019, and we’re now expecting our third child.”

In 2017, Amanda competed at the International Blues Challenge, in Memphis, making it to the semi-finals. That is where she met her first booking agent. She started touring at the end of 2017 and recorded her album, Free. This album earned her the highly prestigious Best Emerging Artist Award at the Blues Music Awards in Memphis. She was queued for certain success when, like many artists, her plans were shattered by the COVID pandemic.

“We had just recorded Free, which was inspired by my new adventures on the road, and we were about to have our biggest year yet when COVID hit. I had a whole year’s worth of tours planned, and almost all of the songs were already written for the next album when that happened. I recorded an album in our living room, but the quality wasn’t at the level that I wanted, so I didn’t want to release it on a label.”

“But I had to release something—I had that three-year-itch to put something out there. So, I self-released Trailer Park Demos (called that because we were living in a trailer park at the time). Our first child, Henry, was born around that time, and since touring was off the table due to the pandemic, I started taking classes to get my certification as a nursing assistant. After completing that, I started working in a nursing home. There, I discovered how important it was for them, especially those with dementia, to have music that they connect with. Sometimes they would be practically non-verbal, and I would start singing an old hymn and they would sing the next line of the song.”

“That’s the miracle of music. It sits in the brain differently than language or anything else. We had one resident who had suffered third-degree burns and was very combative due to the pain. I would pull out my guitar and start singing, and this resident would instantly calm down and go from combative to sweet and cooperative. This was a very religious person, so I would play every hymn I knew. It was so helpful and so healing. I really felt, in that moment, that God was showing me that this is my medicine. God was telling me that what I was doing with my life is a medicine and music is supposed to be a balm to the soul. It reconfirmed my purpose in life. I started reading the Bible and connected particularly to the part of the Bible where King Saul called David to play his harp, and it was the only thing that helped him. Sometimes we think of the body and the mind as separate things, but we need a holistic approach. You can’t just treat someone with medications—they need something to address their soul.”

As venues started opening up again nationwide post-pandemic, Amanda and Glen celebrated the birth of their second child, Franklin. While his birth brought tremendous joy, it also added some stressors and altered their plans.

“We now had two kids who needed us to keep a roof over their head, and there wasn’t quite enough work on the road to take the leap back into full-time touring. Glen had to hold a 40-hour a week job, and I had to get a job too. It took quite a while to recover financially enough to be able to back out on the road. In 2023, I wrote another album and went into the studio, and we released Kingdom in 2024. Now we’re touring again, but we have to handle it much differently as our children are with us. We have to stop more often. I used to just ignore my needs and eat whenever I got to the venue, but now I have to stop somewhere at mealtimes to feed the kids. We have to get the kids out of the car to play, so we plan playground stops along our travel routes between shows.

“Also, we can’t share a room with the guitar player anymore to lower costs. Gas costs more, as does hotels and food, so it seems like it is just getting harder and harder to make money. It’s rare that we can find someone to travel with us to watch the children, so I switched from bass and focused on improving my ability to play acoustic guitar, and most of the time I’m touring solo. If the venue wants a band, I will pick up local musicians to play with me. That can be great because the venue gets to pick their favorite local musicians and then you are jamming with the local favorites.”

Amanda has never been tied to one genre of music, and the songs on each album are fairly diverse. The themes and writing style also are evolving from one album to the next.

“The themes of my songs change as I change and grow up. Take the song, “Down in the Dirt”. That “dirty old man” line was written about a specific person. He owned the venue that gave me one of my first steady gigs. One night at a jam he was drunk and stuck his tongue in my ear in front of everyone, and I had given him no sign that type of behavior would be acceptable. And he was married. I realized that guy was never going to truly see me as an artist or respect me. He was just seeing me as a sex object. It did color my perception of men for a while. But since then, I’ve grown older, and I understand that it is not most men. I’m less bitter. I used to be bitter about the music industry. Now I realize that they are just trying to stay in business. When you balance art with sales, it can get pretty cynical. Someone can be an amazing musician, but they can’t push tickets. But you can’t take it personally—it’s just business.”

“Even my writing style has changed over the years. I used to be more verbose. I used to require college-ruled notebooks to write my songs because it had more lines. Now I feel if I can’t distill it down to a wide-ruled notebook, it is too many words, and I am forcing people to think too much about it. I look for a purer way of saying what I am trying to say and don’t over-complicate things.”

Kingdom is gaining critical acclaim, and Amanda continues her trend of writing meaningful lyrics with no “throwaway” songs. One track in particular (“Mockingbird”), is receiving significant attention from the SiriusXM channel ‘BB King’s Bluesville’. “Mockingbird” came in at #1 on the Bluesville “Rack of Blues Countdown” for two consecutive weeks and warns of the harm caused by misinformation: “Blood money can buy, a politician can lie…big Pharma is in bed with bankers, brokers, the Fed.” And Amanda tells it like it is with “Broke Ass Blues”, noting “I’ve got twenty-five cents ‘til Friday…we’ll be outdoors if we can’t pay the rent. The phone is off, I can’t call the bank, and you can’t ride to pantries on an empty tank.”

