Monthly Archives: November 2010

November 19, 2010

Catching Up With Shawn Starski

I was happily surprised when I learned that Shawn Starski was joining forces with Kelley Hunt for some gigs, and they would be on the October Blues Cruise. For me it would be interesting to see Shawn in new surroundings from when I last saw him as part of Jason Ricci & New Blood.

It was quite a pleasure, this young man has all the tools and talent to become quite the guitarist. Working with the Kelley Hunt Band, he was given a framework of the songs and he was more than able to layer in his own sound and yet incorporate it into the bluesy-soulful template of her band. In fact it worked out so well that Shawn was asked to play on her upcoming release ‘Gravity oves You‘ (look for it to hit the streets on January18th, 2011 on 88 Records). Cruisers were thrilled to have a chance to see him again, as well as to see him in a new environment. To a person they all agreed that Shawn was outstanding and fit right in while adding his own skills to the mix.

Determined to stay positive after the demise of his seven year association with Jason Ricci, Shawn is excited about what opportunities await him and the band. Stating that they have always been a solid band, and that they have been keeping their noses in the music in various forms, from New York to Nashville and Memphis, they are now ready to test their mettle and take the road as a unified force. The seven years of working with Jason helped Shawn grow as a musician and writer. He wrote about half of the original music, giving  direction the band as a whole,  and he was very happy with that role -  never expecting to have to look for new employment as a musician.

His work with Kelley has opened not only his eyes, but ears to what is possible in music. He found that the piano created a freedom for his guitar playing that he had never experienced before. That plus the arrangements and song writing skills of Kelley, allowed him to put his part into it. That was a very pleasing change to experience and he has learned that change is a good thing, for without change one runs the risk of becoming stagnant. This in no way takes away from his prior work, he is rock solid proud of the accomplishments and directions taken in the past but the change has brought about new excitement and countless opportunities for him and his band mates. With him living in Nashville he is busy making contacts with the thriving musician community there, picking brains and striving to ‘refine’ his sound in a studio setting and, as always, working on his craft as a guitarist, always learning and practicing.

The Shawn Starski Band features essential parts of ‘New Blood‘ with Todd ‘Buck Weed’ Edmunds on bass, tuba, double bass and sousaphone, and Byron Cage on drums, who has deep roots in gospel and has expanded in the past few years into almost all reaches of music. A nice addition is Ms. Ellen Deible, from Nashville, who provides vocals and a pleasing stage presence to what he termed as ‘Blues Americana’. As a writer Shawn always tries to write music for the band – by this he means creating songs that plays to the strengths of the members, and allows them to create their own parts, all with the goal of creating a new sound for the band. When we spoke he had just finished a gig in Cincinnati at the Play by Play, thanks to Willie Grey and family who were very helpful in that regard. Coming off that success, he is set to hit sunny Florida with gigs through the end of December 2010,  to play their music and, as he laughingly put it , ”see what kind of noise they can make”. Looking into next year, Shawn will continue doing some gigs with Kelley Hunt, and then continue to book clubs, festivals and more for his band into 2011.

Several bits of exciting bit of news surfaced from our little talk (not in any order);
1) Shawn has a new release, featuring original songs as well as reworked versions of familiar tunes, that he will be making available at his gigs. This release was produced by Phil Wolfe, who also produced ‘Done With The Devil’. 
2)  Shawn and Ellen just recently got engaged. Congrats. Let’s wish them all the love and happiness in the Blues world.
So it seems that life is good for Shawn and looks to be even better in the future.

You too can catch up with Shawn at his web site for details on his tour and other info by visiting his web site: http://www.shawnstarski.com/Site/Home.html

Until Next Time
Love, Peace & Chicken Grease
chefjimi

photos courtesy: chefjimi, artist
©Blues411.com 2010

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November 12, 2010

CD Reviews: The Homemade Jamz Blues Band ‘The Game’, & Sugaray ‘Blind Alley’

The Homemade Jamz Blues Band  – The Game

With this, their third release, The Homemade Jamz Blues Band displays a musical maturity that will impress even the casual listener, while at the same time, their long time fans will appreciate the progress that each of them has made over the last few years.

Fronted by Ryan Perry on guitar and vocals, along with brother Kyle on bass, sister Taya on the drums, they have molded a sound that starts in the rural backwoods of Mississippi and brings to mind the images of the past infused with the hope and vitality of their youth.

