photo courtesy of Greg Nagy

Album Review of Greg Nagy: Just a Little More Time

One of Michigan’s elite bluesmen is back again with an extraordinary new album. Five originals, six covers, a style all his own, and one of the best, most versatile blues-based voices you’ll ever here – blues, soul, swing… the man can do it all. That’s Greg Nagy and his newest album, Just a Little More Time.

The album opens like a big, brash, live stage show, with its title track sauntering in full of horns, swagger, a little playfulness in the lead vocals, and a whole lot of playfulness in the instruments, plus some occasional but well-placed background vocals. “Just a Little More Time” gives a peek at Nagy’s range; it’s a Greg Nagy original, so it’s almost as if he knows how to write to his own full range. And by that I mean yes, that’s exactly how it is.

image courtesy of Greg Nagy

That’s followed by a full-on, hornsy rendition of Guitar Slim’s “It Hurts to Love Someone” before returning to another original, the smoothly instrumented “Breaking Me,” this time leaning on emphatic organ and nifty guitarwork to augment Nagy’s blues-meets-soul vocal style.

“Between the Darkness and the Light” draws upon some psychedelic, ’70s-styled, funky blues rock guitar and organ to serve up a slappin’, groovy, rhythmically mid-tempo arena-worthy number, replete with frantic, distorted rock fretwork that’d put lava lamp-era bands to shame.

How do you follow that? With a smooth “Love Letter,” of course. The cool, brassy slow song comes with a story (told here by Greg on Facebook), a big, sweeping song from the late Bobby Murray’s final 2021 album, Love Letters From Detroit. Michiganders will dig the reference to Woodward Avenue, if you haven’t heard the song before, as I hadn’t. Nagy serves up some of his biggest, boomingest vocals on this song, delivering all the power and emotion it deserves.

photo courtesy of Greg Nagy

Such big vocals, in fact, that they apparently couldn’t be followed, vocally anyway. The next track, “My Buddy,” is a playful, funky blues instrumental, with some well-placed keys and bass helping carry the load. It reminds me a bit of the instrumentals blues pianist Bob Malone slides into his albums, songs with so much character they don’t need vocals. Of course, “My Buddy” is guitar-driven, whereas Bob’s are piano-based. Regardless, “My Buddy” is a cool number and a good palate cleanser because it’s followed by… wait for it…

“Only Women Bleed.” Yes, Nagy takes on Alice Cooper’s decades-old hit ballad “Only Women Bleed.” You know, the original was awfully bluesy to begin with (as I confirmed by re-listening to it), so it wasn’t as big a rearrangement as you might initially think, but even so, Nagy makes it all his own. Powerfully, with his rich, textured vocals, combined with soft guitar strums and a rich organ keyboard sound, this performance will leave a lump in your throat.

If you thought an Alice Cooper cover would be the rockin’est song on the record, you’d be wrong. The peppy, rhythmic “Big City” – a Nagy original – brings that blues rock energy and even sports an almost progressive-meets-psychedelic guitar solo in the middle of the song. I mean, the song itself is not really more than medium-tempoed, and there’s not any real guitar shredding. It really has more of a laid-back rock-meets-blues style but with a strutting, big-city vibe. But its energy is pure rock ‘n roll.

photo courtesy of Greg Nagy

A cool, laid-back rendition of “Rainy Night in Georgia” follows, with organ and horn sounds as if straight outta the ’70s. It’s followed by – again, ’70s anyone? – the Grateful Dead’s “Sugaree.” Actually, no, technically it was from Jerry Garcia’s first solo album, and it was Garcia’s only-ever solo Billboard Hot 100 hit. In Nagy’s hands, it’s a smooth, hit-worthy, mid-tempo rockin’ blues tune.

The final song on this impeccably curated collection is a nearly ten minute long, full-on slow-motion blues jam cover of John Lee Hooker’s “I’m in the Mood for Love.” And that, my friends, is the way to close an album!

