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Steve Howell And The Mighty Men—Been Here And Gone—
Out Of The Past Music OOTP017

East Texas born Steve has been a singer and guitarist for well
over forty odd years now and has in that time released ten
albums; his very relaxed enticing style and approach to
traditional jazz and rural acoustic blues is one of gentle
empathy, he also incorporates rhythm and blues along with long
forgotten tunes and very fine interpretations from the world of
fifties and sixties popular music in his lengthening repertoire.

Steve takes lead vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, his Mighty
Men are; Chris Michaels; electric guitar, Dave Hoffpauir; drums and Jason Weinheimer; bass
and organ. Steve and the band have settled for a straight-forward production and the
arrangements are as uncluttered as the performances, which were recorded in Fellowship Hall
Sound, Little Rock, Arkansas and at the Howell Ranch, Harrison County, Texas. The choice of

material is always comfortingly intriguing. The 12 numbers here, range from the thirties ‘Bad
Boy’ written by Lil Armstrong (Louis’ second wife) and Avon Long, to Gerry and the
Pacemakers’ ‘Ferry Cross The Mersey’ from the sixties. Steve’s vocal throughout possesses a
gentle, languorous, warming benevolence, this is evident on ‘Bad Boy’, backed by a richly
warm toned guitar and violin, the gently cushioning percussion underpins it all. An alluring,
slightly faster paced ‘Candyman’, (attributed to the Rev. Gary Davis’ catalogue) continues the
mood. Dobie Gray’s 1960’s ‘The In Crowd’, is an instrumental here, as was the Ramsey Lewis
Trio version also recorded in the 60’s. Steve’s version creates an enticing air of fluid looseness,
as the lonesome reverberating guitar meshes with a sparse bass and steady percussion.

Another enjoyable instrumental is Gerry and the Pacemakers’ ‘Ferry Cross The Mersey’, it is as
engaging as it is laconic. A very haunting and evocative swamp blues entitled ‘Jimmy Bell’, by
the obscure William ‘Cat Iron’ Carradine is quite, quite chilling. The pace and your ears pick up
upon a sinister reverb within the traditional Appalachian tale of murder, ‘Wild Bill Jones’.
Originally written and recorded by jazz guitarist John Smith, the instrumental ‘Walk Don’t
Run’, is splendidly given a laid back rendition closer to the Ventures 1960 version.

Lie back and enjoy!

Brian Harman

Derrick Procel—Hello Mojo—Catfood Records CFR-032

Originally from Milwaukee, Derrick has been writing, singing
and playing harmonica for over forty years now, he started out
performing and touring with the band Arryo. During the
nineties, he became a much sought out, voice over artist. He later
focused on song writing for television shows such as; My Name
is Earl, True Blood, Criminal Minds, Boston Legal, Saving Grace,
The Americans and King of The Hill. Also, artists such as; The
Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, Logan Daniels, Melissa Manchester
and Shemekia Copeland have recorded songs written by him.
Due to the positive response to his debut album, ‘Why I Choose
To Sing The Blues’, he was encouraged enough, to resume live performances and that gave him
the impetus to record ‘Hello Mojo’. Joining Derrick, who provides vocals and harmonica in the
Sonic Ranch studios, Tornillo, Texas, are The Rays, who are; Johnny McGhee, guitar; Richy