J.D. Simo & Luther Dickinson – Do The Rump!
This is a bit raw & grinding with its first musical tug on “Street People.” It certainly possesses a lot of pull on the musical leash. Varied songwriters of the indelible genre deliver: Bobby Charles to J.J. Cale, Junior Kimbrough to John Lee Hooker & that’s just the first 4. The cover art doesn’t justify the blend of music that’s high octane, filled with lots of moonshine & grinding gears – whatever metaphors you’d like.
The Cale tune “Right Down There” is borderline Tom Waits vocally if Tom sang straight-up blues with a razor edge guitar slash. There are 8 rousing blues doses in this set of vinegar blues, not honey-dipped blues on Do The Rump! (Drops Sept 20/Forty Below Records/41:08).
Produced by Simo (vocals/guitar/bass) & Dickinson (vocals/guitar/bass) there’s a growl to it all similar in approach to an ancient obscure 1970 progressive blues LP by Mutzie (“Light of Your Shadow”) that was also a bit discordant but always interesting.
Simo & Dickinson base their precise blend of swampy tailored blues with vocal virtuosity.
The title of the LP could’ve been better since the music is much more an adhesive juke joint assertive vocal romp. Yeah, Juke Joint Romp would’ve been a better title. No matter.
I like this since it doesn’t sound like every blues record released this year. It has humidity, it has immersive musical mannerisms (John Lee Hooker’s “Come & Go With Me”). There’s room to jam & none of these falls into a formulaic margin. It’s a blues projection with atmosphere & mood, lots of mood. You can almost smell the damp crushed-out cigarettes in the cardboard ashtrays & spilled beer on the sawdust floors. Now that’s how I like the blues.
The vocals are impressive & so are the quirky arrangements (“Serves Me Right To Suffer”). It’s not laid out as Hooker had though the voice is just as deep. It has a tougher drier sound & not as manicured as cotton but tingly like if you wore burlap close to your skin. It’s like an accident on the side of the road – you don’t want to look — but you do.
It has a grip on your ears. The playing isn’t intricate but it’s determined. The vintage-ness of these songs is chewed & spat out in renewed aesthetic dimensions. It’s like liver & I hate liver. But if it’s cooked right, you don’t realize it’s liver. This is a blues that may not attract people who never listen to the blues, but they will say “Hey, play that again will ya.” And we will.
Junior Kimbrough’s “Do the Rump,” is a persuasive workout while the closer RL Burnside’s “Peaches” is beautifully close to Z.Z. Top. Best cut & saved for last.
Highlights – All.
Musicians – Adam Abrashoff (drums).
Cover photo: Chris Brush. B&W courtesy: Zac Childs CD @ Amazon + https://fortybelowrecords.com/store-bU6aL/p/dotherump
Enjoy our previous coverage here: Interview: Luther Dickinson on The North Mississippi Allstars Setting a New Course
I like lonesome road but you are right it’s not for people who are not normally into the blues but Dickinson and Simo make a great team on the song but it’s kinda hill country blues I think R.L Burnside experimented with such sounds