PK Mayo – All Before Yesterday
New Folk Records
Disc 1: 12 tracks/50 minutes; Disc 2: 11 tracks/58 minutes
Paul Kennedy Mayasich, aka PK Mayo, has been recording under his own name and his stage name since around the turn of the century, Mayo offers up 23 tracks here that span his musical career and they offer a variety of musical styles to enjoy. A Minnesota native, Mayo has had a long and storied career playing and singing the blues. Here we have a pair of CDs and nearly two dozen songs that give us a variety of his styles and influences to listen to.
“Mercury Blues” starts of the first CD. Mayo’s resonator and gritty vocals tell the tale of his woman who was a stolen by a suitor with a Mercury that ran it up and down the road. Nice finger picking on this cut. “Tell Me” is a rousing R&B sort of cut with a funky groove, cool horns and organ and great sound. Next is “Prisoner,” a swinging track with breathy vocals, nice organ and electric guitar work and a great vibe.
Up next is “Be An Angel,” a somber piece with passionate vocals and piano that concludes with a ringing guitar solo before the outro. “Too Gone” is a nice acoustic cut with rootsy feel to it. “Jelly Smackin Mama” continues in the acoustic mode and Mayo and company lay down a good little boogie with a old time feel. Some barrel-house piano adds nicely to the mood as does the guitar solo work.
“Love For Money” switches back to the funky mode with a great groove and vibrant delivery. The bass and guitar are funked up and make for a great ride. The rocking “Texas Toast” is next and it begins with some jumping instrumental. Mayo joins in vocally and on guitar with some slick piano to savor on this swinging song. Things go a little swampy on “Somewhere In The Night” with slightly distorted guitar and added organ.
“That Man” follows with a southern blues rock thing going. Organ and guitar team up for some nice licks. “The Road Behind” stays down home and gets country-like as Mayo testifies to us and gives us some electric and slide guitar. The first CD concludes with the spiritual “Amazing Grace” with some very cool instrumental slide guitar work.
The second CD begins with more slide on “Black Coffee.” Mayo sings and plays with emotion. “Next is “Good Man Blues,” a slow to mid tempo blues with big guitar and upright bass. Mayo is back on the resonator for “Big Fat Mama” as he goes down to the Delta and howls out the vocal lead.
“Fishin’ Fool” is next, a short and romping piece with Mayo testifying to his love for dropping a line in the water. Then we have “Vidalia, Georgia” where Mayo sings with emotion and we have acoustic and electric guitar and slide layered nicely. “Campaign Road” offers up some cool resonator in this lengthy and very well done acoustic piece.
Things lighten up with “Gimme a Break (Bartender),” a fun number with piano and horns that is just a romping good time. This one tales us down to New Orleans ad Mayo also lays out some sweet and heavy guitar licks. “Devil’s Face” follows that, another cut with some swampy guitar and vocals; lots of dirty guitar licks to savor here.
“Watch Out Boy” is a slow and solemn cut with cool national steel guitar and touching vocals. There is more of that on “Road of Love,” as Mayo continues to sing and perform with emotion. The song builds and concludes vibrantly. The final selection is “Arms If The Blues,” a slow and somber cut with electric guitar that ring and stings at the heart as the six stringed beast grows in intensity and vibrancy as the song moves on and concludes with a quiet moment going out.
There is a lot to digest here with this retrospective of his work. He’s toured the globe and played with the likes of Johnny Lang, Tracy Nelson, David Hidalgo, Shannon Curfman, Dinah Washington, Jack McDuff, Terry Evans, Big Walter Smith, Bernard Allison, Leland Sklar and Mark Naftalin just to name a few. Mayo embraces the blues and offers up a nice mix of his stuff in solo and small ensemble tracks to large scale orchestrated stuff. It is quite the musical journey here to listen to, so grab a seat and settle in for two hours to enjoy this double CD set!
