So today was a mixed listening day – two blues albums followed by a jazz great and then some Native American flute! FIrst up was a blues album by an artist I was unfamiliar with the JP Blues Band, followed by more of a blues rock album from Hill Country Revue. Then The Essential Oscar Peterson. The day concluded with Bill Miller’s latest instrumental album Spirit Wind East The JP Blues is a power blues trio led by John (JP) Pagano and their latest album I Will Not Go Quietly is a strong album. JP is a fantastic guitarist who started playing guitar at 8 and was playing festivals by the time he was 11! The album is the second for the band and is currently number 16 on the Roots Music Blues charts. The rhythm section of the band consists of John Young on bass and veteran drummer Pat Adkins, who has worked with Gary U.S. Bonds, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and BB King. The first project for the band was to compete and win the Long Island Blues Society Blues Challenge and then represented Long Island at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee.
Favorites track include: “I Will Not Go Quietly”. “Old Love”, and “I Won’t My Loving Back” a song about breaking up and letting your ex-lover have everything and only wanting your lovin’ back!
The second album was Zebra Ranch from Hill Country Revue. Zebra Ranch is the follow-up album to their 2009 album Make A Move. Hill Country Revue was founded by Cody Dickinson formerly of the North Mississippi All Stars. This is a flat out Southern blues rock album. “This record is pure country blues and Hill Country Rock,” says Cody Dickinson “no gimmick, no tricks – straight up music from the heart. The album is a little more rock than Make a Move. Some of the press for the band:
“A hefty combo of deep blues and backcountry funk and the most greasy but- elegant twin-guitar melodies since the Allman Brothers” – Guitar World
“Hill Country Revue delivers greasy, hard-driving blues in the Southern rock tradition” – Blues Revue
I’ve only listened to Zebra Ranch, named after the recording studio of Dickinson’s father Jim Dickinson where the album along with the bands other album was created, so I don’t know many of the tracks just that it’s good stuff like Make A Move and will be on the player for a while!!
Time for a break and a little Phillies watching with my fingers crossed!
Here’s the JP Blues Band with “Some Kind of Hurricane”