Bentley’s Bandstand: May 2024
BY BILL BENTLEY
Eric Bibb, LIVE AT THE SCALA THEATRE. There are some blues singers that are so unique that it’s hard to really connect them with what blues is often heard as. Eric Bibb has always walked his own side of the street, and the sheer fact thar he’s still flying his own flag so high is a cause for celebration. Bibb’s new album, recorded at the Scala Theatre in Stockhom, is one for the ages. The musician has selected favorites from his extensive songbook, created a band of his absolute favorite musicians augmented by a hand-picked orchestra and a set-list chosen from his entire career. It all evokes a regal feel for who Eric Bibb is and what he’s accomplished. His selection of songs is a wise one: favorites from his past, songs from recent albums DEAR AMERICA and RIDIN’, along with a new song never recorded. It makes LIVE AT THE SCALA THEATRE something very special, and easily a collection that will take its place at the top of Eric Bibb releases. Bibb is an artist who can take the sound of time-honored blues and turn its forever relevance into a unequaled mix of the past and the future. The way this bluesman has built a career that never looks at the blues as a historical study, but rather it’s a sound that continues to inspire and evolve all those who open their souls to it. And the never-ending way Eric Bibb has shaped the past into a sound and feeling that also invites the future into the mix is a blues achievement that often puts him into a class of his own. This is a collection that feels like Eric Bibb has reached yet another pinnacle, one that promises to continue growing. Ambition reigns supreme.
Jesse Dayton, THE HARD WAY BLUES. Talk about having a bi-factual resume. Proud Texan by way of Beaumont Jesse Dayton not only played President Bill Clinton’s inauguration with Lucinda Williams, he has also recorded with Rob Zombie on occasion. That’s what is called a twofer for sure. The best news of all is just how great Dayton is at everything he tries. He can go from the greasiest guitar this side of Austin’s eating joint Dirty Martin’s Kum-Bak Burgers (true name) to going uptown and pulling strings for Glen Campbell. Of course none of that cross-hitting would matter if Dayton didn’t do it all so well. Over the years he’s made enough great platters to put him in at least one Hall of Fame somewhere, and still just keeps getting better. THE HARD WAY BLUES just might be his best disc yet. With producer Shooter Jennings and a studio rife with super fine players and background vocalist Courtney Santana, it’s like Dayton was given the new keys to the kingdom and told he better get all the way there this time or they might revoke his musicians’ license. Needless to say, that’s exactly what Jesse Daylon has done here. By the time the whole crew has heated up their abilities to STUN and hit the blues-me-or-lose-me song “Navasota” it feels like the entire aggregation is ready to blast off. This isn’t a sound that can be studied and then achieved. Instead, it’s a feeling that can only be acquired by living the real deal doghouse feel that great musicians have always had to find on their own. Jesse Dayton has run head-on into greatness this time around, and there is no doubt that he’s found the groove that’s going to take him wherever he wants to go. This is a Texan that has never doubted he going all the way, and realized at a young age that taking the hard way is the way that lasts longest. Jesse Dayton has gotten there, and it’s full speed ahead. The mojo’s arrived.
Hilary Gardner with the Lonesome Pines, ON THE TRAIL. One of the flat-out allures of modern music is just how inventive today’s artists can be in seeking out their own path. Hilary Gardner with the Lonesome Pines has taken on the world of wide-open trail songs, whether they were composed by wandering cowboys or super sophisticated jazz and film composers. What counts was that each and every song had a powder keg of soul within and was open to ready explosion. Hilary Gardner’s alluring voice is one that appeals to all with ears to hear. It’s obvious from note one that this is a woman who has found her way in the world. So whether the composer is anyone from Johnny Merceer to Gene Autry to beyond isn’t an issue. It’s whether the song is open to deep-seated interpretation by the singer, and lets any amount of stylistic power be applied. Because all over ON THE TRAIL is a singer who is quick to lay it all out in the music in making sure the listener receives the beauty of the style. Hilary Gardner is someone who has found the secret in delivering the finest of vocal abilities. The way she can move into the inner beauty of these dozen songs is like watching a sunset appear suddenly in the western sky. There is no way to really explain it. Instead, it’s best to open the heart and experience what is right there in front of us. Gardner knows she has a task to deliver, and every word on the album gets her expansive ability to make these lyrics come completely alive. The end result, thankfully, is a timelessness that only the finest in music is capable of creating. And with producer Eli Wolf’s precise and percolating production there is a sense of deep-seated poise which brings everything home. This is the kind of album that lives in a party of one right now, and couldn’t come a moment too soon. Open the doors.
