Nothing like electric guitars and the blues to get you ready for summer. Wasn’t there a song about that?
For his third solo album apart from ZZ Top, Billy F. Gibbons hits the Palm Springs studio with drummer Matt Sorum, guitarist Austin Hanks and some dirt under nail’d guests for a 3 inch steak of red meat music. Gibbons’ picking and singing are both leathered and well timed, swinging to the double-timed boogie of “She’s On Fire” and gruff with Sorum’s hard hitting beat on “Shuffle, Step & Slide”. Gibbons travels to East LA for a Latin garage rocker “Hey Baby, Que Paso”, gets Doors dark to the mysterious ride cymbal of “Desert High” and is joined by the rock band Larkin Poe to take the 8 to the bar “Stackin’ Bones” to Aerosmithereens. Music for cruising along 10 from LA to San Antonio.
Mike Zito plays electric guitars and sings with blue eyed soul with Zach Zito/ag, Matthew Johnson/dr, Doug Byrkit/b, Lewis Stephens/key, Eric Demmer/ts, gernando Castillo/tp and Lisa Leuschner Anderson/voc. You get vintage 70s rock with some tasty Knopfler-styled tunings on “In My Blood”. Many of the songs show a spiritual pilgrimage, including a dramatic read of Stevie Winwood’s “Presence of the Lord” and rocking references on “Resurrection” and the dark “Damned If I Do”. Zito shows he can swing the blues on “Don’t B ring Me Down” and the fun “Running Man”. Grab a partner!
Dave Kalz mixes rocking blues and jazz with his team of Greg Hulub/b, Kevin McDonald/dr, Lewis Stephens/org, Mike Zito/g-sg and Tony Campanella/g with an emphasis on hard backbeats, as on the bluesy “Mexico” and funky “Coffe With Muffin”. 50s boogie on the urgent “Route 666” and the boogalooing “Taxman” mix with Kalz giving a street corner rap on the riffing “Flying High”. The team gets dark on the blue and slow “I Can’t Quit You Baby” and stretches out on the chicka-booming “Playing the Blues With My Friends”. A nice walk along Beale Street in Memphis.