From the opening strains of Ryan’s’ throaty field holler, on ‘Washing Clothes’ one can hear the progress made by the band. To me, quite often the first cut is the one that could either make me buy into a release or not, as the case may be. This first cut sells it big time !

‘The Game’is an interesting cut, in so much as it hints of Earl Kings’  ’Come On’ and of the guitar sound and feel of Jimi Hendrix in his later more chord driven work. Now I am not comparing Ryan to Jimi or Earl, but just as to what I am hearing, think of Message of Love and songs of that ilk of Hendrix music and you will see what I mean. Even some of the solos I can hear a constrained adaption of what Hendrix might do to this lead. Not overblown, tasteful and with just the right amount of funkiness that pervaded Jimi’s later work. Hey, plus they are using football, baseball, and basketball as a metaphors for the love game he’s singing about. How bad can that be ?

Slowing it down to the more traditional blues tack, they offer up ‘Gotta Bad Bad Feeling’ to showcase Ryan’s’ thoughtful leads and his progress into the Blues guitar realm. I might have liked the bottom turned up somewhat on Kyles’ bass playing here, but that’s a minor point.

These kids have been around the Blues community for quite some time and what seems to be forgotten is that they are all still just pups. Ryan, just finished High School, is 18, Kyle is 16 and Taya is 12, that’s young, and to me it is thrilling that these youngsters are continuing to play the blues with the guidance and assistance of their family and father Renaud (who plays some killer harp on this release and when touring with them). What. might you ask, do these youngsters know about the blues, well give a listen to The Game and you will see, hear and feel the connection.

You can visit them at http://www.hmjamzbluesband.com/ for more info on the band, releases and tour dates.

Sugaray – Blind Alley

Big sounding, full throttle blues from West Coast featuring Sugaray on vocals and a fine cast of accomplished players make this a fine release – one that you can turn up and shake your moneymaker to.

From the first call out of the beat that then transforms into Jimmy Z’s thrilling attention getting harmonica riff, they break into Al Kooper’s ‘Nuthin’ I Wouldn’t Do (For A Woman Like You)‘.  Blind Alley slows down just enough to let you catch your breath. This is accomplished first off with Sugarays’ version of Blind Lemon Jefferson’s ‘Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground’ and then Son Houses’ classic ‘Death Letter’ picks it back up.

Sugaray’s vocals are deep and full of soul, in a time of guitar driven Blues songs it is refreshing (and much needed) to hear some vocal driven Blues, after all the Blues started as spoken word storytelling and the voice is an integral part of it’s history and should not be ignored. Not limited to slow blues or traditional treatments of songs, he moves freely through modern styling of traditional songs such as ‘You Upsets Me Baby’ and the aforementioned ‘Death Letter’ infusing each with a dash of funk, a twist of spice and backed by a solid rhythm section (and horns enuf for anyone) ! His version of ‘You Go To Move’ is a gospel minute that puts things in perspective as to the relation of the Blues and the church.

I must say I did enjoy hearing his versions of Al Koopers’ two compositions on this release, I have always been a great big Al Kooper fan. His version of ‘I Let Love Slip Thru My Fingers’ recalls the glory of great soul songs and the slide work and horn interweaving is just thrilling to hear.

Give it a listen, if you are somewhat ‘old school’, a nouveau blues fan, or if you are a traditionalist I think you will find something here to reinforce your views and maybe enlighten you to some other approaches.

 To read more about Sugaray be sure to stop on over and visit at http://www.sugarayblues.com/ and tell him I sent ya.

Until Next Time
Love, Peace & Chicken Grease
chefjimi

photos courtesy: artists
©Blues411.com 2010

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November 8, 2010

Watermelon Slim & The Workers at Dinosaur BBQ

If ever there was a set of music that ‘defined’ or ‘represented’ a band then on Wednesday, November 3 at the Dinosaur BBQ (where the music is always free) Watermelon Slim and the Workers performed such a set.

Having just been canceled from Mondays’ show in Pennsylvania, Slim and the boys were somewhat anxious as they arrived that night. Having been told of the cancellation as they were driving over from Chicago, they thought possibly they could snag a quick house party or small gig to offset the loss of income, but that was fruitless in spite of major efforts by some really good fans and friends. As it turned out Chris Stovall Brown grew up in Rochester and had some friends put them up and they did some local jamming just to keep the rust off the strings. From all reports conveyed to me, it was a fun time, but still was not a gig.

