BlueNotes is way behind on this CD -- it was released in April I think -- but it's still worth calling your attention to the album and the artist.
The artist is Zac Harmon, out of Jackson, Miss., many years ago, and the album is "From the Root" (NorthernBlues), a look at blues and soul and other fine music that Harmon seems to have mastered with considerable skill and musicality.
Harmon is an IBC winner, a singer-songwriter, an excellent guitarist and a man who seems to want to explore many possibilities that are included in the blues genre -- some sweet soul, R&B, some reggae, some acoustic and some tough down-home blues. He does them all well, and if I had one criticism of this CD, it would be that it moves around a little bit too much between these styles.
Still, it's a fine showcase for his talents as a silky-smooth soul balladeer, a tough blues singer, and an axeman who can wrap his music around all of those styles.
The CD shifts between sensuous, soulful blues like the opener, "Don't Give Me Another Reason," to the final tough acoustic "Man is Not Meant to be Alone." Harmon sounds like another of those blues talents who hasn't yet gotten enough national recognition for his talents. Maybe this album will help.
Here's a clip of each of those songs:
"Don't Give Me Another Reason"
"Man is Not Meant to be Alone"
And here's a video from a recent concert:
A couple of upcoming local shows
Jeff Ingersoll, the head BoneDaddy of Bonedog Records in McKeesport, seems determined to keep producing fine shows at the Palisades Ballroom in McKeesport, hard on the shores of the mighty Youghiogheny, that feature local blues talent.
He has two shows coming up, one this Saturday (11.7), and one the following Saturday (11.14). This Saturday will feature fine Burgh bluesguy Gary Belloma and the Blue Bombers, and the following weekend offers up Jimmy Adler, Miss Freddye, and Robert "Pecky" Peckman and the Bonedog Allstars. I'll be in Philadelphia this weekend, applying for a job as pitching coach, so I'll miss Gary, but we'll see what next week holds.
The Palisades, by the way, is a great place for concerts -- it's big enough to hold a good crowd, but still small enough to get you up close and personal. And there's lots of room to dance (not that BlueNotes is Fred Astaire, or even Ginger Rogers, but he's been known to move his feet around a little bit once the drugs take effect).
Posted
Nov 06 2009, 01:00 AM
by
Jim White