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Kerry Kearney—Tales from the Psychedelta—Highlander

A slide guitar master out of New York, Kerry has won numerous
awards, and this set may well win him a lot more fans. The
opener, ‘Five Time Man’ reminds me a little of Cream live in 1968,

in sound, tone and approach, with its strong groove and lengthy
guitar improvisation. ‘Fatherless Boy’ follows, a much quieter,
bluesy, country-inflected piece, whilst the opening notes of
‘Mississippi River Stomp’ announce that Kerry has plugged back in
in no uncertain terms.

‘Trouble In Mind’ and ‘Mean Old Frisco’ show that Kerry is aware of the blues standards and how to
play them pretty straight whilst also adding his own flavour, and ‘Thank You, Jesus’ also has a
vintage, strongly traditional sound. The slow-to-mid-tempo blues ‘Runnin’, Weepin’, Tremblin’ is
kind of downhome blues-rock, nicely rough but with plenty of fiery guitar work and Kerry’s vocal is
possibly his best of the set (and he’s a good singer).

‘Memphis High’ heads back into blues-rocking territory, again with fine if short breaks for
harmonica and piano (as already heard on ‘Mississippi River Stomp’). ‘Voodoo Down The River’ is a
little like Alligator-era Lonnie Brooks—“high energy blues” as we called it back then—and ‘Lawdy
Mama’ is a throbbing electric slide guitar feast, though staying firmly on the blues side. Then,
‘World Train’ has a fine knockabout approach and some fine blues mandolin and harp, and the final

number is a delicate solo acoustic blues.

The CD title and some tracks might suggest a blues-rocker, but Kerry keeps it on the blues side
throughout. It means that in fact this is rather a fine modern blues set, well worth your attention.

Norman Darwen

Paul Boddy & The Slidewinder Blues Band—Friends Of Tuesday
EP—Slide Records

Paul and the band are from the suburbs of Doylestown,
Philadelphia. They came together as a band whilst attending and
playing at the weekly convivial jam sessions held at “The Every
Tuesday Funk ‘n’ Blues jam,” at the ‘Puck Live’ in Doylestown,
which has now transferred to ‘Club Havana’, in New Hope,

Philadelphia. The band have been together for five years now and
consist of Paul on guitars and lead vocals, with Lori Gaston
supplying backing vocals, Glenn Hale on keyboards and accordion
with Chuck Hearne on bass and Jim Bowman drums. Since the
formation of PB & TSBB they have been inducted into The PA Hall of Fame and twice winners of The
Bucks Happening List. Paul, originally from London, England, has been playing and performing for
over forty years (he also founded the label Cayman Records in 1999) as have Glenn and Chuck and

during that time they have played across the globe.

The five numbers here are influenced by Chicago and Texas Blues. A fine example is the stinging
guitar driven Chicago blues ‘Pretty Kitty’, which features a raw harmonica lead from Mikey Jr, they

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