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Emanuel Casablanca—Blood on My Hands—King’s County
Blues KCB-0001
(www.emanuelcasablanca.com)
Not heard of Emanuel before? Neither had I, but I can pretty much
guarantee we’ll be hearing more of him soon. And it seems I’m not
the only one to think this. “Blood On My Hands” – and blood is a
theme of this set – is the debut album from this Brooklyn-based
blues guitarist and singer, and helping him out are a bunch of
some big names in today’s blues – try Eric Gales, Albert Castiglia,
Kat Riggins, Paul Gilbert and saxman Jimmy Carpenter.

Emanuel has a slightly breathy voice, which can go from a whis-
per to a scream –try the straight blues of ‘Bloodshot Eyes’ (an original composition, by the way,
as are all but one of the remaining fifteen tracks). ‘Nashville’ sports some fine slide guitar and
harp by Felix Slim over a deceptively jaunty rhythm, suited to this precautionary tale. Tampa
Red’s / Robert Nighthawk’s ‘Anna Lee’ is another very measured no-frills blues performance,
with Jimmy Carpenter adding appropriate fills.

At other times Emanuel can go for a high energy heavy blues approach – try ‘Sunday Talks’, the
crazy boogie of ‘Testify’ or the closing ‘Rotten Pockets’ – or somewhere in between, as on the
stunning ‘In Blood’ where Paul Gilbert guests, and the sound is part vintage Muddy Waters, part
Jimi Hendrix. Emanuel displays a more tender side on the acoustic ballad ‘Like A Pulse’.

Of course, Emanuel hasn’t come out of nowhere. He’s been mentored by Shemekia Copeland’s
bass player Kevin Jenkins, associated with Ron Wood, travelled with Doug Wimbish and the
aforementioned Eric Gales – and all this experience shows on this excellent, distinctively indi-
vidual release.

Norman Darwen

Copperhead County—Homebound—Independent

(www.copperheadcounty.com)

This six-piece Dutch band certainly made a lot of people sit up
and listen with the release of their debut album, “Brothers” in
early 2020, showing a very strong and fine understanding of
southern rock. Of course the next thing to happen was that COVID
came along and much momentum was lost along with the chance
to tour. So, this follow-up release is definitely welcome.

‘Tonight We Ride’ is a slow-ish, very blues number, and ‘JamMan’
rides a catchy, sprightly, scratchy rhythm. Some of the other
material veers much more towards conventional southern rock (and some may find no problem
whatsoever with that), whilst there are definite traces of vintage country on ‘Solid Ground’.

The initial guitar work on ‘Alpharetta Rain’ reaches all the way back to the sound of Dale Hawkins
(remember ‘Suzie-Q’?), a nice swampy feel combined with a modern rock edge – this is probably
my favourite number of the set, but the album does just get better and better as it progresses.
And the closing track, ‘Sound Of Summer’, is very radio-friendly. OK, “Homebound” may not a
blues set as such, but it’s certainly not far off.

Norman Darwen