Khruangbin, A LA SALA. Modernity has won. In a world where words have become almost superfluous in the endless cadence of online jibbering, Khruangbin has not only released an album with no printed words on the package except the band’s name and album title, along with a few legal lines to establish ownership and credits on the disc itself. In a way it is a freeing step that lets the mind wander in whatever directions it invents. This is a wow-moment experience that comes rarely in today’s soundscape, and is something to be cherished when it arrives. And the Houston-based Khruangbin is capable of creating soundscapes that definitely excel at that. The musician’s guitar lines are halfway between earth and the moon, and of such gorgoues presence that they feel like a permanent psychedelic journey has no end. The guitar tones alone are enough to fill a life with undulating rhythms and endless vistas. There is also just enough mystery to Khruangbin’s utter originality that questions are unecessary, because there are no answers anyway. A LA SALA is unhinged, and not a moment too soon. In a world where jazz took instrumental music to the end of the line, these worldly songs twist and turn in such classic beauty that, at their final finish, they are unclassifiable. And with the album jacket photos of clouds, water, colors and a wall and window what else can be necessary? What to call this style? Newer Age, obviously.
Pokey LaFarge, RHUMBA COUNTRY. For a man from middle America, Pokey LaFarge has absolutely covered the waterfront for musical styles and never-ending inspiration. It’s like LaFarge has been able to assume different characters to unlock the doors to vibrating styles that never stop moving. And RHUMBA COUNTRY has allowed the man of all seasons and climates to step into an irresistible landscape. There is definitely a rhumba slant on the songs here, but it doesn’t stop there. LaFarge is way too savvy for that. Instead, he stretches out into a fullness on songs like “So Long Chicago,” “Home, Home, Home” and “You Make My Garden Grow” that make this album feel like a big jump into his own style, one that could be easily tagged Pokey Strokes, and become known for its easeful approach and dynamic twists and turns all rolled into one. Just when it seems like the musician has come into full view, LaFarge can take off on a new direction to keep the excitement level turned up to ten. To make sure his followers stay onboard for the full ride, this is a musician who knows how to write songs that continually surprise without going overboard. The groove is king, and there’s a good chance an effervescent humor stays near at hand. There is a fine tradition of character fabrications in American music–think Spike Jones, Joe “King” Carrasco” and dozens of others–and the way Andrew Heissler, born in Bloomington, Illinois, has become such a rocking and bopping character is like nothing short of a musical magic trick. And like all great trips, it’s best to buy the ticket and take the ride, but in a world that often seems to be spinning off into another reality there can be no harm in discovering new lands. RHUMBA COUNTRY rocks.
Pernice Brothers, WHO WILL YOU BELIEVE. There are times when an album appears, and it’s absolutely clear from note one that something very special is going on inside the music. For starters, the sound of the vocalists and the band don’t really sound like other artists. It’s like they’ve taken a detour outside the well-traveled roads of rock & roll and discovered their own level of expression. Maybe it’s the singers, maybe it’s the way the instrumentation is put together, or maybe it’s just good luck in the human chemistry of those involved. But from the first chords of album opener “Who Will You Believe” it’s a foregone conclusion the Pernice Brothers–Joe and Bob–and their bandmates have hit a jackpot of their own. There is a subtle but undeniable uniqueness in how everything in the band just outright gels, mixing elemental country-rock subtleties with orchestral gorgeousnes while never wandering too far from the soulful groove in every song. And how’s this for a fine surprise near the end of the set: vocalist supreme Neko Case joins in on “I Don’t Need That Anymore” to move things right up into the joyous combination of an all-time duet just in the nick of time for a world looking for answers. It’s clear on the album credits that the Pernice Brothers is a band with a rock-solid foundation built by Joe Pernice, but there is also an unwavering aggregation involved at every turn which delivers one of the year’s best surprises so far. This is music from the heart and the heartland, and is exactly what rock & roll needs to hear right now. It’s all here.
