Sean Riley & the Water – Stone Cold Hands
Pugnacious Records
10 songs – 35 minutes
Here’s an interesting album for you. Singer/songwriter Sean Riley has made a name for himself in New Orleans, performing a brand of music that pays tribute to the early sounds of the Gulf Coast. It’s a rue that combines traditional folk stylings with the rhythms that laid the groundwork for the blues, jazz and more that was to come.
A guitarist and dobro player with a light, rhythmic touch and a vocalist with a sound to match, Riley splits his time as a soloist touring the lower Mississippi as well as Australia and Europe when not working with his band, the Water, a revolving ensemble which includes several of the top names in Louisiana music and which released a previous EP, Biting Through, under the aggregation’s previous name, Old Riley & the Water.
They combine here on their first full-length album, an almost all original set with timeless appeal, a sound that would have been welcomed by revelers at communal dinners, dances and more after a long week in the fields or late nights in a juke joint, where they’d party the night away.
Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes, a multi-instrumentalist and beloved Zydeco/Afro-Louisiana musician, plays accordion and harmonica on four tracks. Waylon Thibodeaux, who’s known as “Louisiana’s Rockin’ Fiddler,” helps cut a rug on two others. They’re joined by Phil Breen on keys and organ on five numbers and vocalist Tiffany Pollack who shines alone on one and joins forces with Megan Harris Brunious and Whitney Alouisious on another. Holding down the bottom throughout are percussionist Mike Barras and bassist/producer/label owner Dean Zucchero.
Several of the originals here were penned during the pandemic and reflect some of the stress we all endured. The collaborative effort was recorded at Rhythm Shack Studio in the Crescent City by Zucchero and engineer Jake Eckert with the end product, Riley says, “truly speaking to the spirit of the New Orleans music community.
Like the mighty Mississippi, that spirit flows through the entirety of this album, beginning with Riley’s precise, rapid-fire picking at opens “Dance Me One More Time” before accordion and percussion kick in and Sean urges to the lady of his desire: “Get up here, and find out why you’re here!” The action shows and takes on a country-blues approach for “Go Easy on Me,” a plea for comfort amidst lyrics that demonstrate the singer’s in the midst of unspoken torment.
The sweet, languorous title cut, “Stone Cold Hands,” bemoans the loss of a friend but acknowledging that the passing was no surprise as Riley offers up comfort for someone hit hard by the tragedy. The tempo heats up and the rhythm percolates at the jump of “Truck Route Blues” aided by Sunpie’s harp before a cover of Jimmy Reed’s “High and Lonesome” shuffles at the crossroads of Chicago and the bayou and Sean sings call-and-response with the instrumentation for the sprightly “Out All Night.”
“A Losing Hand” opens with a regimented drumbeat before settling into a honeyed, percussive number driving by Thibodeaux’s fiddle that complains about continuing to play cards in a game where the dealer wears a crooked grin. It gives way to the instrumental, “Rosie’s Rag,” a dobro-fueled pleaser before the blues-drenched “Jump the Line” celebrates staying on course despite taking risks along the way. The disc closes with the “Shine a Little Stronger,” a cheerful, optimistic number directed at residents of the Gulf Coast that, despite recent struggles, they’ll be stronger and that the sun will shine once more if they go with the flow.
Definitely not your big-city, one-four-five blues, but oh so good!
