Page 40 - BiTS_07_JULY_2023

There is a hint of slinky funk in the blues ‘Where Has The Love Gone’, contrasting well with the
effective and menacing sound of ‘Howlin’ Wind’. The blues shuffle of ‘Never Felt This Way
Before’ is off-set by the quieter, mellow Americana styled piece ‘News’, with dobro prominent
in the laid-back accompaniment; the closing ‘Turn Out Fine’ is basically an even more mellow
performance. For the purists though, let’s note that ‘Say You Mean It Baby’ is a slow blues with
an excellent guitar break matched by a rather fine vocal.

A nice set all round this one then. Another release worth investigating.

Norman Darwen

Little Bobby—That Killer B Sting—Untouchable Productions
(www.littlebobby.music.company.site)

Multi-instrumentalist Little Bobby is based in Minnesota and on
this set he sings and plays the vast majority of the instruments
– lead, rhythm and bass guitars, drums, piano and organ. At
times he veers into blues rock, though sometimes he stays very
close to the original roots –for the latter, try ‘Mississippi Kind’
where he references blues greats both past and present.

Little Bobby’s vocals are fine and controlled throughout the
album, and he has a fierce attack in guitar on several tracks here,

setting out his stall with the opening ‘Keep It Real’, and the title track is blues shuffle with a
reasonably contemporary reference (killer bees have been in the news recently, though this
may not be what Bobby is referring to on this song!). He can slow things down, as on the
affecting ‘Heaven’s Cottonfield’ with truly soaring guitar playing, and come over all stoned on
‘Weed Blues’, an appropriately relaxed performance with fine blues harp too by Mike Brouse,
whilst ’Mercy’ is a gospel-tinged duet with singer Sarah Munson, whose vocal reminds me a
little of Sinead O’Connor here (!)

To sum up then, this is a fine, distinctive album by an interesting artist. Worth investigating.

Norman Darwen

Babaux and the Peacemakers—Moments in Time—
Independent
(www.babauxandthepeacemakers.com)

This is the follow-up to this Colorado-based band’s well-received
debut set issued in 2022, “Lucky 13”. Babaux is leader/ singer/
songwriter/ dobro and 12 string guitar player Christian Basso,
who has played bass with plenty of acts, including Bo Diddley
and Leo Nocentelli, originally with New Orleans funk pioneers
The Meters. He only picked up the dobro a couple of years back

but he has certainly made up for lost time. His backing band
comprises Eric Martinez on lead guitar and the bass and drums
respectively of Niek Velvis and Alana Velvis. They make a big sound.

They also make a fine roots-rock and Americana sound. Some tracks, like the slide driven ‘Lady
In Black’ and ‘Step Below The Line’ fall into a blues-rock bag, and there are some definite hints
of Led Zeppelin in these two (though Babaux’s vocals are certainly more grizzled than Robert
Plant’s). ‘Heard From The Grave’ has some powerful rock riffing too.