Shawn Kellerman – Kell’s Kitchen
Songsurfer Records
14 Tracks – 61 minutes
Waterloo, Ontario native Shawn Kellerman is recognized as one of Canada’s top bluesmen. Now moving into his third decade of recording, this latest album of blues rock includes twelve original songs and two covers. This album is only his third solo release, and his second, Blues Without A Home, was released fifteen years ago.
He started his career as a teen working with a female Detroit blues singer who goes by the moniker Zoom, who had performed vocals with Billy Branch. He did a stint with Bobby Rush’s touring band and even produced an album for Bobby. Along the way, he also played with keyboard player Lucky Peterson. All of these musicians make a guest appearance on the album along with many others that are too numerous to mention in this review. Shawn also notes that Mel Brown was one of his early mentors. Shawn plays the guitar, bass and does the vocals on most tracks. Other key performers are Van Romaine on drums on twelve of the cuts and Lance Anderson who plays the B3, clavinet and Wurlitzer on most tracks.
Shaun establishes a blistering pace as he comes out of the gate with a funky “SKB” and his guitar absolutely roaring as he invites us to come party with the Shawn Kellerman Band. He does not slow down as he declares he feels free when he is “Drivin'” with things briefly simmering as he meets a woman who wants to go on a road trip with him, which then kicks his guitar back into high gear. “Show Me What You Got” will bring to mind, some of the funk bands that were popular in the 1970’s.
Bobby Rush makes his appearance playing the harmonica and trades lead vocals with Shawn on “We Are Bluesmen”, which is the first true blues song on the album. He slows the tempo down somewhat as he urges everyone to stand “Together”. Jason Ricci joins on the first of three songs with Shawn on “Hard Man to Please”. Jason’s harmonica rips along with Shawn’s guitar. Mid song shifts into a Delta sound, but then quickly rips back into full bore with Jason totally letting loose.
“Bad Mamma Jamma” is another all-out rocker with a touch of funk. Noah Allard, who has provided backing vocals on several other cuts on the album steps up for the lead vocals on a gospel tinted “Down by the River” as he invites you to come “wash your sins away”. Zoom invites Shawn to get cooking and offers memories of working together in their early days, stating that they went together just like “Macaroni & Cheese”.
Jason Ricci plays a smooth harmonica lead on “You’re Gonna Learn from This One” as Shawn recalls his early days and lessons he learned on the road with other musicians. This includes one of the most appealing instrumentals on the album. “Jig Jiggity” adds Dave Wiffen’s sax and Ray Podhornik’s trumpet into a funked-up instrumental song that would certainly get people up on the dance floor. The first cover on the album, “Runnin’ Back to Saskatoon” is from fellow Canadian, Burton Cummings. Jason Ricci again brings his harmonica into the song.
“In A World of Blues”, he sings that we need “love for unity, love for humanity” and pulls out some nice slide guitar work. He ends the album with Little Milton’s “Living Off the Love You Give” with Lucky Peterson playing the Hammond B3. Given that Peterson died n 2020, it would indicate this track as possibly some others have been sitting on the shelf for a while.
Shawn’s guitar is the chief feature here, as he burns through many excellent runs and brings together other top performers to back him. Jason Ricci proves his expertise on the harmonica on his three tracks and those are certainly high points on the album. However, Shawn’s snarling and shouting vocals, on occasion lingering close to a rap, are sometimes difficult to follow lyrically.
