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to their investigations into late night chicken with the raucous, chugging Bo Diddley-style ‘Fat
Man’s Chicken’, while the guys check out with ‘Elmer’s End Blues’ another instrumental with
Joff on chromatic harmonica - it reminded me of the Dixon of Dock Green theme tune,
“Evening all”. The band are obviously trying to expand their sound and style with these
expanded line-ups which is fine for records. However, I’m afraid that I do ilke their basic trio
blues, which hopefully will continue to be the sound that they make during their live
appearances.

Graham Harrison

Joel Astley—Seattle to Greaseland—Blue Heart ASIN :
‎0CB75MWYJ

I’d never heard of Joel Astley before, not surprising as this is the
Seattle bluesman’s debut recording, but as it was recorded in
Kid Andersen’s Greaseland studio it immediately got my atten-
tion. Opener ‘Born Cryin’ is an interesting song - “If you say
you’ve never had the blues you’re lyin’ because everything
that’s born was born cryin’” with a lilting beat and featuring Kid
on guitar and Joel on vocals and harp, ‘Candy Store’ is a swing-
ing jump blues and ‘Just Right’ has a rockabilly vibe. Joel’s lyrics
are all very original and take this album above the normal run

of blues debuts, on ‘Karma Wheel’ he calls for patience while both Kid and Johnny Burgin take
lead guitar solos and on ‘Second-hand Kid’ he bemoans always having to have hand me downs,
to the extent “I wrecked a car back when I was a kid, they thought I was gonna die and I almost
did but the doctors topped me off with some blood from a donor - seems even the blood in my
veins has had a previous owner!”

‘Takin’ It with Me’ is a jazzy song with Joel on chromatic harmonica and Kid on organ, ‘Down
to the Rims’ is a boogie with Kid on electric piano and both songs are powered by the rhythm
section of Randy Bermudes (bass) and June Core (drums). ‘Work with What You’ve Got’ is a
fairly conventional Chicago-style blues with backing vocals from Jill Dineen and Marina
Crouse and ‘Bobby’s Place’ is more hard-hitting blues with Joel on harp and Mr. Burgin on
electric slide guitar. The final track ‘No Brighter Gold’ is a catchy old-style melodic gospel song
– think Staples Singers - with Joel’s harp and the girls on backing vocals. This is a very good
debut release from Joel and he couldn’t have a better producer, studio and musicians to work
with, I’ll be very interested to see what he does in future. Kid does play a bit of guitar here but
seems to concentrate mainly on keyboards with Johnny Burgin doing most of the heavy lifting
on guitar.

Graham Harrison

Omar and the Howlers—What’s Buggin’ You?—Big Guitar
Music ASIN: B0C7FC6FGW

Six years ago Omar Kent Dykes developed a muscle disease in
both arms which meant that he couldn’t play guitar and it’s only
been earlier this year that he has been able to play and return
to the studio to record this album and consider touring again.

The Howlers backing him here are long-time member Jason
Crisp (bass), Eve Monsees (guitar) and Mike Buck (drums). We
kick off with a rocking novelty song ‘Bad Monkey’ featuring
Omar’s fabulous deep, rich voice, followed by the Jimmy Reed-