One of America’s greatest contributions to Western Civilization has to be the blues and the boogie shuffle. Here are two recent wonderful displays.
Willie Jackson’s Tybee Blues band of Jon Willis/b, Dillon Young/g, Paxton Eugene/dr and Ace Anderson/harp deliver 6 rubber necked smokers on this album. Jackson’s got a big toned Baptist preacher of a voice, and he wails alongside Anderson’s harmonica and Willis’ hip base line on”Why You Still Mad” and the chunky riffs of “I’ll Throw You Back.” The team gets into a dee pgroove on “Just an Old Dog” while both Young and Anderson wail out agonizing tones on “Big Boned Woman” and Jackson moans out the ballad “Sleepin’ On the Job.” Juke joint joys.
John Clifton sings and plays the harp, even intermittently playing guitar along with a sizzling grop of Scott Abeyta/g, Matt Moulton/b, Bartke Szopinski/key-p, John Shafer-Roman Rivera/dr and a couple cameo guests. Clifton throws a bit of country grit into the pan as the band doubletimes on “Strange Land” and “Brand New Way To Walk.” The organ oozes out as Clifton and company get dramatic on “Sad About It” and get ominous on “Long As I Have You.” The guitars take you to Chicago for a bluesy “Still a Fool” and rock out on “Nightlife” with some hip wheezing by Clifton on the harp on “Every Now and Then” while Szopinski takes you to the local saloon on “Wild Ride.” Fun and frisky!