LIVE AND HAVIN’ FUN Deb Ryder (VizzTone) *** ¾
One of the most powerful voices in Chicago blues is back with a live album. Recorded at the The Mint in Los Angeles, Live And Havin’ Fun is exactly what you’d expect from such a title; excellent performances from Ryder and the musicians backing her up make this a fine listen.
Live & Havin’ Fun is a result of a lifetime in the blues. Deb, born in Chicago, began singing at the age of 5 with her dad (crooner Al Swanson) at popular venues and churches in the city. Her musical career began in her early teens when her mother moved the family to California and, along with her stepfather, opened The Topanga Corral. It was here that she opened for and performed with Etta James, Big Joe Turner, Taj Mahal and Canned Heat. These artists mentored Ms. Ryder and helped turn her into the powerhouse performer she is today.
Whether shouting from a mountaintop or crooning on a number like You Might Get Lucky Deb Ryder boasts a staggering range that embraces blues, funk and pop conceits with ease, the kind of voice you could listen to all day long, doing her mentors and influences proud. Live & Havin’ Fun, produced by her husband and bassist Ric W. Ryder, includes a frighteningly talented band that includes Johnny Lee Schell, Tony Braunagel, Jim Pugh plus Tex Nakamura, Alan Maggini, Lon Price and Paul Litteral. The album also features guest turns by Albert Lee, Joe Sublett, Joey Delgado, Artur Menezes and Big Llou Johnson. Producer RWR definitely stacked the deck here, a move that paid off with great performances by all concerned.
Musically speaking Live And Havin’ Fun is an excellent record but my problem with it, and it’s more just a quibble, is that it doesn’t play like a live album. Oh sure there’s a wee bit of crowd noise in between tracks, but for a live album to be truly great it needs to make you feel like you were there in the room, which this disc fails to do. Legendary live sets like BB King’s Live At The Regal or even Deep Purple’s Made In Japan have that transformative magic, but Live And Havin’ Fun does not. That doesn’t make it a bad record by any stretch… I’m just saying it could have been so much more; legendary even.
Other than that, this really is a fine album that I plan on giving lots of airplay on my blues show.
HOT TRACKS: You Might Get Lucky, Prisoner Of War, Guilty As Sin
OLD DIAMONDS & UNCUT GEMS Red’s Blues (independent) *** ½
Another set of live blues, also recorded in California- this time at the Starlet Room in Sacramento, October 4th 2023. Old Diamonds & Uncut Gems is their 4th album, a set of originals plus judiciously chosen covers of stuff by Rice Miller, Floyd Dixon, Gary Primich and Mike Morgan, a very agreeable, jaunty set of blues… relaxed but with plenty of bump in their grind.
Recorded by Greg Hain, mixed by Grub Mitchell & Greg Hain and mastered by Kid Andersen at Greaseland Studios in San Jose, Old Diamonds has a pretty sweet sound. As the band says, this is “a labor of love and a whole lotta fun, we hope you enjoy it and get up and dance! Unless you’re driving, only dance sittin’ down.” This is a light, fun, extremely well produced album, with most of the songs written by the band. Beth Grigsby is the singer, it’s RW Grigsby on bass, vocals and harmonies, Doug Crumpacker on guitar, harmonic and vocals, and Tim Wilbur on drums and vocals. I would prefer the vocals be higher in the mix but overall the casual party vibe remains intact. The band written numbers are from the 3 previous albums of original material and the 3 cover songs kind of serve as gatekeepers to draw you in to the disc.
Old Diamonds & Uncut Gems isn’t what I’d call fire and brimstone blues as the album has a comfy mid-tempo vibe and pace to it that feels pretty good, but perfect it ain’t. While enjoying the songs on every level, it feels like the vocals are buried a little too far down in the mix… a little more energy and ‘oomph’ in that department would have lifted an otherwise solid blues album into something so much more. Solid playing and sterling production make Old Diamonds worth listening to, but the album could’ve been so much… more.
