FROM THE BEATLES TO THE BLUEBIRD Kent Blazy (independent) **** ½
This is a heartfelt tribute to The Beatles (or ‘The Fabs’ as George Harrison used to call them) from hit maker and Nashville Songwriter Hall of Fame member Kent Blazy. From The Beatles To The Bluebird was born from Blazy’s visit to Liverpool and visiting all the Beatles sites. It brought home to him how much that band changed the world of pop music and the impact that endures to this day. This disc has a Beatles-meets-The-Byrds feel and it’s a blast to listen to.
“The songs honor lots of people who have inspired me through the years” Blazy says. “I had a great band and engineers, and it was a joy to make this record.” Rather than re-do Beatles tunes FTBTTB is a gaggle of songs written mainly in a Fab Four style, some of them directly about them, by Kent Blazy and co-writer and vocalist Steve Allen. Steve calls the record “a musical journey from the 60’s English invasion, winding up through the decades up till today.” It’s a new album with a nostalgic feel, and thanks to the musicians involved and engineer Chris Utley it’s a terrific sounding album too. Those musicians, by the way, include Lee Francis on bass and Kevin Murphy on drums, Steve Allan on vocals for tracks 1 & 11 and Kent Blazy on guitars and vocals. All basic tracks were recorded live in one day, giving the disc an energy and feel that you can’t get any other way.
Considering who wrote the songs and where this thing was recorded, not to mention Kent’s singing style- not unlike a young Steve Earle- From The Beatles has a decent amount of country mojo too as it rocks along. The album is an unabashed tribute to The Beatles and the songs are of a deeply personal nature, starting with the effect of their first appearance on Ed Sullivan. As you listen to the opening track February 9th, 1964 you get taken back to that momentous occasion if you were lucky enough to have seen it. I was 5 at the time, and I can still feel it.
The songs on From The Beatles To The Bluebird are not Beatle numbers yet they feel quite Beatle-y with a touch of Nashville soul. It’s an intriguing blend that I highly recommend.
HOT TRACKS: February 9th 1964, The Gift She Is, Birds On A High Line
TODDIE TIME Michelle Malone & The Hot Toddies (SBS Music/ BFD Entertainment) *****
Let the holiday albums begin! Having spent something like 20 years writing radio commercials up until 2015 I get quite Grinchy around this time of year, but Michelle doesn’t have that problem. In fact she LOVES Christmas music and created a Christmas band, The Hot Toddies, to release this disc of holiday classics. Grinch or not, Toddie Time is irresistible.
I’m not really keen on Christmas music but I AM a Michelle Malone fan and so was curious to hear what this stuff was like in her hands. The Hot Toddies are Michelle Malone on vocals and acoustic guitar, Doug Keys on hollow body electric guitar, and upright bassist Robby Handley. Toddie Time is upbeat, soothing and entertaining, a jazzy look at some hoary old holiday classics that will have you swaying and singing along in no time flat. As The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says, they “are Christmas nostalgia re-imagined and wrapped up in a warm, jazzy blanket.” Perhaps Creative Loafing is closer to the truth when they say they “don’t really cover holiday songs as much as re-interpret them, creating new jazz and blues arrangements all their own that display Malone’s vocal prowess and innate ability to let her music take you to another time and place.”
Michelle has been a mainstay of the American roots music scene for over 30 years, her music an expression of the American south and she’s a true road warrior, spending 200 days of the year on the road. She mixes roadhouse rock with the raw grit of blues, holy rolling gospel and country soul with the organic warmth of folk music. From this place The Hot Toddies breathe new and exciting life into these holiday classics that we’ve all heard a thousand times before. Putting your feelings about Christmas-themed songs aside- whether you’re for, against, or on the fence- Toddie Time is very easy to appreciate on a purely musical level. After a few spins of this I’m feeling like I may not be so Grinchy after all… can’t wait for my wife to hear this too.
HOT TRACKS: Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, I’ll Be Home For Christmas, Auld Lang Syne
LION Richard Rozze (Waterbound Records) ***
Richard Rozze is an electric and acoustic guitarist, singer, composer and arranger that dabbles in many genres. Lion, his latest solo album is jazz flavored blues/ rock, with a pop sense of melody that reminds me of Al Stewart’s albums back in the day.
Lion is the sound of Rozze’s trio; aside from himself it includes bassist Jonathan Noyce (12 years with Jethro Tull) and drummer Simon Lea, whose resume includes work with Dionne Warwick, Ronnie Wood and Boy George. “With this trio I feel I have found my voice as a composer and electric guitarist” Richard says. “It’s the result of all my influences and I hope it brings a fresh approach to the guitar trio format.” More than rock or blues although those elements are felt, Lion feels more jazz in a George Benson sort of way- which is not a bad thing.
The biggest problem is that although the songs are decent enough, none of them grab you by the collar and say “hey- listen to this!” They feel rather ordinary. While Richard is an okay singer his guitar playing is the drawing card here, whether he’s playing chords or soloing… not the fastest or most dramatic, but interesting and occasionally enthralling.
Lion was produced by Richard Rozze, Jeff Alexander and Al Harle, and I have a bone to pick with these guys. While Richard’s vocals and guitar come across quite clearly and Noyce’s bass fits comfortably right behind them, Simon Lea’s drums are criminally under-produced. The snare drum almost sounds like it’s under water and I can barely hear the rest of the kit. Not sure if it wasn’t mic’d properly but it should be much more present in the mix than it is. Musically I like the album just fine, but the sound of the drums nearly sinks the whole thing.
Decent album, fine guitar playing in every sense of the word, shitty drum sound- that’s Lion.
