Paul Boddy & the SlideWinder Blues Band – Nosy Neighbors
Slide Records
12 songs – 42 minutes
A four-piece ensemble based out of Doylestown, Pa., Paul Boddy & the SlideWinder Blues Band struck a positive chord with their debut EP, Friends of Tuesday, two years ago and deliver a stellar follow-up with this full-length effort. It’s a steady-swinging set of contemporary Chicago- and Gulf Coast-based sounds that’ll have your toes tapping throughout.
The unit was founded seven years ago by Boddy, a British transplant whose family was deeply involved in the English music scene. The grandson of a female blues singer, Paul’s father was a businessman whose partners included rock promoter Don Kirschner and Mark Stevens, a member of The Dovells, the group that gave us “The Bristol Stomp.” A label owner and producer of note, he possesses a rich, emotive tenor voice and pleasant, light attack on slide guitar – a skill he developed during a 40-year career as a performer, producer and label owner.
Now based in a Philadelphia suburb, Boddy launched SlideWinder seven years ago. Their most recent prior release – a reworking of the single “A Little Bit of Soap,” a 1961 hit by The Jarmels – peaked in the No. 3 spot on Roots Music Report’s blues music chart.
Despite their limited recording history, they’ve been featured artists at several major regional festivals, worked in support of Marcia Ball, Sonny Landreth and others and earned a spot in the Pennsylvania Blues Hall of Fame with a veteran roster of road dogs that includes Glenn “The Wizard” Hale on organ and piano and a rhythm section composed of bassist Chuck Hearne and drummer Dave Hollingsworth. They’re augmented by a horn section composed of Jay Davidson (sax), Steve Jankowski (trumpet) and Ian Grey (trombone) with backup vocals from Jeannie and Carol Brooks.
“Trouble Finds Me Everyday,” one of ten originals in the 12-track set, lopes out of the gate to open and features stellar work on the keys as Boddy wonders if other folks look at their pasts and feel the same way he does, starting our optimistic in the morning and then encountering roadblocks along his way. A modern reinvention of the Tampa Red standard, “Hurts Me Too,” precedes “Hanky Panky Blues,” a rock-steady complaint about sexual longing delivered by a man whose lady’s just split for good.
Boddy echoes Elmore James on slide and Hale shows his skill at barrelhouse for “Baby Let’s Try Again” before Paul delivers a shoutout to the folks who live next door for tipping him off about his cheating missus in the title tune, “Nosy Neighbors,” atop a Latin beat before yielding to the tasty “Milk & Cookies,” an uptempo memory of Paul rummaging through his lunchbox at school.
SlideWinder delivers a little jump in the form of “Right Way Up” before venturing into a little Johnny Winter-style rocker in “Blues Is Company.” A revisit to Joe Cocker’s “Delta Lady” takes on an azure feel before the horns join the action for the soulful “Bells & Whistles,” a description of a woman who comes with all of the above, and “Jam It In,” a complaint about working hard in an attempt to stay ahead before a six-minute, New Orleans-inspired romp, “Trash Can Head,” brings the action to a close.
An unexpected delight, this is a treasure of an album. The musicianship throughout is top-rate, and the tunes…give ‘em a listen. They’re clever and different, too!