HOT TRACKS: Black Eyed Sally’s, Broke Down In The Fast Lane, Road Scholar
SIMPLE SONGS FOR COMPLICATED TIMES Ndidi O (Black Hen Music) *****
Shame on me for having this in the pile for so long and just getting to it now. Released in the middle of April, Ndidi O’s Simple Songs For Complicated Times (a Juno-nominated and WCMA Blues Artist Of The Year) is an arresting exploration of the blues. A true force of nature, her raw and powerful voice and heart-on-the-sleeve lyrics along with Steve Dawson’s brilliant production make this one of the most powerful releases you’ll hear- maybe ever.
Born and raised in Burns Lake BC, Ndidi left the small town behind for New York and Toronto to find her artistic voice. In search of that, over the years she’s experimented with roots, blues, soul and trip-hop, arriving at an easy armistice with the blues. Those powerful pipes exude the rawness of Etta James one moment and the delicate pop/ soul of Dionne Warwick the next, given the timbre of whatever song she might be singing at the moment.
Simple Songs For Complicated Times was primarily recorded live off the floor at Steve Dawson’s Henhouse studio in Nashville. The two have collaborated many times over the years, including on Ndidi’s debut disc The Contradictor and have played many live shows together too, but this album marks their first time in the studio together in nearly 2 decades. The intuition shared by singer and musicians makes the hair on my neck stand up as the band flows effortlessly with Ndidi. Dawson plays guitar and pedal steel, Sam Howard is on bass, Gary Craig on drums and Chris Gestrin’s keyboard textures are a sort of magic fairy dust that elevates the songs higher. Backup singing from Khari McClelland, Dawn Pemberton and Keri Latimer just make the mixes even sweeter.
Ndidi takes on issues like toxic people (Get Gone) and being middle aged in an industry and culture that favors the young (Too Late) and as the PR material notes, “(it’s) a domestic tour de force, a song cycle that illuminates the choices of women who failed to ‘follow the plan’. Heartbreak has never hurt so deliciously”. Steve Dawson’s mix is rich yet elemental at the same time- he has the perfect touch for these songs. Simple Songs is, simply, one of the most compelling releases of the year.
https://www.blackhenmusic.com/ndidi-o1
HOT TRACKS: Working Girl, Get Gone, Don’t Come Back
SILVER LINING Misty Blues (Guitar One Records) **** ½
A beguiling mix of blues, soul, and Zeppelin-ized bombast… that’s how Silver Lining, the 15th Misty Blues album, hits you right in the face. They set the course for a wild ride through the blues on track #1, Seduction by The Blues, and it’s up to you to hang on.
Misty Blues, including lead singer Gina Coleman, celebrate 25 years of writing and performing original blues with Silver Lining. As a singer Gina has a little Nina Simone in her, which brings an unexpected dimension to these proceedings. The band is also described as having “hints of jazz, funk and tent revival gospel”, which raises Silver Lining above most blues records you’re likely to hear. They get much respect from the traditional blues world, having opened for artists like James Montgomery, Roomful Of Blues and more. The contrast between jazz finesse, funk and roaring guitars- famously labeled as “light and shade” by Jimmy Page, makes for an intriguing listen. Songs like The Upper Hand lead you willingly down the alley… you’re not quite sure where it will end up, maybe some underground after hours jazz club, but you’ll willingly take the trip. At least that’s what I did.
Misty Blues is a 6 piece band including Ms. Coleman, and there’s quite a list of contributing artists too. Gina Coleman is listed as the ‘executive producer’ on Silver Lining, and while the mix is generally ok I just wish it was a little sharper, a little harder. I love that this disc is much broader than straight up blues; the jazz elements lend a certain sophisticated spice to it, and the rock muscle displayed on cuts like that opening number assure that some of these tracks will be showing up on my road trip playlists.
Not much else to be said about Silver Lining, really. This is an album for blues fans with a taste for adventure- the same could be said of jazzbos and rock people. It’s an energetic and immensely satisfying experience.
HOT TRACKS: Seduction By Blues, The Upper Hand, Nothing’s In Vain
