The Pszenny Project – Smokey Bourbon
Self-produced CD
12 songs – 47 minutes
An ensemble based out of the Midlands region of South Carolina who represented the Charlotte Blues Society in this year’s International Blues Challenge, The Pszenny Project are a blues-rock band with a hard-driving, unique sound. Despite keeping the heat on high, they incorporate slight elements of jazz, R&B and more throughout this edgy, all-original set.
They’re led by vocalist/guitarist Mark Pszenny, who grew up listening Derek & The Dominoes, Led Zeppelin, Rory Gallagher, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Muddy Waters, B.B. King in New Hampshire and gravitated naturally to blues, R&B and rock when he picked up guitar for the first time at age 16.
As an adult, Pszenny spent years as a road dog, crisscrossing New England and upstate New York playing in cover bands. Following multiple surgeries that kept him off stage for years, he relocated to the South in 2019, where he focused on songwriting. His involvement with the local blues scene through jams led to the formation of this band as the COVID epidemic was starting to wane.
This is the group’s second release following an eponymous 2023 CD. Mark’s joined here by bassist John Bunucci and keyboard player Moses Andrew III on all tracks with Jason Corley and Ross Flemings III trading off on percussion. They’re joined by producer/engineer Tom Taylor, who sits in on acoustic guitar for one cut.
An extended guitar flourish kicks off “I Digress – You’re the Best,” a high-intensity, stop-time rocker build atop a repeated six-string hook. Pszenny repeatedly asks his gal to be his honey before realizing he’d forgotten to mention how much he adores her then drives home the message with a smoking six-string solo that follows. It bookends with the uptempo “Trouble with the Man,” which blames the lady for creating the problem but promises to be “comin’ back for good” despite the possible outcome.
Another stop-time number, “She’s Long Gone,” finds the woman on a train and “on a crazy ride,” too, as Mark sits by the phone, waiting for her to call – but fearing she never will. The song’s intensity rises throughout as Pszenny expresses his frustration. What to do but to drown your sorrows in the title song, “Smokey Bourbon,” something that’s necessary, he says, because he’s still haunted by her memory.
The tempo picks up again with “Hoochie Mama.” Apparently, Pszenny’s moved on, and he’s requesting that his new lady tell him what she wants him to do before “Shake It” delivers rapid-fire praise for dancing all night long. It flows directly into the uptempo boogie, “I Get Lost,” the admission of needing directions occasionally “in the middle of nowhere” in the middle of the night before the wah-wah-driven “What the Funk” wonders what’s wrong with a woman who’s just walked past with her other man.
The first – and only – ballad in the set, “Baby Cries” provides a bittersweet look at a relationship from the point of view of a musician heading out for another gig as a toddler wails in the background. But this time, Mark promises, he’s coming home for good. “It’s Up to You” and “I Told You” – two numbers centering on more discord – follow before the instrumental, “Highway Jammin’,” gives all of the instrumentalists plenty of space to work out as it brings the disc to a close.
If you’re a fan of blues-rock, you’ll probably like this one. Buckle up before you give it a spin. It’s an unrelenting set that would have been served better with one more ballad along the way.
