Here is some music that continues the tradition of the New Orleans and Memphis’ beat and attitude.
With Corey Lueck on vocals and harmonica, Mike Stubbs and Steve Sherman on guitar, Brandon Bruce playing the piano and organ, Gordan Aeichele on sax and flute, and the backbeat of bassist Jason Colavecchia and drummer Tibor Lukacs, you get a mix of rollicking tones south of the Mason Dixon line that boogie till they puke. The guitars give some ZZ Top riffs for Lueck’s raspy voice on the title track, while some Memphis soul is delivered by Aeichele’s tenor and the rhythm team on the soulful “Sacrifice”. The jump blues of “Can’t Take The Blues” is irresistible and Bruce hits the 88s like a Longhair on “Lay Say Lay” and gives a tip to Fats Domino on the boogie-ing “The Fat Man”. The guys even give a good nod to Johnny Cash on the hoot of “on The Road Again” while a trip to the delta has the guitars sliding like Rickey Henderson on the hued “Old Man Blue”. The honeysuckle can be smelled on this one.
Eric Hughes pens all the tunes as well as singing , playing the harmonica and generally creating a Leon Redbone of a mood on this album with Walter Hughes/g, Leo Goff/b, Brian Aylor/dr, Rick Steff/key, Marack Franklin/tp, Kirk Smothers/sax, and Mick Kolassa/perc. You even get some scratchy 78 rpm effects with Franklin’s horn on the vaudevillian “Oh, Booze!” with almost all of the tunes having an ironic or humorous message, with tongue firmly in cheek as the team boogies on “Waiting For The Day” or going to the back porch on “It’s 4:20 Somewhere.” A mix of Chuck Berry and heavy Metal deliver an acid rain of “He’s Just An Alley Cat” with some shuffling harp work on “Follow Your Stupid Little Dream”. Sliding guitar strings evoke mid-period Eric Clapton on a laconic “Blackberry Patch” and Hughes gets his most dramatic on “Homesick Angel”. A fun kaleidoscope of old colors.