Queen Esther, THINGS ARE LOOKING UP. If there is an artist for all seasons, it is likely Queen Esther. She has spent years stretching her infinite talents in all directions, from singing, to writing, acting and beyond. And that includes her collaborations with James “Blood” Ulmer in his band Odyssey. On her latest release, Queen Esther heads straight for jazz territory, and of course does it all her own ways. Naturally, they are also streaming new versions of standards by writers Rodgers & Hart, the Gershwins and others to sit proudly next to the Queen’s other songs, but in the end this is music that is so individual that everything has the soul of a woman who is all her own. The Queen has entered the zone where only the most individualist of artists venture, and through the power of her voice and an inner belief in her own abilities this is a woman who has found her own way. The history of jazz in America is such a forceful drive that when it reappears with an artist who is obviously ready to take chances and bet on themselves the skies light up and the music takes on a whole new strength. Which is where Queen Esther has gone, and it’s a sure bet she is not going back. So for those who are committed to revel in the glory of America’s musical pride, it’s a great day in the neighborhood that THINGS ARE LOOKING UP has appeared, and the sound of these songs has a Queen to make sure the history lives on. Such a joy.
Curtis Salgado, FINE BY ME. Without a single solitary doubt, Curtis Salgado is a soul man. There has never been a question about it. Starting in the Portland, Oregon area in the early 1980s with the Robert Cray Band, it was as obvious as big beat snare drums that this man was not only meant for his manner but even more important that he would be going all the way. It’s a style and sound of music that you almost have to be born into to really achieve what it’s all about. And that’s exactly what happened with Salgado. No matter what songs he was singing or what joints he was working in, the young man had a way of getting inside the music and turning his soul inside out in the way he delivered the goods. It was like he’d found the one lane in his life that would ever make any sense, and he stayed straight ahead in moving forward to get to the next highest stop. Maybe that’s because there is a true magic at the center of real-deal soul music. It’s not something that can be studied. Not really. And at its very deepest core it’s not even anything that can be taught. He has to be loved on a level where there can be no doubt that the person doing the loving is ready to go in it all the way. That’s why Curtis Salgado’s long and true-blue career has taken him this far. He believes in what he’s doing, and always has. FINE BY ME is also clearly the kind of album where the person behind it doesn’t flinch an inch in pouring his entire being into it. Any soul singer who believes enough in himself to sing a song as deep and piercing as O.V. Wright’s “Gonna Forget About You” has passed the test all the way. And it’s true for the entire FINE BY ME collection. It’s got the near-unbelievable righteousness that singers like Wright, Otis Redding, Bobby “Blue” Bland and Percy Sledge have been preaching for over 60 years, and those like Salgado himself show no signs of ever slowing down for. This is it.
Chris Smither, ALL ABOUT THE BONES. There are only a handful of knock-out troubadours heading for their 80s that continue to tour the country spreading their singular joy about the music that has made their lives. Even though they are on America’s bandstands and in their recording studios, in reality these irreplaceable artists are legends in our midst. And none are finer than Chris Smither. The way these musicians are able to create their own world when they’re performing is something that really does take a lifetime to learn, and at this stage Smither is in a class of almost his very own. ALL ABOUT THE BONES is the kind of album to be cherished, knowing all the years that it’s taken the creator to get there, but also just the sheer quality of what they’ve accomplished shines so bright. Songs like “Still Believe in You,” “Down in Thibodaux,” and “Completion” do not come quick or easy, and are the kind of accomplishments which will last forever. Chris Smither’s voice lives in a place all its own. His many years in New Orleans has served the man well, allowing him to edge close to the sound of infinity in a way that very few vocalists are able to do today. And there is also an undercurrent of joyous wisdom to all the man’s songs that keeps the music buoyant and beautiful at the same time an aura of aged emotions runs through the lyrics. Like New Orleans itself, it’s a city with centuries of tradition and wonder coursing through it, but also a place where the good times really do roll and a pervasive bounce makes sure those so inclined can stay on the good foot with easeful attitude. And with one song each by Eliza Gilkyson and Tom Petty and music assists from David Goodrich on three songs to finish off a perfect set, it’s like Chris Smither has zeroed in on a work that will last forever on his 20th album, in the year he will turn 80 years old. But who’s counting, especially not the man who has made a thriving home in the City that Care Forgot. Yeah you right.