More Recently

Since the release of Just a Little More Time, Nagy has released a pair of covers, both slow-paced, bluesy Nagy-ized yet respectful renditions of a pair of classics. In April, he released a mellowly delivered rendition of “Georgia on My Mind.” Then, in mid-June, his cool cover of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” dropped.

If you’re like me, every Greg Nagy release is a welcome new listen. So if you’re new to Greg Nagy’s music and like blues music at all, start with Just a Little More Time and then work both forward and backward to keep discovering one of Michigan’s best bluesmen.

photo by Marilyn Stringer; photo courtesy of Greg Nagy

Album Review of Greg Nagy: The Real You

If you’ve been reading this blog for a long while – or if you live in Michigan – you know Greg Nagy is one of Michigan’s best bluesmen. (I reviewed his album Stranded in 2016.) Well, I hate to spoil the suspense in the first paragraph, but he’s only getting better, if that’s possible.

Greg Nagy’s voice and guitarwork form a style that’s uniquely his own. It’s a familiar mix of old-school blues, soul, smoother R&B, and even at times a hint of a modern big band-inspired pop sound, all in an identifiably unique combination. You know, probably a lot of that is the vocals – smooth but not too smooth, rich but not particularly deep, deploying phrasing that can be emotionally piercing, and a just slightly uniquely original tone. Sure, at his musical core, Nagy’s a bluesman’s bluesman, but the other elements in his music open it up to potentially appeal to a broad audience, obviously on some songs more than others.

The Real You is Nagy’s fourth album. It contains a mix of blues classics, Nagy originals, and inspired covers with arrangements and delivery styles that help Nagy make them all his own.

image courtesy of Greg Nagy

The album kicks off with a Nagy original, the title track, a smooth, soft blues ballad. Or near-ballad, at least. The horns, which add both depth and emphasis, are sometimes more enthusiastic than in a typical ballad, though they’re also responsible for moments in this song that hint at a big band influence – very cool. But yeah, you can slow dance to it, so it’s a ballad. Maybe at a wedding reception, for example, with lyrics like “I want to know the real you. I want to share the real me, too,” and especially with the uplifting vocal delivery Nagy employs on the song.

Track number two is one of the two old-school blues covers on the record. For “Mississippi Blues,” a modestly-paced number, Nagy relies on the grittier edge of his vocal range, pulling the anguish out of the lyric. He’s joined on this song by Ray Goodman on dobro and Peter Mudcat Ruth on harmonica. Indeed, the harp plays an important part in the feel of the song, particularly riffing off of the vocal line.

Jumping ahead to track five, the other old-school blues cover – and actually, it’s an old-school soul number – is “Come to Poppa.” Most familiar to those of us with Michigan roots as a Bob Seger tune, I investigated the song’s variants and discovered that Nagy’s rendition is a much closer match to Ann Peebles’ original recording of it, “Come to Mama.” Of course, Nagy’s rendition is more modernized, and the bass beat thumps a bit more as a good blues-rock number naturally would, though the pace is more that of a mid-tempo blues crooner.

Another cover worth noting is the very theater stage-styled, slow-blues-drenched rendition of the Beatles’ “Something.” It’s performed as a duet with Detroit’s Queen of the Blues, Thornetta Davis (whose Honest Woman album was reviewed here at the Blog by Detroit-based contributor Eric Harabadian, back in 2018). Before I return to Nagy’s originals, I want to comment on the two remaining covers, “Crazy” and “The Joke.”

