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there’s no fancy concepts or flowery language here everything is simple and straight forward.
This is also the case with the music, Morris and Mitchell lay down a solid beat with Russell’s
guitar mainly keeping the rhythm with occasional single string runs and Kane’s harmonica echoes
Brilleaux’s own style of simple trills and flourishes. ‘Keep it Under Cover’ has slide guitar for a
bit of variety and the single ‘Mary Ann’ is a catchy little number, while the final track ‘Last Call’
is a jazzy instrumental which allows Russell to stretch out and also includes a bass solo for
Mitchell and gives Morris a chance to have a tour around his kit rather than just keeping the
beat. I like the way that this current band have kept the spirit of the original band while adding
their own spin to things and supplying all their own songs which chime with both the Feelgood
style and also classic R&B.
Graham Harrison
Will Jacobs—Goldfish Blues—Ruf Records ASIN: B0B9KBYJV5
Will Jacobs is a singer/guitarist originally from Chicago where he
played in the band Dirty Deal however in 2016 he moved to Berlin
where he’s worked with Marcus Coll and Gary Collins. This solo
album features nine original songs and a cover of Albert King’s
‘Don’t Burn Down the Bridge’ although Will doesn’t ape Albert’s
sound and gives the track a funky, jazzy feel. That same jazzy feel
pervades opener ‘Come Back to Me’ and also ‘Katie’s Blues’ with
Will sounding a bit like Robert Cray, while the title track again
mixes jazz and funk. Will has a light touch on the guitar with
sinuous playing on the solos – the solo on the funky ‘Grooving
with You’ features very good use of the wah-wah pedal. ‘I Wish’ is a nice melodic soul ballad,
again very reminiscent of Robert Cray, but ‘Durty Dog’ is a low down and dirty 12-bar blues with
biting lead guitar. On ‘One Day at a Time’ and ‘Funky Woman’ the blues is again tempered with
funk and on ‘You Do You’ the blues and the Robert Cray feel come to the fore again. This is a
good sounding record with both Will and the band sounding very tight however, I’d like to hear
Will developing more of his own sound and writing some more distinctive songs but his is an
impressive solo debut.
Graham Harrison
Angela Strehli—Two Steps from the Blues—Antone's ASIN
B0BCCVC23T
Texan Angela Strehli was a founding member of Antone’s club in
Austin but she now lives in Northern California where this her
first album in 17 years was recorded at her roadhouse restaurant
Rancho Nicasio. The band is Mike Schermer (guitar), Steve
Ehrmann (bass), Kevin Hayes (drums) and Mike Emerson
(keyboards), with Angela and her husband Bob Brown producing
along with Kid Anderson. We begin with Bobby Bland’s slow, ‘Two
Steps from the Blues’ with full brass section –Angela worked with
Mr. Bland and many of the other artists she covers on this album
when they played Antones, as can be seen from the photos included in the CD booklet. Elmore
James’ ‘Person to Person’ follows with the brass again as well as great slide from Mike Schermer
and piano from John Allair and O.V. Wright’s ‘Ace of Spades’ adds backup vocals from Sons of
the Soul Revivers.
Graham Harrison
