Andrew Chapman a.k.a. JoJo - Well, It's About Time! (2017) [flac]

Tracklist
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01. That's the Kind of Day I Had Today
02. Face of Love
03. Harley Hotstuff
04. Still Got the Message
05. You've Got a Lover
06. The Fit & The Feel
07. She Don't Mess with My Buzz
08. Will You Recognize Me
09. Bag of Bones
10. Plane Ride from Paris
11. That Takes Some Balls
12. Talk to Me
13. Butterfly


That album title is pretty appropriate – let’s have a little history… Vocalist Andrew Chapman first met Tony Braunagel – now a renowned drummer and producer on the modern blues scene – back in Houston in the late 60s. Andrew came to manage Braunagel’s band, Buttermilk Bottom, before forming a band called The Bloontz All Stars with bass player Terry Wilson – Braunagel joined them later, and they made an album around 1972 and ‘73 before touring with Johnny Nash. Then Andrew more or less retired from music-making until a couple of years ago; he linked up again with Wilson and Braunagel (who brought in some of his regular accomplices – Teresa James adds backing vocals and keyboards), and sent the tapes to famed keyboards player and friend John “Rabbit” Bundrick. The resulting album is shot through and through with that 70s vibe, and there is a strong feeling of, say, a Delbert McClinton type of approach – listen to the gutsy, bluesy, ‘That Takes Some Balls’. Andrew tackles country, as on Ricky Skaggs’ ‘You’ve Got A Lover’ which features James Pennebaker’s excellent lap steel playing (and composer Shake Russell sings backing vocals on the opening track here), blues such as the driving ‘Bag Of Bones’, and what we used to call country-rock back then, these days it would go under the banner of “Americana” - try ‘Harley Hotstuff’ for a good example. One or two numbers have a poppy feel, most notably ‘The Fit & The Feel’ which makes me think of Leo Sayer trying for a sub “Sgt Pepper’s” sound, and Little Willie John’s 1958 R&B ballad ‘Talk To Me’ is performed as Sam Cooke might have done it. The closing ‘Butterfly’ is just so typically early 70s.

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