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The inviting opener, ‘Eye For An Eye’, is a fine, low key, guitar and organ led easygoing shuffler,
Jeff’s welcoming softly burring vocals draw you in to the very fine guitar work. The toe-tapping
guitar led shuffler that is ‘Prisoner Of Love’, races along nicely, with the added delight of a slide
guitar courtesy of J.Geils. ‘All Night Long’, is a guaranteed rip, roaring floor duster which has
Jeff and Duane Betts tearing up the air with their guitars on this rolling fifties rocker. Calming
things down is the relaxed Atlanta Rhythm Section’s ‘So Into You’, which reeks of eighties late
night lounging, with its lazily alluring and mellow blowing saxophone from Charles Neville,
while Reese Wynans provides splendidly urban bubbling keyboards which underpin a gently
strutting vocal from Jeff.

The dark rumba feel of ‘Out In The Cold’, features a splendidly sparse and tight guitar from
Tyrone Vaughan (son of Jimmie Vaughan). The stroller, ‘Unsung Hero Of The Blues’, is pleasantly

delivered in the style of B.B.King with Jeff and Rick Derringer enjoying their mutually
impressive guitar work. Robert Cray’s ‘Playin’ With My Friends’, is delivered with stinging
guitar work that is splendidly matched by the energetic, crisply enthusing full throttle vocals
of Claudette King.

Nice and easy!

Brian Harman.

Big Shoes—Fresh Tracks—Qualified Records

The twelve numbers here, have been lovingly created by a highly
recognised group of session musicians who, have in the past
backed artists such as; Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrison, Delbert
McClinton, Taj Mahal, Etta James and Bobby ’Blue’ Bland, to
name but a few. The band are; Rick Huckaby; Lead vocals and
lead guitar, Mark T. Jordan; Piano and B3, Will McFarlane; Guitar
and slide Guitar, Kenne Cramer; Guitar, Tom Szell; Bass, Lynn
Williams; drums and Bryan Brock; percussion. They have
previously released two albums, entitled ‘Shoes Blues’ (2015)
and ‘Step On It!’ (2018). The band is based in Nashville
Tennessee and their music is steeped in the Americana and
Roots tradition; in fact, they have named their band in honour of the late Lowell George’s band
Little Feat.
The album was recorded at The Rockhouse studios in Franklin, Tennessee. The opener ‘I’ve
Got you Covered’, lays out their intentions well; the enticing drawling slide guitar is
accompanied by sympathetic lazily rising horns that draw you in until, your mind floats away
into the music. A gently rolling/vamping honky-tonk piano leads us into the mellow and
swaying ‘If The Blues Was Green’, which is a wryly amusing tale, equating that if misery was
money, he’d be crying all the way to the bank.

The gentle ballad ‘Roses Are Blue’ is an ode to sweet, sweet love, the lingeringly caressing guitar
and chorus lifts your spirits as the music gently washes over you. The tightly woven
combination of percussion, bass and horns that underpin these numbers is so good that you
only appreciate it after further listening. ‘Permanent Midnight’, is an excellent slice of pain
ridden Southern Soul, with its emotion filled crying horns and laid back melancholic vocals
underpinned with a singeing B3. Lightening the mood is the rollicking ‘I’ve Seen The Light’,
which is a serious, Southern floor kicking duster. While the wistfully grateful Country Soul
infused ‘Dreaming Again’, is a tale of a once lost love, which to his relief, is rekindled again.

Recommended!

Brian Harman.