Monthly Archives: October 2023

Album Review: Gráinne Duffy – Dirt Woman Blues

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Grainne Duffy

photo by Rob Blackham; photo courtesy of Cobra Promotions

Album Review of Gráinne Duffy: Dirt Woman Blues

Holy moly, do we at the Blog ever love Gráinne Duffy, as evidenced by all the unabashed gushing in my review of her Voodoo Blues album a couple years ago. Well, she is back and every bit as talented and engaging as ever on her new album, Dirt Woman Blues, so get ready for several paragraphs of effusive praise.

Grainne Duffy – Dirt Woman Blues

image courtesy of Cobra Promotions

Indeed, if you’re not yet familiar with Gráinne, you’ll have your “oh, my god!” moment – the one I had when I first heard Voodoo Blues – on disc-opener “Well Well Well,” a snarling blues number that somehow manages to be grizzled and gritty yet crisply modern and energetic. And that voice! I stand by my Joanna Dean comparison, but I’m hearing a bit of similarity to Danielle Miraglia – Boston’s resident flagbearer in the “how is she not already world famous?” music club, blues division. There are hints of Janis Joplin in there, too. So, basically, one song into the album, and you’ll realize you’re listening to one of the best blueswomen on the planet… and you still have eight more new songs to enjoy for the very first time!

Grainne Duffy

photo by Rob Blackham; photo courtesy of Cobra Promotions

By comparsion to the disc-opener, “Dirt Woman Blues” is a tonally darker and more brooding blues number. There’s not the hint of rock ‘n roll you found on “Well Well Well.” “Dirt Woman Blues” also features this neat little audio trick, a flip to grainy AM radio-quality vocals at the beginning of the chorus, as if the whole world reverts from technicolor to black and white, truly fitting for this raucously pleading, distortion-infused, internally-wailing blues plaint.

“What’s It Going to Be?” follows, introducing a lighter, strumming personality – almost what you might expect from Sheryl Crow, if she sang the blues. It’s a welcome respite from the preceding intensity; very cool.

Grainne Duffy

photo by Rob Blackham; photo courtesy of Cobra Promotions

The next track, “Running Back to You” is a groovy blues Gospel-style number that glides along smoothly until the chorus, when Gráinne’s vocals intensify. I’m also fond of the bridge after the second chorus, first the nifty vocal turns of phrase and then the heartfelt cries of the guitar solo.

Next up, the beat that drives the rhythmic “Rise Above” meld with Gráinne’s muddy pop-soul vocals to create what could best be described as cool, bluesy alt-rock. It’s followed by “Sweet Liberation,” a jangly, distorted-guitar blues-rock love-in that harkens back to the ’60s and ’70s, the era of peace, love, and… well, liberation. Oh, and the song ends in a badass, semi-frantic, axe-filled jam leading to an era-appropriate quick stop.

Grainne Duffy

photo by Rob Blackham; photo courtesy of Cobra Promotions

The blues Gospel returns on “Hold On to You,” the musical equivalent of a slowly-moving, howling, oh-so-blue raw nerve. “Yes I Am” follows, a raucous blues-rock protest anthem.

“Killycrum” closes the disc with a smooth, folky blues groove, and it’s on slower songs like this one, when the music is less dense, that the well-placed, effective cracks in Gráinne’s vox are at their most effective and apparent.

And with that, after just nine songs, it’s over. Beginning to end, Dirt Woman Blues is a great disc. On it, singer-axeslinger Gráinne Duffy again solidifies the expectation that a well-deserved coronation as blues royalty draws ever closer. And if you don’t yet know her music, this is your chance. You’re in for a rare treat! And it makes me jealous because you only ever get one first listen to Gráinne Duffy.

Grainne Duffy

photo by Rob Blackham; photo courtesy of Cobra Promotions

Looking Ahead

To find out where Gráinne is performing, follow her Facebook page. Via that, you’ll discover info about two upcoming shows in Northern Ireland: a Saturday, October 14th show at the Braid Arts Centre in Ballymena and a Friday, November 24th show at The Court House in Bangor.

