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The Shadows’ (and with a wonderful vocal), the slightly blues-rock flavoured ‘You’re Gonna

Miss Me’ and the modern blues of ‘God Laughed’. But then, things already got off to a strong
bluesy start with the rippling, rolling opener, ‘Sweet Memphis Man’.

There are slightly unexpected touches too — try Greg Boyer’s trombone break on ‘In The Deep
Dark Night’. Then there is the strong, slightly Latin- and more strongly gospel-tinged ‘Come On
People’, with gospel also a strong element in ‘Bring Me Along’, an excellent plea for self-im-

provement.

This is the debut album from the very fine late-blooming Baltimore singer Gayle and her very
experienced, very tight band of Stan Turk (guitar) and Chuck Ferrell (drums), plus several
guests including The Voices Of Faith Of The First Baptist Church Of Baltimore. It is most

certainly well worth checking out.

Norman Darwen
(www.thegayleharrodband.com)

Kurt Allen — Live from the Red Shed—independent

Kurt Allen has here a nicely-controlled blues-rock set recorded
in Hutchinson, Kansas. He is a singer and guitarist leading a fine
trio (Bill Morlan on bass and Gregory Schaberg on drums through
a set of mostly Allen originals — Son House’s ‘Death Letter’ is the
only cover here.

Although several tracks run to six or seven minutes plus, Kurt’s
instrumental breaks tend to keep focus. ‘How Long’ is a slow
blues with a touch of early Led Zeppelin about it, and elsewhere
there is sometimes there is a touch of funk about Kurt’s playing.
Although there is plenty of energy, he does take his time, carefully
building up to a full head of steam - by the time he reaches ‘Whiskey, Women & Trouble’, he has
the audience eating out of the palm of his hand, and the aforementioned ‘Death Letter’ is
understated and tight.

In fact that description really fits the whole set. It is a strong bar-blues release, and one that
shows Kurt really does stand out from the blues-rock crowd.

Norman Darwen

Damon Fowle—Live at the Palladium—Landslide Records
ASIN —B0BP2SC2R4

Florida-based singer/guitarist Damon Fowler’s latest album was
recorded live at St. Petersburg’s Palladium Theatre with Damon
backed by a band comprising Dan Sigor (keyboards), Chuck Riley
(bass) and Justin Headley (drums) and with guests Jason Ricci
(harmonica) on 4 tracks and guitarist Eddie Wright on 3 tracks.
We start with ‘It Came Out of Nowhere’ a bluesy, funky mid-
tempo song with nice guitar and piano then we have Guy Clark’s
‘The Guitar’ a laid-back story song of finding a guitar in a