Various Artists, THE MOUSE THAT ROARED: A TRIBUTE TO STANLEY MOUSE. Artist Stanley Mouse is surely one of the grand characters in 20th Century American art. He first gained fame as a T-shirt and custom car illustrator in the 1950s before moving on to the counterculture explosion in Haight-Ashbury during the 1960s. There he hit the upper echelon of poster and album cover ranks that turned rock & roll visuals around. As a musical shout out to all Mouse did over the years, a dozen different artists have recorded songs from that era in his honor, and what recordings they are. From Shawn Sahm & the Tex-Mex Experience all the way to Jason Crosby’s evocative ending song that Stanley Mouse actually wrote is a soul-stiring collection of music that have made a dent in the cultural psyche over the past 60 years. Every song is actually a highlight, whether it’s Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers’ “Somebody to Love,” Charlie Musselwhite’s “Easy Wind” or the Mother Hips’ “8:05.” The album is almost like a walking tour around the Haight, pointing out former rock staples like Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Moby Grape, Grateful Dead and more. Even the Beatles, Howlin’ Wolf and, yes, Journey get honored on the tunestack, which makes the point just how diversive music was been throughout the San Francisco reach. What’s the most exciting of all is just how moving all the cover songs are, and how obvious Mouse’s friendships have been all these years. Naturally, the album’s proceeds are earmarked for the super-worthy Blue Rose Foundation, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing preschool scholarships to underprivileged children. It’s all another step showing how the circle remains unbroken, with music, art and humanistic vibrations showing the way. This Mouse roars.
Reissue of the Month
The Blasters, MANDATORY. At the end of the 1970s, with punk and new wave musical styles roaring around the world, there was a band in Downey, California that was playing small clubs around Los Angeles like the Hong Kong Cafe in Chinatown and various and sundry joints. And while there were elements of the group’s reverberating sound that were grounded in rockabilly, in reality what The Blasters really specialized in was what one of their unbeatable songs was titled after: American Music. Songwriter Dave Alvin and vocalist/brother Phil Alvin had zeroed in on just how inescapable all kinds of music minted in the U.S.A. could be. And he had a way of putting those styles in a sonic blender and coming out with something so winning that the excitement sold itself. Before long The Blasters were making invasive runs around the United States gathering musical friends for life. After a debut album on Rollin’ Rock Records and then a five-year affiliation with Slash Records, it felt like there was no limit for the band. Except, this being rock & roll, nothing lasts forever and the original group’s line-up made a turn and life changed in Blastersland. But MANDATORY, a new 21-song compilation that rolls free-range through the combo’s catalogue, is a breathtaking line-up of undeniably some of the finest recordings of the latter part of the 20th century. This is rock & roll that was written and recorded for keeps, and while it didn’t exactly take over the sales charts it did make a huge difference in defining what the finest records of that era were capable of. These were songs written with a hard-won liberation from the formulated styles of those years, and instead came directly from the heart and brain of these stalwarts in the unending power of rock & roll’s magic to set its listeners free. There are also several outtakes, a “Streets of Fire” soundtrack selection, emotionally evocative Chris Morris liner notes and enough poster photos to pop the eyeballs and point listeners in the direction of Okie Dog (via Okinawa and not Oklahoma) burgers in Hollywood for a 3 a.m. chow down in memory of this time zone. And while The Blasters might not have achieved their well-deserved spot on the hit parade as one of the all-time great rock & roll bands, for those that did hear the call and joined the band’s ranks of devotees, life was changed forever. Mandatory for sure.
Song of the Month
Gregg Hill, “A Dream of Old Friends.” There aren’t as many perfect songs finding daylight now as there once were, maybe, but New Orleans-based Gregg Hill has a way of aiming his guitar at the future and writing one when he pleases. And Hill’s amazing ability at singing those gorgeous reverances in a celebration of what once was, and what is still remembered now is a true gift. “A Dream of Old Friends” is the kind of achievement that brings the moment to a beautiful stand-still, letting Gregg Hill reflect on an obviously well-spent life that revolves in a perfect circle. As time floats forward, it’s the memory of friends that bring the biggest smile and warmest heart, avoiding detours into sadness or mistakes. Hill’s voice captures with such wondrous emotions the joy of unforgettable times with past pals that it is impossible not to be moved towards ecstasy. And, very possibly, realize that our time here amongst those old friends is the true gift of our moments of blessing as we all roll around the planet and count the clouds. Song of the Year.
Bentley’s Bandstand: May 2024