Here are a pair of new discs that keep the tradition freshly baked.
Dany Franchi sings with a growl and picks his Strat with a blueswailing roar on this album that combines new compositions with earthy standards. He digs deep into the Chicago sound on Willie Dixon’s “Everything Gonna Be Alright” and Eddie Taylor’s “Big Town Playboy” that includes some hip harp accompaniment. The band gets swampy on “Back to the River,” the horns get STAXy on “Real Love” and the B3 burns on “Wanna Know” while Franchi picks and grins on the back porch during “Problem Child.” A meat and potatoes special that sticks to the ribs.
Holly Golightly has a folksy voice and uses it well on Cumberland Gap-toned material. The team two steps through a twangy “Mule Skinner” and struts on “Jinny Mule” while doing a rocking waltz on “I Ride an Old Paint.” The team shows its boogie board with some slick guitar work on “Pinto Pony” and gets a bit Tom Waitsy vaudevillian during the ominous “Horses in the Mines.” Rural landscapes dominate here, with a gorgeous “Two White Horses” as fresh as newly cut hay for a chestnut mare.