photo courtesy of the Namedroppers

Album Review of Namedroppers: Starshine

The Namedroppers – Bobby T Torello (drums), Scott Spray (bass), Ron Rifkin (piano/organ), and Rafe Klein (guitar) – were named Blues Act of the Year by the 2023 New England Music Awards. They followed that in 2024 by releasing this disc, Starshine, containing ten songs ranging from rockin’ blues and bluesy rock to soaring soulful blues.

They kick things off with kind of a combination of those styles on the title track, a mid-tempo number featuring spoken-sung lead vocals from Rafe Klein with a chorus of background vocals from Ron and Bobby and, most notably, the soulful, standout supporting vox of guest vocalist Simone Brown.

image courtesy of the Namedroppers

That’s followed by “Sweet Little Angel,” one of the two covers on the album, an exceptional rendition of the B.B. King classic that’s carried by engaging guitarwork but really driven home by its fun, tuneful, slightly growling lead vocal.

“Whiskey” is one of two songs on the disc featuring Bobby T on lead vocals, his grizzled voice providing a rough, in-character delivery.  Bobby T also lends his voice to the song “Rotten Person,” a hilarious, um… could it be considered a curse? On it, you’ll particularly dig the lyric “You’re a rotten person, you deserve desertion, and I really hope you end up alone.” I think we all know someone deserving of that particular curse.

The only other song featuring someone other than Rafe Klein on lead vocals is the band’s cover of “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” with Ron Rifkin handling the mic duties. The song has been so bluesified in this arrangement, with keyboard flourishes and a tunefully anguished, pleading vocal, that you almost don’t readily identify the original. And that, my friends, is how you perform a cover song.

photo courtesy of the Namedroppers

Probably the song with the biggest crossover, multi-audience hit potential on this disc is “Shades of Blue,” a song with a gentle, sneakily hooky guitar line that supports Rafe’s heartfelt vocals, with guest vocalist support from Carole Sylvan, who you’ll remember from a review of her album Love here at the Blog a little more than a year ago.

There’s a little two-song run in the middle of the album that I refer to as the disc’s “death section.” It’s comprised of a couple of lighthearted songs about passing away (or, rather, having passed away), “I Died You Cried” and “Can’t Take It With You.”

The only songs I haven’t yet mentioned are Starshine‘s final two tracks. “Red Sea Blues” is a heavy blues protestation/proclamation, while “Joy, Pain, Sky,” helped along by prominent guest vocals from Simone Brown, ends the album with a bit of joyfulness, which in the blues can’t come without some pain.

Starshine is a fun listen beginning to end (and on repeat), covering a lot of blues real estate, featuring a talented group of musicians with rather impressive bios. But hey, you can read about their pasts for yourself on the band’s website, because at the end of the day, it’s all about how those backgrounds come together to create the exceptional music on this disc; if you’re a blues fan, you’ll enjoy this record.