Jeff Pitchell – Brown Eyed Blues
Deguello Records
https://jeffpitchellofficial.com
16 songs – 70 minutes
Brown Eyed Blues is the latest release by Connecticut-based Jeff Pitchell, and is a very enjoyable collection of over a dozen original songs, remixes of tracks from previous albums and one live recording. Whether intentional or not, the album also feels like something of a love letter by Pitchell to some of his primary musical influences.
Things kick off brightly with the ZZ Top-esque “Now You Know” before moving into the toe-tapping Texas blues of “Brown Eyed Blues” with some great piano from Dan Fontanella. Pitchell channels his inner SRV on the swinging “Wait” while “Caught Up In The Wind” has echoes of mid-period Clapton. Pitchell tips his hat towards R&B and soul on “Every Day” while the harmony guitars of “When We Kiss” recall the Allman Brothers. “Beg, Steal And Rob” could be an outtake from a Cream recording session, while “Any Way You Can” summons up aural impressions of Little Feat (with superb slide guitar from Johnny Stachela). There’s even the sense of Santana on both “Stay While The Night Is Young” and “Welcome To The Beat”.
The remixed Willie Nelson classic “Whiskey River” benefits some lovely harmonica from the late, great James Cotton. The live recording is a cover of Warren Haynes’ “Soulshine” and features Michael Allman on vocals and Charles Neville on saxophone.
Indeed, Pitchell has a number of great guest musicians appearing on Brown Eyed Blues, including Allman, Neville, Cotton, Stachela, Duane Betts, Rick Derringer, Dave Mason, Reese Wynans and Tom Hambridge. Other musicians featured include drummers Ephraim Lowell, Nick Longo, Steve Peck and Mike Levesque; percussionist Ivan Santiago; bassists John O’Boyle, Mike Nunno and Tommy McDonald; saxophonist Colin Tilton, keyboardists Jay Vernali and Bruce Feiner; and multi-instrumentalist Bill Holoman who contributes drums, keys sax, trumpet and backing vocals to the closing “Welcome To The Beat”.
As one might expect with musicians such as these, the performances are uniformly excellent, as is the recording quality. Eleven of the tracks were recorded at Jays Place in Nashville TN, with Jay Vernali engineering and Tom Hambridge producing. The remaining songs were recorded at Horizon Music in West Haven CT by engineer Vic Steffens with production by Colin Tilton.
Pitchell is a good singer and an exceptional guitar player – his solo on “Whiskey River” in particular is simply joyful. He also has a knack of writing memorable songs. Lyrically, Pitchell takes inspiration from the traditional sources of love, lust and longing.
If you like guitar-driven modern blues and blues-rock, you will find much to enjoy on Brown Eyed Blues.