Despite the fact that she is expecting her third child soon, Amanda is looking forward to playing upcoming shows. “I’m excited to do the Lamoni Live Festival on Memorial Day weekend. Then I’m taking most of September off to have this baby, before I do FortFest at the end of September. I know next May I will be at the Crawdad Festival in Madrid, New Mexico and I’m working on other shows. I would love to someday do a Route 66 tour.”

Whatever upcoming projects emerge for Amanda Fish, you can be sure that they will include intelligent and thoughtful lyrics, and the unfiltered emotion of that beautiful and powerful voice. You can find out more about where Amanda will be touring at www.amandafishband.com

Writer Anita Schlank lives in Virginia, and is on the Board of Directors for the River City Blues Society. She has been a fan of the blues since the 1980s. She and Tab Benoit co-authored the book “Blues Therapy,” with all proceeds from sales going to the HART Fund.

Jon Slidewell and the Reedcutters – Poor Boy Blues

Palatine Music

www.thereedcutters.co.uk

12 tracks – 30 minutes

The UK band got its start in 2017 performing under the name of JP and The Razors. They released a couple of EPs under that name, but they took a step back when their original drummer, Ross “Razor” Chrichton, unexpectedly died in 2019, but is noted as the drummer on tracks 2 and 5. Then the pandemic hit, and the band was left in limbo.  Finally getting through that painful era, the band reformed with the new name of Jon Slidewell and the Reedcutters. The band plays old school blues in the vein of those who inspired them – John Lee Hooker, Hound Dog Taylor, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Elmore James.

Jon wrote all of the songs on the album with the sole exception of the final track on the album, which was co-written by DB Wiliams, who also plays guitar on the track. Jon plays guitar, slide guitar, bass, harmonica, tambourine and beatbox on various tracks and is the lead vocalist on all tracks. He is joined by Dave Roberts on bass, and S.A. Wright on drums. Jake Poole, who was only 16 years old when he started playing lead guitar for the Razors, also left to go to college in 2019 but returns to play lead guitar on five tracks – 1,3,6,9, and 11.

The title cut opens with Jake on lead and Jon on slide guitar with Jon noting “Sometimes I get this feeling that I am the one to lose”. “So in Love” rocks out with Jon on harmonica as he tells she is “lying and cheating…I should have seen it coming”. Next, he says, “I gave all my lovin’ to you, but you ran away with someone new”. “I won’t miss you, “The Girl Next Door” knows where I am.” Jon’s slide guitar rips through the next song as he declares “I am so tired of listening to you, I am going home to find “Someone New“.

“Half Boy Half Man” starts slow but quickly picks up steam as he determines “I get up in the morning, work nine to five. Must be a better way to stay alive”.  Jon continues his stories of love lost as he declares “Honey, We’re Thru“. Jon’s harmonica leads on “The Devil’s Make” as he says, “I don’t know where she comes from me, but she’s got to be the devil”. On “Black Cat Blues” he determines a black cat crossed his path as he tells her “If you don’t want me, set me free. There is a better place I can be”.

Jake takes the lead again on “Love Disfigured Me” as Jon tells her “Why don’t you just find somebody new?”. or “Why can’t we go back our very start?” “I am the one who should just walk away”.  He then notes “I Have been “Down So Long“, it all seems like up to me”. “Theme For Mr. James” is a rocking instrumental. The album closes with “Cloak and Dagger” as he notes “I lie here waiting in vain. I try to call her, but don’t know her name”.

The easy conclusion to made from listening to all of the songs is that Jon appears to be one of life’s losers in the game of love. Jon and Jake’s guitars have some standout moments and Jon’s slide work is definitely catching as they offer some rocking blues. Twelve songs in 30 minutes points to the fact that all are short blasts in the overall theme.

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.

The Davidson Trio – Cougar

Independent

www.facebook.com/thedavidsontrio

8 Tracks – 36 Minutes

The Davidson Trio from Birmingham, UK is led by Owen Davidson, a soulful vocalist with a five-octave range. He also plays bass for the group noting he was influenced by bass players such as Victor Wooten, Stanley Clarke & rocker Glenn Hughes.  The group is filled out by Glenn Bicknell on guitar and Ellis Brown on drums.

The album blasts out on “The Medusa Touch” with a blazing guitar as Owen talks about a woman “who knows what drives me insane”. There is evil in your eyes”. On “The Deep” he says “It feels like a lifetime since you walked out the door”. “Cougar” slows things down with a funky groove noting that “there is something about you baby that just makes a man lose his head”. Owen’s bass and Ben’s guitar drop the hard driving “Hold On” into a powerful drum beat as Owen declares “I walked the streets. It was late at night”. “I was crawling in the dark.” ” I turned around seeing him standing there dressed in black caught me unaware. He had eyes that chilled me to the bone”.