Personally, while I absolutely love the Gnarls Barkley original, I think Nagy’s version of “Crazy” is an upgrade, at least for those of us with a particular fondness for mainstream-leaning blues and blues-rock. With a warm vocal tone in the verses, pleading vocal edge in the chorus, and varied phrasing, punching the right syllables while delivering some of the lighter lyrics wryly, Nagy pitches a perfect game with his vocals. Meanwhile, the music bed is rich and full, almost orchestral at times, with organ carrying some of its bridges and verses, delivering a memorable blues-infused, soft-rocking result that’s my pick for most likely to appeal to mainstream radio listeners.

photo by Wahwah Whitus; photo courtesy of Greg Nagy

If I’m wrong about that statement, it’s because the closing number on the record, “The Joke,” has broad appeal, too. It’s a brave and welcome choice for Nagy, putting his own spin on the Brandi Carlisle number that represents those who don’t fit the molds of modern society. It’s a song for the marginalized, the misfits, the underrepresented. The arrangement is rich and powerful, getting fuller and fueled by guitarwork that builds to power in key emotional sections. The arrangement – and Nagy’s vocal – will give you chills and leave a lump in your throat when he reaches the climactic vocal, “I have been to the movie. I’ve seen how it ends. The joke’s on them.” I’d still suggest “Crazy” as the more likely radio hit because “The Joke” is 5-and-a-half minutes long, and the opening is a little slow – effectively so, but we’re talking radio-friendliness here, not just quality. This is, however, almost certainly the most powerful song on this record. A great way to end the album.

However, if you’re a blues fan, you’re maybe more likely to like one of Nagy’s originals. In particular, “You Were Never Mine,” featuring top-shelf bluesman Larry McCray on guitar. And there are some filthy guitar riffs, indeed, on this tune, at times wailing in accompaniment with the smoothly-sung pain in Nagy’s vocals, particularly during the title lyric.

“What Took Your Love” comes later in the disc but has a mid-tempo blues-rock vibe, perhaps a touch more blues-rock than blues when compared with “You Were Never Mine,” at least in the guitar riffs.

“Where Do We,” with Bobby Murray handling the lead axework, is a straight-ahead, modestly-tempoed, thump-along, rockin’ blues number, for which Nagy utilizes his deeper, rougher-hewn, lean-into-the-blues vocal style.

Ballad “All I Need (Is You)” is lightly-instrumented, with a raw, live, man-and-his-guitar singer-songwriter feel, giving it an emotional honesty. It’s actually the record’s penultimate track, with its uncomplicated production flowing nicely into the soft, emotional opening of “The Joke.”

Finally, if you dig instrumental blues, as I do – it’s always nice to have one really good one on a blues record – “Cornell Ala King” is a nifty vocal-less entry. I found a recording of this song from 2010 on YouTube, so Nagy has been playing (and perfecting) this song for a while, and it shows! Guitar, organ, and horns all get their own opportunities to drive the song forward, resulting in an entertaining number with structured dynamics that would have made vocals unnecessary and redundant. Just kick back and enjoy, though the song isn’t particularly long, so it’s over almost before you know it.

In total, The Real You is an instant classic from the reliably exceptional Greg Nagy. It contains five potential crossover hits for mainstream music fans – two of the record’s five covers (“Crazy” and “The Joke”) and three of its six originals (“The Real You,” “You Were Never Mine,” and “What Took Your Love From Me”). At the same time, edging beyond the mainstream, “Where Do We” is likely to be a new favorite among blues and blues-rock fans. And the rest of the disc is a great listen, as well, even if I’m not predicting strong radio interest in the remaining tracks; they’re excellent songs that are ideal fits for the album. If you’re a blues fan, you should be waiting in line outside the record store on the release date (metaphorically) for each new Greg Nagy release. Rock and mainstream music fans, also, though, should give this record a listen, as there’s something here for everyone.