 

Single Review: Jason LaPierre & Kelsey Blackstone – “When I’m With You”

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Jason LaPierre & Kelsey Blackstone

photo courtesy of Kelsey Blackstone’s management

Single Review of Jason LaPierre & Kelsey Blackstone: “When I’m With You”

Soulful pop vocalist Kelsey Blackstone and jazz-trained guitarist Jason LaPierre team up to deliver “When I’m With You,” a memorably catchy, timeless single that harkens back to the jazz-infused pop hits of the seventies. At first listen, I immediately thought – stylistically – of Little River Band’s “Reminiscing.” Of course, the differences are obvious. “When I’m With You” sports a rich, modern sound bed, for example, and you’ll find soaring background vocal howls, via studio magic, in place of some of those seventies harmonies. Beginning to end, Kelsey’s voice features a smooth soulfulness that rounds the edges of this lively song, but do keep an ear out for the hint of a growl where appropriate.

Jason LaPierre & Kelsey Blackstone – "When I'm With You"

image courtesy of Kelsey Blackstone’s management

This tune will have a place on my permanent personal playlist, and if you give it a listen, it’ll probably find a spot on yours, too. While you are likely to find “When I’m With You” on several year-end “song of the year” lists this year, the accompanying cool, playful music video has, at least, landed “When I’m With You” a 2023 New England Music Awards “Video of the Year” nomination. (Voting ended on October 1st; we’ll learn how Jason and Kelsey fared when the results are announced in November.)

Jason LaPierre & Kelsey Blackstone

photo courtesy of Kelsey Blackstone’s management

Looking Ahead

Of course, the results of NEMA “Video of the Year” voting will be announced on November 12th at the New England Music Awards ceremony/concert in Foxboro.

Also, Jason and Kelsey each have linktrees (Jason’s here and Kelsey’s here) to direct you to their social media accounts and help you stay current with their release and performance schedules. Per Kelsey’s Bandsintown listing, you can catch her October 12th at the Rockwood Music Hall in Boston, October 19th at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY, and October 28th at the Midway Cafe in Boston. I don’t see any live performances listed anywhere for Jason, but his Spotify artist page does show he has collaborated on three more singles since the spring release of “When I’m With You,” so he has been keeping busy.

Album Review: D.C. Anderson – House Concert

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D.C. Anderson – House Concert

image courtesy of D.C. Anderson

Album Review of D.C. Anderson: House Concert

This is a cool concept for an album. D.C. Anderson is an accomplished stage and screen actor, and these 11 songs – including 3 on which he’s credited as the lyricist – are enjoyably combined in a house concert-like set; hence, the album title. The performance is stripped-down, with only pianist David Robison for accompaniment, allowing D.C.’s voice to carry the remaining weight, his nuanced delivery providing all the necessary “color” and support. There’s a theatrical delivery to every song on the record; stylistically, it’s the sort of album you might expect from a star of musical theater, an anthology of songs performed as if from Broadway soundtracks, whether or not the songs were drawn from actual musicals.

What better way to kick things off than with Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Some Enchanted Evening,” which D.C. opens with haunting vocals, evoking images of a pitch-black theater, a performance beginning, with the singer walking into a single spotlight before a silent audience, anxious with anticipation. The voice and piano build over the course of the song, increasingly emphatic. What a great way to kick off an evening, an album, or, of course, a house concert. As you may know, I love a record with well-ordered songs, and this is a strong way to start.

Next, D.C.’s performance of “I Wanna Know You” from Anne of Green Gables is a powerful follow-up, with the vocals-and-piano arrangement giving this recording a much more fragile intimacy than is likely to be easily achieved on a big stage.

“There Ain’t No Devil” brings – believe it or not – a lighter, softer, more relaxed tone to the album, though still very theatrically delivered, which can safely be said about any of this collection’s eleven songs.

The slightly playful airiness continues, as evidenced initially by ivories that sound mischievously tickled at the opening of “While There is Still Time,” offering an enjoyable glide through lyrically heavy waters. Unabashed fun follows, as D.C. enthusiastically delivers the satirical “Loving That Lamb of Mine,” delivering Alan Chapman’s playful lyrics with zest.

D.C.’s voice cracks with emotion next, as he delivers a stirringly serious, slow-paced performance of Todd Almond’s “God is Good.” D.C. is the lyricist for the next number, “Janice and Martin,” which adds a bit more pace and feels perhaps closer to folk – theatrical folk, mind you – than the other songs in the collection.

This House Concert turns playful again, dipping into Song of the South for the ebullient “Sooner of Later,” which is, in fact, a quite proper lyrical follow-up to “Janice and Martin.”

D.C. wrote the lyrics for the next two tracks. First, “Crazy Still to Do,” sounds like it should be my favorite song from an irreverent musical, with cool lyrics like “I’m sorry for what’s missing. I’m missing something, too. But so’s you hear, I’ll make this clear, I’m crazier than you.” With a nod to song ordering, it’s the third of a really well-arranged sequence, both topically and musically.

