MO Blues Association – Headin’ Out
Self-Released
15 Tracks – 60 minutes
The Mo Blues Association is Central Missouri’s blues society and under the national affiliation with The Blues Foundation. MO Blues is located in Jefferson City, Missouri. In 2023, MO Blues was celebrating its 25th anniversary. Rather than expending funds to send bands to the annual IBC in Memphis, MO Blues opted instead to utilize the earmarked funds to record an album of all original music featuring bands that were members of the association. It was noted that seven of the bands are local bands that play regularly in the Central Missouri area and were involved in hosting monthly jam sessions. The eighth participating band, Lady J Huston, is from St. Louis and according to notes provided by Mo Better, joined the association for the opportunity to compete at the IBC. With exception of the last group on the album, each contributed two songs to the album.
The first band on the album is Luke Blue and The Pla-Mors. The band consists of Megan Boyer on lead vocals, Dennis Ternamian on lead vocals, guitar and bass, Jimmy Steffan on guitar, and Keith Angsten on drums. Their first song, “The Blues Rhumba”, has a bit of a jazzy feel and Spanish guitar with its rhumba rhythm. Megan has the lead vocals for this one. Dennis takes the lead on a rock ‘n’ roll number that cites his honey, his money and his friends are now “Hard to Find”.
Lady J Huston has the next pair of songs. Lady J does the lead vocals, trumpet, and percussion; Frank Dunbar provides vocals, bass and harmonica; Marty D. Spinkenser is on drums; Stephon Jenkins is on keyboards; Darryl Bassett on guitar; and Lew Winer III on tenor sax. Lady J leads with “Nibble in the Middle”, as she offers that “I can give you the best of me”, a jumping number featuring the sax, some rambunctious drumming, and a harmonica run. “Pass The Honey” offers a juke joint growl to the vocals with the trumpet and guitar out in front.
Buddah Blue Features Rick Robben on lead vocals; Paul Laemmli on guitar and vocals; Scott McCullough on harmonica; Jim Rush on bass; and Joe Odneal on drums. “Mo Jump” is their lead off song, a call and response song that establishes that “Mo Jump always cures my blues”. Paul’s guitar and Scott’s harmonica stands out. On “That’s My Babe” Rick declares “She’s one of a kind, don’t come like this from the assembly line”.
Ben Green and Friends features Ben on lead vocals and National steel guitar; Matt Griffin on harmonica and vocals; Dennis Layne Schubert on dobro and vocals, and Autumn Cuddy on vocals. They open with “Louisiana Hot Sauce”, a New Orleans blast with a harmonica lead. He asks her to “Spend Some Time with Me” in a country blues song citing “in a world of too much of everything, but not enough time…you know you keep my feet on the ground”.
Blues Highway has Gene Thomas on lead vocals and guitar; Roger Sprague on keyboards; Joe Corrado on bass; and David Roebuck on drums. On “The Circus” He says he is “working two jobs just to make ends meet”, but she has “plenty of money, honey, because your circus is still in town.” “Blues Highway” gets down in the blues as he says, “rolling down blues highway is a way of life for me. Lord knows when I wake up, blues is all I see”. Roger’s honky tonk piano is featured.
Mick Byrd features Mick on vocals and guitar, Brad Edwards on guitar; and Raymond Spillers III on cajon and percussion. “Love Too Strong” is a blues rock number with some nice guitar work. Mick growls that “the feelings that you never lose” is “Just the Blues”.
Dayne Hudek on vocals and guitar teams as a duet with David Summers on harmonica. On “Tell Me”, Dayne Hudek asks “what is on your mind, comin’ home late from the bar” and certainly, offers the blues. “Miss You” is a slow blues with David’s harmonica soaring along and seems to be a natural follow-up to their previous song as Dayne proclaiming “I wake up in the night / baby I’m a man / I’ve got needs”.
Graj Mahal has Mike Aholt on lead vocals and guitar; Curtis Williams on guitar and vocals; Wayne Castleman on sax and vocals; Shawn Crum on bass and vocals; Vanessa Vaughan on drums and percussion. Their sole song “What Do You Think About That” is another call and response song citing things that result in being called the blues.
The album is available for sale for $10 on the Mo Blues Association’s web site provided in the lead of this review.
