Rooster Alley – Cock-a-Doodle-Doo
Self-Produced
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RoosterAlley1
CD: 13 Songs, 60:01 Minutes
Styles: Contemporary Electric Blues and Blues Rock
One of the great joys of being a blues fan is predicting which bands will make it big. The late, great Sean Costello, before he gained his strutting stardom, once played a gig in a rural-Illinois hardware store. From humble roots spring mighty oaks, and from the humble “barnyard” of Central Illinois springs Rooster Alley. On 2015’s Cock-a-Doodle-Doo, they provide a crowing collection of thirteen original electric blues numbers, demonstrating why they’ve been a barroom and festival favorite. According to their biographical profile on CDBaby, “They have played all over the Midwest since 1992. They have played at Peoria Illinois River City Blues Festival five times, the Mid-Mississippi Muddy Waters Blues Festival, South Skunk Blues Society Blues Festival and the Ain’t Nothing’ But the Blues Fest in Bloomington, Illinois several times. Rooster Alley was the winner of the 2002 Illinois Blues Challenge.”
Rooster Alley pulls no punches when it comes to their musical style. It’s raw, rough, and rip-roaring, without any slick studio polish or hyperactive electronic effects. Their lyrics cover familiar themes: heartbreak, hell-raising and humor (“I’m crowing in the morning, howlin’ at the moon at night,” says this album’s title track). Vocally, lead man Dennis “Bozman” Bosley doesn’t sing as much as he converses with his listeners, his pipes those of a hard-working pickup truck instead of a well-oiled church organ. One can especially notice this on the explosive “Highway 57 South.” The rest of the ensemble matches him in intensity, but doesn’t overpower.
Along with Bosley on lead vocals, harmonica and guitar are Danny “Poondanny” Meyers on bass; slide and second guitarist Dave “The Steep” Hill; and Tom “TJ” Joliff on drums.
These three songs are some of the “best eggs” one can find down Rooster Alley:
Track 01: “Leg and Thigh” – This smooth SRV-style instrumental does just what an opening number should: excite, establish mood, and make fans hungry for more of a band’s music. Of course, the guitar solos are the main highlights, but revel in Bosley’s hot harmonica as well.
Track 09: “Highway 57 South” – In the mood for a vacation, but not in the mood to leave your favorite comfy chair? Fear not, blues fans! Head on down “Highway 57 South,” a blues rock ode to the golden road to Florida. More than any other song on the CD, this one presents the 200-proof essence of Rooster Alley and “Bozman’s” hard-edged vocals: “I’m gonna grab my baby, take her by the hand, take her on down to the Promised Land. They got white sandy beaches and them TAAAALLL palm trees…” Grab a partner for a quick groove on the dance floor.
Track 13: “Back in the Barnyard” – Hilarious track thirteen features clucking chickens and their feathered king, who says: “When the little red hen is on the grocer’s shelf, this big bad rooster is going to have all those young chicks ALL to me-self!” “BAWWWK!” squawks the incensed older female. This number may be only forty-seven seconds long, but that’s not too short to give people a full-fledged belly laugh.
Rooster Alley will make blues lovers at festivals and in bars Cock-a-Doodle-Doo all night long!