Next up, “Song for Artists” is a bit more serious and sincere, as it soars musically and vocally, delivering a message of, as you might guess from the song title, thanks to artists. Following, D.C. closes the record with a slow-building, powerful delivery of Susan Osborn’s “Bright Angel,” setting the song down for a soft landing to draw his House Concert to a close.

I’d recommend a beginning-to-end listen of this record. The songs, in order, ebb and flow enjoyably, with tempos (and levels of seriousness) varying throughout. And, after a few listens, certainly you’ll have favorite songs that you’ll want to play individually from time to time, as well. Personally, I’m particularly fond of D.C.’s arrangements and delivery of “Crazy Still to Do” and “Some Enchanted Evening.”

More Recently

House Concert was released in early 2022. More recently, in 2023, D.C. released the album Sharing the Night with Darkness.

Looking Ahead

D.C. will be performing live in Chicago on Sunday, October 22nd and in New York on Sunday, November 12th. You can find time and location details for those performances on the “calendar” page of D.C.’s website; check back periodically as more performances are added. You’ll also find the occasional update about D.C.’s goingson on his Facebook page.

Single Reviews: Brian Muratori – “Jagged Edge” and “Endless Summer”

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Brian Muratori

image courtesy of Brian Muratori

Single Reviews: Brian Muratori – “Jagged Edge” and “Endless Summer”

The Backstory

I’ve known Brian Muratori for decades. When we were both “under 21” we used to hang out at the same all-ages dance clubs in West Michigan. Of course, back then, he wasn’t a professional singer, and I wasn’t a music journalist. His first professionally-recorded album, The Italian Rocker, was released a couple years before I started writing reviews. (The dude’s younger than I am; he just got an early start.) I did eventually get a chance to review one of his recordings, his “Starting Over” cassingle, for Geoff Wilbur’s Renegade Newsletter in the mid-’90s. (I’m pretty sure it’s been decades since I last typed the word “cassingle.”) Well, the cool thing is that Brian and I are both still at it, continuing to ply our respective trades in the music business.

Brian Muratori

image courtesy of Brian Muratori

The Review

Stylistically, Brian’s voice is that of a top-flight lounge crooner, a performer with a firm grasp of all the pop, soft rock, and pop-rock vocal stylings necessary to make an evening of music into a fun, memorable event. Brian has released several singles over the past year. I’ve chosen to review two that are representative of his skills – one from Brian’s At the Hollywood Party collection and the other his most recent, post-Party single. The first, “Jagged Edge,” was released in late 2022 and is included on Brian’s At the Hollywood Party album on Spotify. The other single, “Endless Summer,” is Brian’s most recent release; it dropped – fittingly for a “summer” song – late in the summer, just a few weeks ago.

“Jagged Edge,” kicks off with light, classic soft pop-rock power-synth and a pleasant rhythm, and it’ll soon have you bopping along as well-placed oohs and ohs complement Brian’s groovy delivery, with his insistent vocal build-up leading into smooth choruses.

Brian Muratori

photo courtesy of Brian Muratori

“Endless Summer,” meanwhile, begins with a beach-pop chorus of “oohs,” leading to soft adult contemporary verses and chorus, with occasional dancing guitar riffs adding color and flavor. This cool summer number is an updated, groovy throwback tune that harkens back to soft rock’s heyday.

“Jagged Edge” and “Endless Summer” are fun songs, and Brian’s voice can carry them well, mustering up all the storytelling nuance necessary to deliver a great final product. They’re convincing proof that “an evening with Brian Muratori” would be a fun live event. While I picture an upscale night of dinner an crooning, his style would also play well in an intimate theater or smoky barroom setting, if smoky barrooms were still a thing. These tunes would also be well-placed in Hallmark movies, likely with some crisper, less jagged production to help them blend more easily into the soundtrack.

In the end, these singles – and Brian’s other songs, some of which you’ll find on Spotify – paint a picture of a talented, modern-day crooner, and I’m pleased to hear Brian carrying on that fine musical tradition. Stylistically, Brian’s music is well-timed to take advantage of the existence of the yacht rock genre, into which his music fits easily.

Beyond These Songs

If you dug the two songs I reviewed, other standouts I’d recommend to yacht rock fans include Brian’s 2022 single “You Had to Go and Change on Me” and, from At the Hollywood Party, “Alligator Drive” and “Ooh Baby I Think You’re Driving Me Crazy.”

