TEQUILA & BULLETS Jay Hooks (Joplin Street Music) *****+
Every once in a while an album comes along to remind you what rock & roll should feel like. Tequila & Bullets is Hooks’ first album in years; greasy, sweaty, dirt-bag Texas blues style rock & roll that really does it for me.
This is nastier than ZZ Top, more like vintage Johnny Winter meets Too Slim & The Taildraggers. “When I set out to make this record I wanted it to sound like my live shows from 2001 and 2002” Jay says, “raw, sweaty and in your face.” Tequila & Bullets is exactly that, a disc with a rugged energy that you feel with every note. It’s described as ‘brimming with the grit of Gulf Coast roadhouses, the burn of late-night whiskey, and the defiant spirit that has defined Hooks’ career. It’s the sound of a musician who’s walked away, lived life, and returned sharper, louder and more in command than ever.’ I mean Jesus-who wouldn’t want a piece of that action?
Tequila & Bullets was produced by Matt Johnson who had toured with Hooks back in the day, so he had a firm grasp on exactly what Jay’s vision was for this record. The sound is thick and driven, and Hooks’ guitar solos are sure to induce bouts of air guitar. I love the way he describes the way he sees the blues; “every note’s a story, every bend a confession, and every solo like good whiskey- smooth, strong and lingering”, and he practices what he preaches.
Of the title Tequila & Bullets (and the song itself) Jay explains that “when people drink tequila, it’s like truth serum- you can’t get them to shut up. Same way with a bullet… when it’s fired, its path tells the truth. It can’t be manipulated into a lie.” Tequila & Bullets is nasty in attitude and delivery, the way a blues/rock classic ought to be. This isn’t just good, it’s great.
HOT TRACKS: Tequila & Bullets, Left Me Cold, Mexican Larry
BUCKINGHAM NICKS Lindsay Buckingham & Stevie Nicks (Buckingham Records/ Rhino) ****
It’s not often I review an album from 1973, this might even be the first one- but the historical significance of Buckingham Nicks cannot be overstated. While shopping for a recording studio in LA, producer Keith Olsen at Sound City put the album on so Mick Fleetwood could hear the sound of the facility. Long story short, he brought the pair into Fleetwood Mac as a result and the band wasted no time in becoming a global phenomenon.
Long since deleted, Buckingham Nicks now takes its place in the Fleetwood Mac canon. From Nicks’ shockingly sure footed songwriting to the unique flamenco-style guitar that Lindsay would bring to The Mac, anyone can hear the band’s future in these 10 songs. Tumultuous future aside, it’s not a stretch to say that Fleetwood Mac’s ultimate mega-success is firmly rooted in BN.
Who knows why Buckingham Nicks disappeared without a trace when it first came out? In a review for www.loudersound.com Pat Carty says this is “a superb album rescued from the dustbin of history at last” but then a lot of good stuff falls through the cracks, and at the time this album was one of them. Then again had it been the hit it surely deserved to be, there would be no Fleetwood Mac as we know it. It’s pretty easy to hear that Fleetwood Mac and Rumours came from this wellspring of emotionally charged pop songs.
Buckingham Nicks has been widely bootlegged since it went out of print, we can now hear what enchanted Mick Fleetwood all those years ago. Polished, literate and harmonically arresting, Lindsay and Stevie helped take F. Mac in a direction they may not have otherwise pursued. They were a struggling duo at the time, Stevie working 2 jobs to help pay the bills. Mick initially wanted Lindsay, who then insisted that Stevie be brought into the band too. Not sure what their relationships were like then as a pair of musicians struggling to succeed, but later on their contentiousness made for some great songs.
A long lost piece of the Fleetwood Mac puzzle has finally been faithfully restored… I can’t imagine a single one of Fleetwood Mac’s millions of fans NOT wanting to have this.
HOT TRACKS: Frozen Love, Crying In The Night, Long Distance Winner
NEW SOUTHERN VINTAGE Candice Ivory (Nola Blue Records) *****
Nothing like a little fire & brimstone blues to get your mojo workin’. New Southern Vintage, the latest from Grammy-nominated rising star Candice Ivory bristles with energy and intent, a roadhouse vibe (I use that word a lot, I know) that captures your imagination and heart.
“Blues is a global music, known and cherished by people all over the world” Candice says in the liner notes, “but its roots are in the American south- in places like Memphis and Mississippi, where I first met the blues.” New Southern Vintage pays homage to many of the heroes and heroines that created it, like Memphis Minnie and Candice’s great uncle Will Roy Sanders.. The album features several living legends (Jimmy “Duck” Holmes) along with younger artists like Public Enemy’s Khari Wynn, Ben Levin and members of her backing band The Blue Bloods.
Though their styles are different, the energy of Ivory’s approach to these songs has me thinking of Shemekia Copeland in terms of the raw audacity with which she handles these songs. Recorded in Ecuador and Memphis and produced by Candice herself, New Southern Vintage has an exuberant energy that really captures the imagination. As a singer she is bold and robust, and the musicians involved here lay it down perfectly as she leads them through various styles, from blues rave-ups like album opener Ain’t So Blind to a soulful mid-tempo number like Let Your Love Shine On that almost feels like a Santana number.
New Southern Vintage is an album that smolders and burns from start to finish, from Ivory herself down through all of the musicians involved. In American Highways Bill Bentley says “this is a woman who has arrived to tell her truth, and there will be no debating that it belongs here (and) now” and I second that observation. She is one of the most powerful voices in the blues, and this album absolutely cannot be ignored- great, great stuff.
HOT TRACKS: Ain’t So Blind, Lookin’ For My Baby, Let Your Love Shine On
HELP YOURSELF Blood Brothers (Gulf Coast Records) *****
Here is the 2nd studio record and 3rd overall from Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia, collectively known as The Blood Brothers. When two incredibly gifted blues guitarists, singers and songwriters get together sparks fly, as they most assuredly do on Help Yourself.
I’m a fan of Mike and Albert individually and even moreso of their collective efforts as Blood Brothers- in fact their Live In Canada disc was my #1 album for 2023 in ANY genre. Help Yourself is a powerful statement of its own, capturing much of their legendary chemistry and on stage firepower. That was no doubt the aim when they went to record this one; “It was great to capture the band live in the studio, just like live on stage” Mike says. Zito and Castiglia each brought songs to the band, co-wrote one (The Best I Can) and they cover JJ Cale’s Low Down, which fits the band like a glove. Aside from Mike and Albert we have Scot Sutherland on bass, Lewis Stephens on keys, Matt Johnson on drums and vocals and Ray Hangen on drums and percussion, and you can feel them all pulling in the same direction, with a real sense of purpose.
Some of the songs are autobiographical too. Castiglia’s Can’t Be A Prophet is about coming home after being on the road. “It’s based on all of our experiences” he says, “being treated like a king (on the road) and coming home to very little fanfare for the local guy.” Mike Zito’s Alive is the emotional centerpiece of Help Yourself. “It’s about my girl Jackie” he says. “After the tremendous loss of my wife Laura (he deals with that on last year’s Life Is Hard) I was certain that life was pretty much over, especially for love. But God had another plan and brought me this angel to make me feel alive again.”
\When it comes to the blues, Blood Brothers rock hard and they take you down deep, particularly here on Help Yourself. Each song is a bold, vibrant performance that depends on stellar musicianship, the record a journey you’ll want to take regularly, and the band itself an addiction I willingly surrender to.
HOT TRACKS: Alive, Ol’ Victrola, Can’t Be A Prophet, Low Down
