Music with dirt under the nails.
John Fusco sings like he was raised singing on the back of a flat bed truck on a dusty road, while paying Hammond B3, organ and acoustic guitar with a bluesy and gritty vocalist Risse Norman and Cody Dickinson, who plays guitar, dobro, bass, piano, drums and anything to get you into a lonesome mood. Norman growls like a captured lion on the rollicking “Rolling Thunder” and is earthy as she teams with gospel voices on a rowdy “Crossroad Blues” with guests Luther Dickenson/g and rapper Al Kapone. The band boogies in blue with Mark Levoi’s harmonica and Bradley Jewett’s sax on “I Got Soul” and with Joshua Clinger’s trumpet Fusco and company stomp through “Poutine.” The musical mood has an Allman Brothers feel with the mix of Southern Comfort voices, guitar and attitude. Check your hubcaps if you catch them at some juke joint.
Gurf Morlix takes a more somber approach to the blues hues, penning tunes about life, mortality and it’s purpose with a collection of original Americana. He plays guitars, bass, keyboards and percussion, with stark support by Red Young/B3, Rick Richards/dr and jaimee Harris/voc. The pace and mood is slow, steady and lonely, as on “I’m A Ghost” and the trudging “2 Hearts Beating In Time.” A methodical swing is kept under wraps on “My Heart Keeps Pounding” with the Hammond sighing on the restrained “I Saw You.” Deep reflections and long shadows.
Checkerboard Lounge Records