Looking Ahead

Brian Muratori’s Facebook page would be a good place to start if you want to remain abreast of new single releases and other artist news. You can also find new songs, as they’re released, on Brian’s Spotify and Bandcamp pages.

Album Review: Burnt Out Wreck – Stand and Fight

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Burnt Out Wreck

photo courtesy of BJF Media

Album Review of Burnt Out Wreck: Stand and Fight

Burnt Out Wreck delivers guitar-driven, powerful melodic hard rock reminiscent of Judas Priest and AC/DC, particularly those bands’ more melodic offerings. Any ’80s-style hard rock fan is gonna love this disc. And the band gets bonus points for its ’80s “pedigree” – frontman Gary Moat was the drummer in ’80s rock band Heavy Pettin. Though not an arena-filling headliner back in the ’80s, at least not in the U.S., Heavy Pettin was a band we were all aware of and respected. Beyond ’80s rockers, others who may enjoy this album (and this band) are those who dig catchy songs and crunchy guitars.

Stand and Fight kicks off with a chunky classic rock guitar riff on repeat, joined soon thereafter by Moat’s gravelly hard rock vocals and a steady, forceful rhythm section, launching into fun album opener “Big Up Yourself,” setting the stage for the rest of this top-shelf “new classic” hard rock disc. The songs have a familiar, comfortable style, performed with the enthusiasm and attention to detail that will make this recording a worthwhile addition to your collection (and your album rotation).

Burnt Out Wreck – Stand and Fight

image courtesy of BJF Media

There are a couple songs that’ll have you singing along rather embarrassingly, and hooky title track “Stand and Fight” is the first of them. Steady verses are laced with persistently insistent guitarwork that ratchets up tension, leading into the song’s chorus with its fun, oft-repeated lyric – one you’ll unconsciously sing before realizing it; then you’ll look around hoping no one heard you sing “Stand and fight, just kick ’em in the balls…” There’s some cool axework in here, too, with solos serving as apt bridges, that’ll make this one of your favorite songs. Just be cautious about when and where you listen to it in public.

From first song to last, the album is all relatively straightforward – and unflinchingly straight-line – melodic hard rock, but various rhythms and guitar hooks keep things fresh. A three-song sequence early in the disc is a good example of the song-to-song variance: “Lion” sports a more sidewinding rhythm and limits backing instrumentation during some of the verses; “Ain’t Done Nothing Wrong” begins with a bit of an echo that suggests open spaces before launching into its distinct rhythm guitar riffs that vary consistently throughout the song; and “More Than Anything” utilizes a slightly faster pace to set itself apart.

You’ll have your own favorites on this disc. Mine are the first two tracks, “Big Up Yourself” and “Stand and Fight,” and disc-ender “I’m a Loser Too,” and not just because it’s embarrassing to be heard singing along to the title lyric, which I guarantee you won’t be able to stop yourself from doing. There’s an almost country twanginess mixed in with more obviously bluesy rock guitarwork than found elsewhere on the album. It stands out in part because of its stylistic difference, but it’ll also draw you in with its fun lyrics (such as, “I’m in a bar drinkin’ whiskey, she’s kind of cute for her age…”) and its end-of-the-night, the-bar-is-closing vibe. Yeah, the album’s over, and you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here. Or you can just stay where you are and replay the album from the beginning again. It’s a great new classic rock record and a heckuva fun listen from beginning to end.

Looking Back

This is the third Burnt Out Wreck album I’ve reviewed at the Blog. Be sure to check out my 2017 review of Swallow or my 2020 review of This Is Hell for more Burnt Out Wreck content. In fact, one reason this review is comparatively short is because I’ve already written two previous reviews and am beginning to run out of adjectives to describe the band’s sound; I’ve said it all before. If you’re a classic hard rock fan, particularly of ’80s-style melodic hard rock, and especially of the bands in that category with crunch and bite to their music, then you owe it to yourself to have Burnt Out Wreck’s albums in your collection.

Looking Ahead

The “Events” tab of Burnt Out Wreck’s Facebook page lists a couple of upcoming shows in the UK: Saturday, November 18th at The Yorkshireman Rock Bar in Sheffield and a June 14, 2024 show at Axminster Guild Hall in Axminster. Burnt Out Wreck is also scheduled to appear at the Highway to Hellfest in Glasgow, Scotland in February 2024. And watch Burnt Out Wreck’s social media feeds for more dates as they’re added. For example, the band’s Twitter feed also mentions an early November appearance at Hard Rock Hell.