There is a “Bad Moon” “rising in the skies tonight” in a bit of a horror tale. “Something’s looking at me. What could it be? Oh baby, can’t you see? The devil coming after me.” “Blue River” moves much slower in a solid, blues-based ballad with Ben’s guitar soaring as Owen delivers a soulful story of “the sweetest girl he ever met”. She had ways to make you fret. She had the kind of eyes that saw right through me”. “Then she went away, the life I had would never be the same”. “Whiskey could never ease that pain”. Ellis delivers a solid rock beat on “The Cure” which comes “if you just give me your number”. and “stay all night until the morning light and then I hit the road”. The album concludes with a cover of Muddy Water’s “Catfish Blues”.

The power trio works in the vein of great muscular trios of the past such as Grand Funk Railroad or Mountain and delves into the depths of blues rock. Owen’s vocals sometimes bring to mind Steven Tyler from Aerosmith.

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.

Jeff Shew & The Late-Night Crew – Ghosts

Independent

http://thewhirlwindagency.com

12 Tracks – 49 minutes

Jeff Shew grew up in Chicago where he was tutored by the legendary Pinetop Perkins and got to play with him for several years while living in LaPorte. Indiana. In 2003, he moved to Bloomington, Indiana to study music and ethnomusicology at Indiana University. Now living in Southern Indiana, Jeff is constantly on the move showing up in gigs with multiple bands. But his chief bands are King Bee and The Stingers and now with his self- named band with The Late-Night Crew. He sings, plays bass, sax, guitar, is a seasoned songwriter, producer, publicist, talent buyer and booking agent, and is the director of the Bloomington Blues Group and manages the Bloomington, Indiana Blues Jam and the Madison, Indiana Ribberfest. So, with all of that, it is not surprising that he compiles all of his activities into the aptly titled Whirlwind Agency.

Mark Carnes plays harmonica for the group. Mark has played with numerous bands for 40 years, but first joined with Jeff in the duo, Carnes & Shew. The duo won the Kentuckiana Blues Society’s Challenge in 2019 and was a semi-finalist at the IBC in 2020. Mark is also a member of King Bee and The Stingers. Drummer Paul Karaffa has been playing drums since age 11 and has played with Booker T. Jones, Todd Rundgren, Guitar Shorty and Big Bill Morganfield and currently shares duties with King Bee and The Stingers.

Guitarist Steve Houk fronts his own band and is the lead guitarist for The Late-Night Crew. He has sat in with Joe Kubek, Doyle Bramhall, Levon Helm and others. John Abel provides additional guitar and also brings 40 years of experience to the group. Brian Gill started piano lessons at age 6 and also has a large resume of bands and now plays keyboards for The Late-Night Crew.

The album kicks off with a rousing blues rock number “Down to the Valley” as he sings, “I went down to save my soul…down to Spring Valley, Indiana in western Indiana where I got a taste of the great unknown”. “Chasin’ That Feelin’ Again” takes a shift into a rhumba with a touch of Eastern European music with Carolyn Dutton guesting on fiddle and Jeff says, “I just want to go back to the place where I feel safe”. “With Every Breath” moves back into a blues mode with Mark’s harp up front as Jeff expresses, ” I thought I had it all, could be free then the taxman took it all away from me. Worry about money every single day, I got it spent as soon as I get paid”.

Steve rolls about some excellent blues guitar runs with Marks’ harp underlying with Jeff proclaiming, “I spent so many years trying to do the things you want me to”.  You got to stop following me around” and “Let Our Love Die”.  The haunting “Running for My Life” tells of a confrontation with the supernatural as he “got lost on Halloween night”.  ” I went down where your garden grows, got lost in-between the rows.  I heard the sound of life and then I froze”. Carolyn’s fiddle kicks everything back into a Middle Eastern sound again on “Burned It All Away” amid a story of murder.

On “Love, You Have Done Me Wrong”, Jeff proclaims ” She takes my heart and then she runs. Now I know I am not the only one. They say that time will heal all” in a call and response song. In a slow blues “Won’t Be the Death of Me”, Jeff identifies “another whiskey bottle empty, cigarette butts on the floor, light peaked through the curtain as he reached for another pour. My life is still aching, How I long to be back with you”. “Love Lost Summer” offers a throwback to an early 60’s rock as he sings “Woke up in my car with the sun beating down, missing you, my love. Why did you decide to leave town?” with female backing vocalists singing “ooh sha la la”.

“The deeper winds have changed, but then you came along, the whole world rejoiced, those angels sang with a brand-new voice” as he sees the world with “Brand New Eyes”. Jeff states “I’ve been trying for years to fix my brain…there’s too much pain”. “Nothing can save me from “This Life I Have Led”. Sarah Menefee, the lead vocalist for King Bee and The Stingers joins Jeff for a waltz on a cover of Tom Waits’ 1987 song “Innocent When You Dream” from Tom’s album Frank’s Wild Years.

After being a member of so many bands, Jeff Shew steps out to give his voice and tell his stories in his own band. The style of music crosses paths of many genres with a deep poetic story telling central to every song and delivered in Jeff’s strong, clear vocals.

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.