Meeting with them for dinner that night, the conversation revolved around the newly formed political landscape, the January 2012 LRBC cruise, and their Slim and the Workers Live at Ground Zero Blues Club DVD. There was a pallor on the usual glow that emanates from them, and we spoke of paintings, touring Europe, drinking and dental work to try to stay away from the lost revenue and looming expenses from this leg of the tour.

The room was pretty well filled, more so than usual it seemed. Could have been attributable to Chris Stovall Browns return to the Rochester area, and the musical hoi polloi of Rochester turned out to see the return of the native – on drums – not guitar or harp – with Slim and the Workers. That was an added bonus because there seems to be a giant hole in Rochester’s’ musical history. It seems to have gone into vapors from the early seventies – with little knowledge remaining or talked about. It has interested me and I believe I have found some of the people who were there and will share the stories of Stevie Ray Vaughn, and others playing here in the land of the Eastman school of music.

Fully functional and ready to go by 9:30 Slim and the Workers struck the first notes of ‘Hard Times’ and the crowd went ecstatic. After a few songs Slim paid tribute to all the veterans by soloing Taps on his harmonica, as we all stood at attention to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for us. A side note to patrons and attendees, pay attention to what is happening on the stage, and what the performers are doing, it might require you to stop talking about yourself long enough to honor a higher cause.

Now that might be deemed as an odd thing to do when you’ve just started a set, but these guys are so baaad they just brought it even more. Featuring Ronnie McMullen Jr. on rhythm guitar and, as Slim says, the only guitar he can’t play, Ronnie was tight and provided a layer of sound that allowed Slim to work his Dobro magic. When called upon to solo, Mr. Mac was quite righteous in his use of notes and evidently enjoyed himself too, smiling his way thru just about every time the light was cast upon him.

Handling harmonies and some nasty bass playing was Cliff Belcher. Now Cliff believes that the job of the band is to provide Slim with the best framework possible for him (Slim) to shine and work his magic fully knowing that when he returns from his ventures into the stratosphere of playing lead he will return to the solid earth of the Workers still there and in the right place at the right time. It was fascinating talking to Cliff about the role of a bass player and of a bands’ relation to the featured person. His vocals perfectly accented Slims’ somewhat raspy iconic voice and his bass playing laid a solid foundation that had heads bopping to on the dance floor.

As mentioned earlier Mr. Stovall Browns’ return to Rochester provided a highlight for many in attendance. Being a local icon here, and a demi-legend in the Boston area, he is as versatile on guitar and harp and drums. To me it was fascinating to listen to his approach to drumming as it seemed to be more up front in the sound mix not only providing part of the foundation but also creating it’s own syncopated patterns that blended so well with everyone else playing. He was met with loud cheers from the fans, and in a touching and very professional manner Slim, stepped off the stage to allow fans to see Mr. Stovall Brown and applaud him with full force. Nice move Slim.

As for Slim, well he was very animated tonight. Not that he usually isn’t but there were angels and demons tugging him all night. Somewhat restricted by the small stage and crowded dance floor, he nevertheless, partied on the dance floor and tossed harps in the air and played some of the sweetest Dobro that I have heard in quite some time. Highlight was when they started to play ‘Scratch My Back’ and he pleaded that he needed the help of a lady in the audience with the song, and finding the right one, standing stage left, she scratched and preened Slim, to the cheers of the assembled crowd. Slim is the consummate story teller, both in his songs and on stage, my recalling of some of his tales would not do them justice, but the story about the $8.00 ‘C’ harp that he bought at a discount store, which worked as good as any other one he ever owned was classic MasterCard, ie: priceless. And it worked just fine thank you !

Many of the audience had not seen Slim and the Workers before. I believe the earlier starting time (9:30) helped keep some of the dinner crowd in place and allowed others to ‘stay out’ on a school night. I received a letter from a fan who was at the show calling Slim a national treasure, and I couldn’t agree more. With the first 90 minute set ending around 11:00pm it gave people the chance to see a full set and leave if they wanted to and not have to go in the middle of a set, which is always a sad thing. Their boundless energy and musicianship is always amazing to me, having won Band of the Year from the Blues Foundation Blues Music Awards, in 2008 it was apparent to me, that they had not lost a step and were still setting the pace for others to follow.

Slim says they are headed back to the studio in the near future to work on their next release, and if you want to keep up with the band visit their web site @ Watermelon Slim.

Until Next Time
Love, Peace & Chicken Grease
chefjimi

photos courtesy: chefjimi
©Blues411.com 2010

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