Looking Ahead

Greg has plenty of upcoming shows listed on the “Gigs” page of his website. All of his listed dates at the moment are from coast to coast in Michigan, except for one. On July 5th, my California readers can catch the Greg Nagy Band at the Sebastiani Theater in Sonoma. This is a rare opportunity, so get yourselves to wine country and don’t miss it!

photo courtesy of Greg Nagy

Greg Nagy – Stranded

Backstory

Greg Nagy is well-established as one of the top bluesmen in Michigan. But his star has risen nationally with his last two releases, Fell Toward None and Stranded. Now, I was on hiatus from writing when Fell Toward None was released, so I haven’t heard it, though I did catch Greg’s band live in the interceding years (February 2013, to be exact). While Fell Toward None received national praise, it’s Stranded that really launched Greg into the national consciousness, earning him additional global accolades, chart-topping results, and some high rotation on XM/Sirius radio. All of this acknowledgement of his talent is well-deserved… though I suppose I should have prefaced that with a “spoiler alert.” Then again, I hand-pick a lot of my favorite artists to review – people I think you’ll be glad I introduced you to, if you don’t already know them – so it probably isn’t a big spoiler.

Album Review of Greg Nagy: Stranded

image courtesy of Greg Nagy

When you think about great blues, it starts with the voice, and Greg Nagy has that voice. It’s not a deep blues voice but more mid-range – and, technically, a mid-range vocal is probably a high blues vocal – but it packs in the emotion. You can hear the passion and, in Greg’s case, you get a consistently strong voice with just enough gravel to convey every feeling that goes with the lyrics. But it’s also about the music. And Greg’s guitar sings as soulfully as his voice. After hearing Stranded, you’ll learn what learn what Michigan blues fans – and an increasing number of blues fans nationwide – already know. If Greg Nagy releases a new album, be excited. And buy it. The guy’s a rare talent.

photo by J. Bowler; photo courtesy of Greg Nagy

Stranded opens strong, with Greg’s mid-high vocals filled with emotion, as “Stranded” has an almost country edge to its true blue soul. Oh, you’ll be singing along to this one quickly. It’s simultaneously playful and melancholic. Starting the disc with such energy is an auspicious beginning.

“Walk Out the Door” begins plaintively before adding a bit of energy mid-tune, morphing into a soft-but-rockin’ blues number periodically for the chorus before softening again during the bridges and verses; it’s the sort of song you’d possibly hear in a hotel bar scene in a movie.

Greg slows it down in multiple bluesy styles. His Nagy-fied version of Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City” is centered on a rich, full, soulful wail with a pulsing rhythm, while “I Won’t Give Up” builds and soars slowly, hopefully, and with a bit of a bluesy gospel rattle. And “Run Away With You” is a gospel-flavored, soft R&B-seasoned, yearning crooner.

photo by J. Bowler; photo courtesy of Greg Nagy

The collection adds a little more texture with funky Delta blues number “Long Way to Memphis.” “Been Such a Long Time,” meanwhile, adds playfulness to that funky blues.

Finally, “Sometimes” is worth mentioning, as Greg pulls together funky blues with an R&B backbeat and a guitar line that seems to speak, more like a supporting vocal than a guitar at all.

And, of course, any good blues album ends either in a blaze of instruments or a drawn-out ballad. Stranded chooses the latter with “Welcome Home,” a gravel-vocalled, heart-on-his-sleeve, soft-touch keyboard and guitar driven slow fade into the sunset, ending the disc with the musical equivalent of a satisfied sigh.

photo by Geoff Wilbur

In summary, Greg Nagy’s Stranded has earned its spot at the top of various 2015 top ten lists. It landed in my top three. This dude hits every note, puts emotion in every word, and all the while comes across as cool as the other side of the pillow. I don’t have many blues albums on my personal playlists, but this one earns its spot with every song.

Looking Ahead

Greg has a couple gigs currently scheduled later this month – Friday, August 19th at Slo Bones Smoke Haus in Frankenmuth, MI, and a pair of afternoon sets on Saturday, August 20th at Fritz Park in Grand Haven, MI.

Beyond that, Greg’s site currently lists a couple Moriarity’s gigs in Lansing this fall (Fridays, October 21st and December 16th) and a Saturday, November 12th gig at the Backyard Blues Festival at Buckingham Blues Bar in Fort Myers, Florida.

Greg is planning to return to the studio this fall with the goal of a new album release in early 2017. The dude’s a workhorse, though, so I’d suggest also checking his website regularly to watch for additional live dates.