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Norman Darwen

Chad Rupp and the Sugar Roots—Gate C23—

Lightning in a Bottle
(www.lightninginabottlerecords.com)

The opener is a swampy slab of Rolling Stones

inflected blues-rock, with excellent backing vocals too;
it is followed by the New Orleans flavoured blues

ballad ‘She Is The One’, with tinges of the great Guitar
Slim; it’s actually a composition by the late Crescent
City singer Roland Stone. These two make for a great
introduction to this eleven-track set from this

Portland, Oregon blues outfit under the leadership of singer and guitarist Chad, and
they do reference their home base with an excellent cover of that city’s Paul DeLay’s

hard-luck blues ’14 Dollars In The Bank’.

These guys do know their stuff – Jimi Bott is on drums, and Mitch Kashmar does pop
up on harmonica on a couple of tracks, and I recall backing vocalist Miss Vee from

an earlier release, but the others involved all have the licks too. Lend an ear to the
slow blues of the nicely original title track, the swinging ‘Blues City Café’, the lovely
‘Do Whatcha Daddy Say’, or the closing number, a first-rate cover of O.V. Wright’s

‘Blind Crippled And Crazy’, which sadly then turns into a vehicle for everyone to solo.

Chad is an engaging singer, backed by a bunch of top-notch musicians. The result is
this generally rather classy modern blues release, well worth investigating.

Norman Darwen

Feenstra & Simpson—Two Halves Make a Whole—
Independent (Single)

(www.petefeenstramusic.com)

A nicely retro sound to this digital single, the duo’s
ninth, as songwriter/ promoter/ journalist Pete

Feenstra and singer/ guitarist John Simpson conjure
up a sound more than a little reminiscent of Essex
Delta band Doctor Feelgood, and also of the blues-

inflected sound of the grittier 60s beat bands. That’s
perhaps not unexpected, given that John was a founder
member of The Feelgood Band in 2013 or so, to pay tribute to the original sound of

Doctor Feelgood and gaining approval from his hero Wilko Johnson and others. He
also has shown a strong 60s influence in the past. Pete’s songwriting is also being
recognised these days… So do check this out if you enjoy that gutsy, gritty Essex R’n’B

sound – you won’t be disappointed.

Norman Darwen