Mike Guldin And Rollin’ & Tumblin’ – The Franklin Sessions
Blue Heart Records – 2023
11 tracks; 48 minutes
This album is a follow-up to Mike’s 2022 release Tumblin’ which was this reviewer’s first exposure to the Pennsylvania guitar player and his music. This time around Mike travelled to Kevin McKendree’s Rock House studio in Franklin, Tennessee, the first session in 2021 featuring Mike with a band assembled by Kevin for the session, a second session in 2022 involved Mike’s regular band, Rollin’ & Tumblin’. That first session was Kevin on keys, James Pennebaker on guitar, David Santos on bass and Yates McKendree on drums; the later session was Bill Sharrow on bass, Tim Hooper and Kevin on keys, Billy Wear on drums and Yates on guitar and lap steel. Guests include Mikey Junior on harp on one track, Su Teears duet vocals on one, The McCrary Sisters backing vocals on one and the Philadelphia Funk Authority Horns on two (Dale Gerheart on trombone, Kyle Hummel on baritone sax, Neil Wetzel on tenor sax and Andrew Kowal on trumpet). Mike’s gruff vocal style and solid guitar work is featured throughout, plus he wrote eight of the songs, five in collaboration with Bill Sharrow.
Three tracks come from the first session, all originals. “The Franklin Shuffle” celebrates the influence of Kevin’s studio which provided a relaxed place to record. Mike is “heading down to Franklin, looking for a groove”, aided by Kevin’s terrific piano and the catchy shuffle rhythm laid down by the rhythm section, a great start to the album. Later in the set we get “Prisoner Of Love” which has a soulful feel, courtesy of the horns, Kevin’s piano/organ and Yates’s overdubbed guitar, and “Sad And Lonely”, a Southern-tinged tune with more of Kevin’s piano and James Pennebaker’s guitar.
Five more original tunes come from the later session with Mike’s own band. “Gettin’ Over You Is Workin’ Over Me” is a driving shuffle in which Mike is finding it tough to get over a relationship; more great piano on this one, this time from Tim Hooper, and a fine guitar solo by Mike. “Two Hearts” is another soulful tune with the horns on board as Mike shares the vocals with Su Teears, a winning tune with infectious rhythms that get your toes tapping. The McCrary Sisters add their gospel harmonies to “The Right Thing” as Yates lays down a lovely lap steel solo behind what is undoubtedly Mike’s best vocal of the album, the whole enhanced by fine piano and organ work from Tim and Kevin – a definite highlight, and who could disagree that “there is no wrong time to do the right thing”? Drummer Billy lays down a New Orleans rhythm on “Sometimes You Gotta Roll The Dice”, a song that would not be out of place on an album by Delbert McClinton. We get back to the blues with “Smokin’ Woman” that bears some similarity to Otis Rush’s “She’s a Good ‘Un” and the blues quotient is also significantly raised by three covers of blues classics. Muddy’s “Blow Wind Blow” has Mike and Yates on guitar and Kevin providing the groove on organ as the Rollin’ & Tumblin’ rhythm section lays down a solid rhythmic base; Mikey Jr wails on harp on an uptempo version of Sleepy John Estes’ “Divin’ Duck Blues” and Mike does a great job with the signature riff of Howling Wolf’s “Killin’ Floor”, both piano and organ also featuring strongly.
Another good album from Mike and his collaborators, plenty of variety and solid musicianship – check it out!
