Mad Dog Blues – River City Roots
Self-Release – 2023
11 tracks; 50 minutes
Mad Dog Blues is a duo of Mad Dog Friedman on harp/vocals and Sean Bennight on guitar/vocals; they are based in Colorado and this is their sixth album release, a tribute to the music of St Louis, particularly innovators Lonnie Johnson and Bennie Smith who inspired the music. The material is mainly original, seven by Mad Dog, three by Sean and one cover. Lionel Young adds violin and Kenneth Wilcox backing vocals to a track each, otherwise it is just the acoustic duo.
Mad Dog sings on his own “Harmonica Cadillac”, a quirky song about his youth when he was banned from playing in the house, so wandered the streets playing! The lengthy “Shining Through” is a love song that takes its time with leisurely picking and harp fills before Sean’s first song, “A Train Blues”, a love song with clever lyrics that reference trains: “I’m your box car, baby, climb in and we’ll get by. Let that old engineer move us on down the line. You just fall back in my arms, get where we’re getting in time.” Mad Dog leads on “Every Morning” that contains some slightly risqué lyrics about how his lover wakes him up in the mornings! Mind you, there are three songs later on the album that are classed as ‘explicit’, so listeners of a very sensitive disposition may need to step away! “Wet Dog” is a country blues with a call and response chorus on which the duo combine and some excellent picking by Sean, followed by the sole cover, Skip James’ “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues” which features Lionel Young’s violin to good effect, adding to the brooding feel of this version which is delivered by the lighter voice of Sean.
Mad Dog explains his attraction to women in “Sweet Daddy”, an attractive tune with more good work from both players before Sean tells us (in somewhat explicit language) about keeping going through adversity in a song he calls “Rock On”. Mad Dog’s “Too Many Women Blues” was inspired by Mama Yancey’s song about having a different man “Every Day Of The Week” while the slow “Holding The Bag Blues” runs to over seven minutes, giving plenty of space for both musicians to demonstrate their expertise. Sean returns to the mike for “Down So Long”, the jagged rhythm of which brings out some energetic harp work from Mad Dog to close the album.
This is an accomplished release which fans of acoustic blues can approach with confidence.
