Lightnin’ Rod & The Thunderbolts – Delta Time | Album Review

Lightnin’ Rod & The Thunderbolts – Delta Time

self release

www.lightnin-rod.com

10 songs time-33:54

The posturing of this Kentucky based band calling it self a blues band and writing about the blues as opposed to actually playing blues reminds me of a spoken line from an old Bonzo Dog Band song-“When will my laundry be done?” “In three days”. “But the sign says one day service”. “That’s just the name of the shop”. Rod and company write songs about the blues and include some bluesy guitar playing, but they are hardly a blues band. It seems they think if they reference blues cities and include harmonica in their songs that makes them authentic. The lyrics tend to be mundane and at times down right corny. Rod’s melodic electric guitar skills are a high point of this recording. His voice comes off sounding matter-of-fact. Things would have worked better if they just concentrated on the singer-song writer aspect and left off the blues posturing.

The title track name drops cities associated with the blues, but the song is about the blues and not a blues song. At times like in “Addicted To Something” Rod shows that he is a more than capable guitarist. But the songs don’t approach the same quality. They borrow the riff from “Framed” for “What I Done Forgot”, a song that showcases some tasty electric slide guitar. Once again “Low Down Funky Blues” is about the blues. Town name dropping to try to sound authentic.

Huh? Rod uses a bit of a strange inflection in his voice on “What Was I Thinking”. “Broken Wing (for Jimi)” is a subdued instrumental invoking the mellower side of Hendrix. It’s a pleasant enough tune. “Life Of A Bluesman” is something a tourist might accept as blues. It’s a shame because Rod plays nice guitar on this song.

This guy can surely play some great guitar, but to achieve any recognition the band needs more soundly structured songs with more creative lyrics. They would be better off writing about what they know. There is talent here, but it sounds misdirected to my ears.

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