Page 42 - BiTS_03_MARCH_2021_Neat

Jimmy Reiter—Live—Independent

This German guitarist and singer has a very fine album here.
Recorded in Osnabrueck in Germany in January 2020 and
Vienna, Austria in 2019, he is backed by a small band,
augmented by two wonderfully effective sax players for the
German show – take a listen to the cover of Robert Cray’s ‘Too

Many Cooks’. Jimmy has a good voice and his guitar playing
tends more towards a straight blues or bluesoul sound rather
than being rock-tinged. It gives him a distinct identity in a very
full market!

Jimmy was guitarist with the excellent American singer and harp player Doug Jay for over a decade
and he has also worked with other visitors such as Memo Gonzalez, Larry Garner, Billy Boy Arnold
and many others. His experience shows over and over again; try the deceptive ‘I Shouldn’t But I Do’,
where he and the band seem to achieve that early 60s New Orleans groove without any effort at all,
the classic Magic Sam style of Luther “Guitar Jr.” Johnson’s ‘Hard Times’, the lengthy slow blues of

‘Give It To Me Straight’, the BB King sound of ‘Hooked’ or the simple excitement of the joyous,
ringing ‘Jimmy’s Boogie’ – really Magic Sam’s, but no matter - that closes this rather nice set.

The album runs to nearly 80 minutes and there’s not a dud track here. That is some achievement.

Norman Darwen

(www.jimmyreiter.de)

Veronica Lewis—You Ain’t Lucky—Blue Heart Records

Veronica Lewis is a young up and coming Blues artist from New
Hampshire USA. In 2020 she won the Blues Artist of the Year at
the Boston Music Awards and was named Best Young Artist by

the New England Music Hall of Fame. ‘You Ain’t Lucky’ is her
debut album.

The album opens with the title track and straight away you can
see the influence of Jerry Lee Lewis. The phrasing of her vocal
delivery as well as her bouncy piano playing carries all the

nuances of the ‘The Killer’. Next up is ‘Clarksdale Sun’ an upbeat
foot tapping boogie woogie full of youthful exuberance. ‘Put Your
Wig On Mama’ a song Lewis wrote to her mother has a more blues feel about it with shades of
Marcia Ball, I really liked this one. ‘Is You Is My Baby’ has a rather interesting take on this famous
Louis Jordan tune and is more reminiscent of ‘Feeling Good’ but some really nice vocals pull this
one through.

This album primarily consists of Lewis on vocals and piano. There is accompaniment with drums on
all tracks and some sax on a few tracks. The piano and vocals are very prominent in the mix and at
times I don’t think the sax quite cuts through. As the piano and vocal are so full on this lack of
dynamics can start to exhaust the ears as you work your way through the album but that’s just a
minor quibble from me.