Southside Denny – Rollin’ Home
Blu Jazz Productions
www.facebook.com/SouthsideDennySnyder/
9 tracks/35 minutes
Southside Denny Snyder hails from South Bend, Indiana but has made his home on Montreal for over a dozen years. A fixture on the Chicago blues scene, he left for the Great White North and is now big on there music scene with his blues rocking style.
His trio is Jay Davenport of drums, percussion and backing vocals, Frank McClure on bass and himself on guitar, slide and vocals. They are tight and the songs are all originals. The guitar playing is solid and not overstated. He plays with good air between the notes and restraint even when he’s playing with abandon. I like his style.
The album begins with a acoustic cut, the title track. Denny slides and picks with great skill as he lays out a very cool instrumental for the listener’s pleasure. “No Time” follows, a rocking, electric guitar cut with solid fret work, a funky guitar solo and vocals. “I Would Do Anything” is a slow and remorseful cut with Denny singing about getting his woman back. He offers up a slick guitar solo which adds to the feel of the cut. Next up is “How Long Is It Gonna Last,” a mid tempo with a nice instrumental opening. Denny some in stridently on vocals and then lays out another nice solo. “It Breaks My Heart” has an expressive vocal lead and a funky little groove. Denny sings about a relationship gone wrong and does some more soloing again.
“Dan Ryan Blues” is up and Denny gets a little Bo Diddley beat going as he sings about one of Chicago’s bottled up expressways. A couple of guitar solos give the listener something to grab hold of as Denny lets out his traffic aggressions. “Evil Woman” speaks lowly about some women in a nice little cut with good vocals and guitar. “Everything Woman” is another well crafted blues rocker with a more positive relationship spin. A big guitar solo and then another to take us home make this one interesting. He concludes with the bouncy and fun “Food For Thought.” Rocking good stuff here with more outspoken guitar work.
This is my first introduction to Denny and I enjoyed the CD. Nice original tunes, excellent guitar, good lyrics and an over all sound delivery. It’s a fun and enjoyable blues rock CD!
