The Fabulous Thunderbirds – Struck Down
Some blues bands are old school raw, loyal to the genre in its gritty tightly woven turf (Canned Heat/Paul Butterfield Blues Band) & some journey a step further out to make it more entertaining without losing the hot sauce.
The blues are like smoke – some have the dark smoke of juke joint blues players & others the steamy grey smoke of viable interpreters (Jeff Healy, Johnny Winter, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Robin Trower, Eric Clapton). The purveyors of choogling timbre found in The Fabulous Thunderbirds are unique & after 50 years of pounding the blues anvil, this album is their first set of sparks in 8 years.
The first time I heard Kim Wilson sing was on the commercially accessible blues of “Tuff Enuff,” which peaked at #10 in 1986. All kidding aside the song was a good blues that radio suits stepped on & it stuck to the bottom of their expensive alligator shoes. Boo Hoo. The band never faltered. The performances rattled the skull. It’s one of those bands where the first word in their band name says it all: fabulous.
There’s no other way to describe these 10 new tunes demonstrating their expertise on Struck Down (Drops June 28/Stony Plain Records/35:20) produced by Kim Wilson, Steve Strongman & Glen Parrish. Along with the band this LP has guests who partake of the blues grape.
ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons (lead guitar & background vocals) on “Payback Time,” followed by Bonnie Raitt (vocals/acoustic guitar), Taj Mahal (vocals), Keb’ Mo’ (vocals/slide guitar) & Mick Fleetwood (drums/percussion) — all appear on the lone cover song: Memphis Minnie’s “Nothing But Rambling.”
Additionally, Elvin Bishop (guitar/bgv), Terrance Simien (accordion/washboard) & Canadian blues ace Steve Strongman (guitars) & co-writer of 9 songs with Kim Wilson (vocals/harmonica). The tunes were recorded in Lafayette, New Jersey & Hamilton, Ontario.
Kim Wilson’s voice on “The Hard Way” resonates with a righteous intuition that if he hadn’t lived it he learned it. There’s good production. But while other blues enthusiasts of similar efforts provide skillful playing on their modern blues sets, they seem to go through the motions because they never lived the blues. The talent’s there but the authenticity isn’t. There’s no vulnerability & the music’s slick with no humidity. The music should be rooted in mud not $10 shots of bourbon. Want to play great blues? Vacation with your guitar in the summer in Georgia, Mississippi, or Tennessee. Work outside. It isn’t easy to become fabulous.
Highlights – “Struck Down By the Blues,” “Don’t Make No Sense,” “Payback Time,” “Nothing But Rambling,” “Won’t Give Up,” “The Hard Way,” “I’ve Got Eyes” & “That’s Cold.”
Musicians – Bob Welsh (piano/keys/guitar), Rudy Albin Petschauer (drums/percussion), Steve Kirsty (bass/sax) & Johnny Moeller (guitar) with Dean Shott (guitar), Chris Ayries (bgv) & Rob Szabo (percussion).
B&W image courtesy of their website. CD @ Amazon + https://fabulousthunderbirds.com/
