Page 41 - BiTS_08_AUGUST_2022

Kenny Neal—Straight From The Heart—RUF Records
ASIN : B09SNWBRLZ

Guitarist Kenny Neal (son of blues harp player Raful Neal)
was born in Louisiana and returned there to record this
album at his own Brookstown Recording Studios in Baton
Rouge with local musicians and guests including Christone
'Kingfish' Ingram, Tito Jackson (of the Jackson Five!) and
Rockin' Dopsie Jr. and The Zydeco Twisters. We start with
‘Blues Keep Chasing Me’ a relaxed blues with restrained horns
then ‘Mount Up On The Wings Of The King’ is a touching
tribute to BB King co-written with Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram
who also shares lead guitar duties with Kenny. This is
followed by a nice take on Albert King’s ‘I’ll Play The Blues For You’ and then we have ‘Two
Timing’ with Tito Jackson on vocals.

Rockin' Dopsie Junior and the Zydeco Twisters play on ‘Louise Ana’ (which also features

Kenny on harp) and a rocking version of the Zydeco classic ‘Bon Temps Rouler’. ‘It’s Been So
Long’ is a song by Kenny’s Dad Raful and has Kenny doing some nice Jimmy Reed-style blow
bends on harp while Junior Parker’s ‘Someone Somewhere’ is a plaintive blues ballad
featuring restrained guitar and sax solos. Joe ‘King’ Caruso’s ‘I Got to Tell Somebody’ has nice
piano and also some killer guitar work from Kenny and we bow out with ‘New Orleans’ (with
Rockin’ Dopsie on washboard) a tribute to the Crescent City with musical and lyrical quotes to
some Norleans’ classics. I once went to a talk on Baton Rouge blues and we were told that
what you’ve got to realise about Baton Rouge is that it is VERY HOT and VERY HUMID and that
produces blues with that laid-back, lazy groove which Kenny’s music certainly has in spades.

Graham Harrison

Anthony Geraci—Blues Called My Name—Blue Heart Re-
cords

Anthony Geraci is a blues award winning keyboard player
from Connecticut USA. He has assembled a band including
some very special guests for his latest release: “Blues Called
My Name”.

The album opens with an ode to mortality ‘That Old Pine Box’
and then followed swiftly by the title track ‘The Blues Called
My Name’. Both songs feature the fine blues vocals of special

guest Sugar Ray Norcia. ‘About Last Night’ is an instrumental
that features some nice jazzy Hammond organ sounds that
has the feel of that 1980’s American TV series style music. There is some lovely boogie woogie
piano to be had on ‘Boston Stomp’ whilst another guest vocalist, Erika Van Pelt features on the
slow blues ‘Corner Of Heartache And Pain’.

‘I Go Ooh’ is a light hearted rock and roll romp featuring Anthony himself on vocals and we
then get to hear the unmistakable sound of special guest Walter Trout plying his trade in fine

style on the instrumental ‘Into The Night’. ‘Wading In The Vermillion’ has a New Orleans blues