Page 45 - BiTS_07_JULY_2022

Anthony Geraci—Blues Called My Name—Blue Heart
ASIN B09V1TPCLQ

Keyboard player Anthony Geraci has been playing the blues
professionally for 40 years as a member of Sugar Ray and the
Bluetones and Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters and this his

fifth solo album features ten songs written and produced by
him. The core band is Charlie O’Neal (guitar), Paul Loranger
or Chris Rathbun (bass) and Jeff Armstrong (drums) and
featured guests are Walter Trout, Sugar Ray Norcia, Monster
Mike Welch, Erika Van Pelt, John Vanderpool, Barrett
Anderson and Anne Harris. Sugar Ray Norcia adds vocals on opener 'That Old Pine Box' (a
strange deliberation on mortality) and also on the title track which also features delicious lead

guitar from Mike Welch. 'About Last Night' is a Latin-flavoured instrumental with Hammond
and piano and 'Boston Stomp' is another instrumental, this time pounding barrelhouse blues,
while 'Corner Of Heartbreak And Pain' is a slow blues with Erika Van Pelt belting out the
vocals.

The novelty rocker 'I Go Ooh' features Geraci himself on vocals and John Vanderpool on sax

and 'Into The Night' is a six-minute slow blues instrumental with Walter Trout wailing on lead
guitar. Sugar Ray Norcia is back to add vocals to the rocking 'I Ain’t Going To Ask' and 'Wading
In The Vermillion' is another instrumental this time very New Orleans but featuring Anne
Harris on almost classical violin. We conclude with 'Song For Planet Earth' a quirky, almost
ragtime solo piano piece. Anthony Geraci is undoubtedly a very talented keyboard player and
I've long admired his work as a sideman with others, there is much here to like with great
playing from both Anthony and also the guests but I'm afraid that there were too many

instrumentals for my taste.

Graham Harrison

Big Jack Johnson—Stripped Down In Memphis—M.C.

Records ASIN B09VLM15P

In 2000 Big Jack Johnson and Kim Wilson recorded their
'Memphis Barbecue Sessions' CD, a wonderful record that was
released in 2002 and featured the two men playing

acoustically - very loose but perfectly capturing the spirit of
the blues and with some fabulous playing - Kim's un-
amplified playing was a revelation to me at the time. Jack

Johnson died in 2011 and this CD features unreleased tracks
from those 'Memphis Barbecue Sessions' with Kim Wilson,
alongside unreleased tracks from 1998 sessions featuring harmonica player George 'Wild
Child' Butler. We begin with a muscular take on Jimmy Reed's 'Baby What You Want Me to Do'

with Jack handling the guitar and vocals and Kim doing the harp - complete with Reed's
characteristic blow bends. 'The Hucklebuck' is an instrumental with Big Jack on electric guitar