Sugar Ray & The Bluetones – Blues From Sibculo
Natural Records – 2025
www.sugarrayandthebluetones.com
10 tracks; 41 minutes
It has been a long gap since 2020’s Too Far From The Bar so it is wonderful to have a new album from one of the great blues combos. Sugar Ray Norcia and drummer Neil Gouvin have been playing together since school days and bassist Michael ‘Mudcat’ Ward has been in the band for many years but this is the first Bluetones album for experienced guitarist Rusty Zinn. Recorded over three relaxed days at a small studio in Sibculo, Netherlands, the album demonstrates the sheer ease with which these guys play together. The material is half originals and half covers, blending the band’s signature sound of Chicago blues with elements of cajun, rockabilly and even cowboy music!
Ray’s harp leads the way on his ‘No More Chances’, the whole band in perfect sync as Rusty adds a stinging solo. The loping style of Jimmy Reed can be heard on ‘High And Lonesome’ (though Ray’s harp is far more muscular than Reed’s) before Rusty demonstrates his mastery of T-Bone Walker’s style on ‘Mean Old World’, the longest cut on the album and one of the best. ‘Blind Date’ is a song that the band has recorded before (on 2016’s Seeing Is Believing); the version here is longer and really rattles along with lots of harp from the start, the rhythm section underpinning everything, Rusty adding nice arpeggios behind Ray’s vocal: “I never forget a face, but with you I’ll make an exception”! “Bloodstains On The Wall’”is a 1953 obscurity originally recorded by Frank ‘Honeyboy’ Patt, describing a murder scene, given a suitably menacing tone by the Bluetones.
Rusty provides two numbers: “Dream Girl” is a little different to the rest of the album, rockabilly with cajun accents and sung by Rusty in a lighter vocal style, Ray’s harp sounding almost like an accordion to match the song; in contrast “Rusty Nail” is a powerful, chugging instrumental credited to Rusty and Neil whose drumming propels the tune. Little Junior Parker released “I’m Holding On” in 1959 and it suits the Bluetones well, with Ray’s commanding vocal and Rusty’s fluid solo; “You Got Me Wrong” is an obscure Billy Boy Arnold ‘B’-side, classic Chicago blues. The album closes with a second instrumental, “Wait And Watch”, this time written by Ray and Mudcat, a wistful tune which will recall those scenes in Westerns when the cowboy takes out his harmonica at the night time fireside.
Like every album they make, this one delivers great blues with no filler, making it one to find and treasure.
