So Alabama says “If You’ Gonna Play in Texas you gotta have a fiddle in the band” and I agree wholeheartedly and for me ” If you’re gonna have a blues band, you gotta have a harp in the band!” Well, let’s see did Stevie Ray have a harp? Joe Bonamassa? Eric Clapton? Well let’s just say that if you have a good harp, Edward will like it! So when I heard the intro to the first track on the Backtrack Blues Band‘s album Captured Alive, I knew I was going to be a happy camper!!
I saw the band’s name on the Roots Music Report last week. The album checked in at number 25 on the chart. The band has been playing Chicago style blues in the Tampa Bay area of Florida since 1980 and in that time has won the Tampa Bay music Award for “Best Blues Band three times. The band has honed it’s craft through the years by studying the blues masters and the phrasings of Little Walter, Paul Butterfield, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy, and Duane Allman are evident throughout their music!
That harp I heard on the opening track and throughout the album was provided by Sonny Charles! Thanks Sonny! Lead guitar, which often can be found on the album trading tasty licks with Charles, is provided by Spider Ingram. Spider also plays slide guitar and chips in on the vocals. The bottom of the band is held up by a strong rhythm section consisting of Little Johnny Walter on rhythm guitar, Joe Bencomo drums, and Eddie St Clair on bass.
Captured Alive is the band’s fourth album.and captures a live performance in 2011 at the historic Palladium Theatre in St. Petersburg, Florida. It’s great live CD as well as a concert DVD.From their website: “It’s a performance of honest music, recorded just as it was played, without any edits or technological gimmicks, that shows the true talent of this seasoned band.” Here’s what Jack Sullivan from Blues Revue/BluesWax says about the album
“The seasoned musicians of the Backtrack Blues Band have created a very tasty blues album in “Captured Alive.” Get ready for a raucous good time!”
So if you like your blues with a heavy dose of great harp, and like artist like, Little Walter, Paul Butterfield and The Fabulous Thunderbirds check these guys out at all the usual places! For a raucous good time like Jack Sullivan says!
Here’s a performance of “Like it or Not” from Captured Alive