Duwayne Burnside – Red Rooster
We’ll start with one criticism & get it out of the way. Lead guitarist, vocalist, bassist & drummer Duwayne Burnside (former North Mississippi All Stars) deserves far better album artwork to espouse the quality of his recording & excellent songs. The showcase is somewhat an evolution & gets off to a stellar beginning with the original Burnside tune “Nightmare,” followed by “Circle In the Sky,” with its Jimi Hendrix-like, otherworldly lead guitar flourishes that are captivating throughout the performance.
Burnside smartly doesn’t rely solely on that approach; he mixes up the genres with skill, & “Somebody Done Stole My Girl” trudges along with a bulldozer beat & formidable groove. Chubby Checker decades ago used to use a female-like juvenile vocal to accentuate a lyric & Burnside does this at the onset of this tune & effectively. The collection of songs produced by Cody Dickinson on Red Rooster (Drops Dec 5/Lucky 13 Records/39:28) is rooted in the traditional blues & high-caliber musical cartridges. Each song has a signature firing mechanism.
“Things Ain’t Going My Way” has more guitar-bluescapes that soar with delicious notes. This is not only a blues vocal album but a guitar album. Guitar-wise, it has the more soulful mix of Steve Cropper’s purity & a little Sly & the Family Stone fuzz tone applied to “Talk Sweet To Me.” A cool ballad with soul-rock musicality that keeps its skin on tight & youthful. The backup vocals have fumes (& these colorful vocals crop up on some others as well) & the drums are spiffy. Wonderful stuff.
With “Crazy ‘Bout You,” we’re no longer really in bluesville but within the confines of dance music with soul textures. Entertainment. The blues “feeling” is conveyed liberally with the heavy fuzz lead guitar, but even the drums are a bit too fancy for a straight blues. Is the song good? Sure is. But it deviates from tradition, just a hair. While “King,” despite the rap inclusion of Cody Burnside, is more contemporary blues & the rapping at least modernizes the effort. Well applied.
Bobby Womack’s “Down & Out” is fiery, tight & has the best arrangement on the set. The guitar sizzles, the drums are skintight, & the groove is excellent…should have faded it out & not ended abruptly. Closer to Americana-roots with lots of mud, hot cinders & hooch, layered in a Taj Mahal style is “Mississippi Here I Come,” a long, dynamic track that’s a marvelous jam & reminiscent of work done by early Hot Tuna.
Highlights – “Nightmare,” “Circle In the Sky,” “Somebody Done Stole My Girl,” “Things Ain’t Going My Way,” “Talk Sweet To Me,” “Down & Out,” & “Mississippi Here I Come.”
Photography courtesy of Scott Hatch. CD @ Amazon & Fye + https://www.facebook.com/duwayneburnsidemusic/