After their appearance at the Pittsburgh Blues Festival, Greg Haughey of the Delaware band Nothin' But Trouble dropped off a copy of the band's CD from last year. This is the band that won the Blues Society of Western Pa.'s competition earlier this year, and the right to go to the IBC finals early next year.
Before that, they were the Baltimore Blues Society's winners, and released this CD last year. It's another of those fine regional bands (like many here in the Burgh) whose work rarely gets larger exposure, thus depriving blues fans everywhere of some fine music.
NBT's disc, aptly called "Nothin' But Trouble," is a goo example of that -- a collection of strong original blues from an accomplished quartet of singer-songwriter musicians. They have a fairly simple blues lineup -- Joey Fulkerson and Chris McAfee on guitar, Greg Haughey on bass, Billy Meyers on drums, with McAfee also a harp player. They all share in the vocals, and each has contributed some songs. On this set, they get excellent support from David Raynor on sax and Dave Kirschner on trumpet.
They lean a little bit toward shuffles and jump tunes here, but still manage to display a lot of versatility. "Ain't Got a Clue" kicks off the disc with a driving beat, "The Turnaround" is a gritty horn-fueled romp that digs into a bluesy groove with an edgy guitar break, "This Time Around" leads with a torchy trumpet solo followed by a lost-love vocal -- followed by more of the same: finely crafted little blues songs done with skill and feeling.
A lot of their writing leans toward the whimsical side, and one of my favorites is "Pink Pumps," a bluesman's look at what the blueswoman might be wearing -- "...all of those clothes make me smile, they help me when I'm down in the dumps ... I know it ain't cool, but i keep actin' like fool for pink pumps..." Hey, you expected Faulkner? This is the blues, baby.
"Smile" is a very tasty slow blues, done in a sort-of acoustic style. I can't quite tell who's singing, but I like his style on "Smile."
You get the idea. They are a multi-talented blues band that should make a fine Pittsburgh entry in the IBC. You could do a lot worse than pick up this CD and enjoy it.
Billy Price avec Fred Chapellier
Billy Price has been swapping countries with French blues guitarist Fred Chapellier, and both are at work with Jeff Ingersoll at Bonedog Records on a CD for DixieFrog Records, tentatively titled "Night Work." Read more on Billy's Web site
New Joe Bonamassa CD coming
For you blues-rock fans, Joe Bonamassa will release a double CD-set entitled "Live From Nowhere In Particular" on Aug. 19. There's more in Modern Guitars Magazine.
Posted
Aug 07 2008, 01:00 AM
by
Jim White