HOT TRACKS: The River, Sovereign, Go It Alone
COUNTRY GONNA BE ALRIGHT David Adam Byrnes (Reviver Records) *****
I’m tired of and have often mentioned modern country music trying to be something it’s not, so when someone like David Adam Byrnes comes along it’s a breath of fresh air. Country Gonna Be Alright is the real deal. Harkening back to artists like George Strait and Garth Brooks this ain’t fake bullshit pop/ rock calling itself country; this IS country music as it SHOULD be.
“I’ve spent my entire career trying to carry the torch for real traditional country music and making music for true rural country music fans and real country people” David says. “It truly is a way of life. As much as the world progresses and cities grow there are still plenty of folks that are just fine with a slow pace of life and most of all people that want to hear country music that actually sounds like country music.” It’s this way of thinking that is at the very heart of Country Gonna Be Alright, in every note played and sung.
Sonically it’s a great sounding album, co-produced by Byrnes and Bart Busch, with Bart also serving as engineer and mixer. The session musicians backing David also have a firm grasp on what he’s aiming for here; Mark Beckett and Evan Hutchings on drums, Jimmy Carter on bass, Bobby Terry (and David Adam Byrnes) on acoustic guitar, Bart Busch on piano, Rob McNelley on electric guitar, Jenee Fleenor on fiddle, and Eddie Dunlap on steel guitar. The mix is perfect and equally important, you can feel the soul of every song. CGBA is proof you don’t need slick production tricks to make the music work; just the truth.
One of David’s earliest memories is attending a George Strait concert and really hearing a George Strait song for the first time. After that he’d always take his cowboy hat to school, and after spending his high school graduation night opening for Hank Williams Jr., he packed his bags and moved to Nashville. Trace his path from there to here, and a record like this makes so much sense it’s ridiculous. Unpretentious, straightforward, heartfelt; country music definitely gonna be alright in the hands of David Adam Byrnes.
HOT TRACKS: Country Gonna Be Alright, She Don’t (acoustic), What goes Around
CRAZY HILL LIVE Tomislav Goluban (Delta Note) ****
There’s some mighty sweet blues coming out of Croatia, and Tomislav Goluban is just a terrific example. Crazy Hill Live, recorded during a concert April 23rd of this year, is full of sweet playing and grooves to carry you off.
Crazy Hill Live follows 14 studio albums recorded in English and Croatian plus instrumentals. Goluban plays some sweet harp, and his accent lend the lyrics of these tunes a sort of vulnerability. Gotta give it up for his band too, from the rolling grooves of drummer Dargutin Hojsak and bassist Tomislav Kusar, but it’s the jazzy chords and fleet-footed soloing of guitarist Hrvoje Funda that is the real magic in an already entrancing mixture. The album is mostly in English but it’s an unexpected treat to hear him sing in Croatian on a number Kaj God Blues or Brzi Vlak. No idea what they mean, but they sound cool. On more traditional blues ground, the call-and-response between Tomislav and guitarist Hrvoje on Fun Starts Here is a heart-stopping slow blues that I felt the need to repeat a few times on the first spin.
As the title implies this is a live album so it’s curious to why the audience is so buried in the mix as it would’ve given the disc more energy, hearing and feeling the band and audience feeding off of each other. I’m a big fan of Goluban’s style of harp playing- he can really make the train talk. No wonder America’s Blues Music Magazine says that “Tomislav “Little Pidgeon” Goluban should be considered one of Croatia’s national treasures” and Peter Merrett of Australia calls him “a stunning singer and sublime harmonics genius… not only is he an incendiary harpist, he is one of the most original singers on the scene today.”
To sum up everything I’ve just written here, Crazy Hill Live is great, classic blues, period.
HOT TRACKS: Fun Starts Here, Brzi Vlak, Train Beat
LIVE IN AUSTIN VOL.1 Sue Foley (Guitar Woman Records) *****+
Sue Foley is one of the blues’ top guitar players and her new album, Live In Austin Vol.1, is about as hot as it gets. Recorded live at the legendary Continental Club in Austin, Texas you can feel the sweat and smell the beer as Foley and her band roll up their sleeves and get to work.
Sue Foley arrived in Austin in ’91, cutting her teeth with people like Albert Collins and The Vaughan brothers. Flash forward to 2023 And Live In Austin Vol. 1 as Sue tears it up in a packed club, tough as nails, clearly at the top of her game. The album is 11 songs including a cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s Howlin’ For My Darlin’ which she says is one of her favorite Wolf tunes. “We stripped it down to its bones for an all-out two guitar throw down between me and Austin’s legendary Texas blues stringer Derek O’Brien” Foley notes. “At one point you can hear me shout ‘O’Brien!’ cause I knew he was gonna try and win the round. That was too much fun!”
L.I.A.V.1. is a steaming document featuring the blues in its natural habitant; on stage and being played by intuitively talented musicians. Sue Foley has clearly earned the trophies crowding her shelf, including the Blues Music Award for traditional Blues Female Artist just this past May, an award she also won in 2022 and 2022, plus a win at the 2023 Austin Music Award for Blues Act Of The Year and Guitarist Of The Year at the 2023 Maple Blues Awards. She plays and sings with fire and passion that you can feel in every chord and bent note. In terms of vibe and intensity, I’d put this on the same level as SRV & Double Trouble, it’s that hot.
The first single, New Used Car, was the title track of her 2006 record and it’s only gotten tougher over the years. “No bells and whistles (here)” she says, “just the boys and me having fun. And, like a good blues rocker, it’s meant to played loud, especially while driving.” Nothing more for me to add at this point; Live In Austin Vol.1 is outstanding rockin’ blues that you really need to have.
HOT TRACKS: New Used Car, Howlin’ For My Darlin’, Queen Bee
