Jay Willie Blues Band - Jay Walkin' (2017)

Tracklist

01. Wish I Hadn't Called Home (feat. Jason Ricci)
02. Jay Walkin'
03. Hitting on Nothing (feat. Malorie Leogrande)
04. The Other Side (feat. Malorie Leogrande)
05. 44 Blues (feat. Jason Ricci)
06. I Feel so Good
07. Move Over
08. Sinner's Prayer
09. Step Aside
10. Go to Guy
11. How Blue Can You Get
12. Soul of a Man


We are proud to release Jay Walkin', the Jay Willie Blues Band's fifth consecutive release with Jochen Becker and his New York based ZOHO Music label.

What is consistent with all these releases is that the cover songs on them pay tribute to the 1950s and 60s Soul and Rhythm & Blues artists who created some of the best music of our time.

This time we dug even further back to 1929, featuring a song by Roosevelt Sykes, and 1930 with a song by Blind Willie Johnson.

This eclectic mix is complemented by our originals that we trust you will find infuriating, crude, and tasteless .... no, just kidding ! ... edifying, dance-able, and entertaining.

While we believed that our last release from 2016, Hell on Wheels (ZOHO ZM201612) would be a tough act to follow for us, our opinion is now that this record is our best to date. This was our first project with Engineer Paul Opalach and Long Hill Recording Studio here in Shelton, CT. Our drummer Bobby T Torello had worked with Paul on past projects and suggested that I talk with Paul about a session. The studio might not be fancy to look at, but it was proof that a book should never be judged by its cover.

The first track that we did together during the free session was Dale Hawkins' recording of Wish I hadn't Called Home. I am a fan of Dale Hawkins' best known for his song Suzy Q and wanted to record this less popular song from 1961 that still has that Louisiana Swamp Rock boogie vibe that Dale is noted for. I had sent Paul the original Dale Hawkins acoustic version to familiarize him with the song. After Bobby made the introductions with Paul, I plugged in my guitar to play our interpretation of the track with Bobby T.

Review:
To my surprise, Paul had already recorded the bass and electric drums to a click track so that he had a good baseline to work with. Bobby then did his drum track, Paul did the bass track over and I finished overdubbing the guitar and vocals.

A wise man once said that there will always be the blues. The blues are timeless and are as much a child of the city as it was of the country. The blues will therefore always have its followers and they are likely to find much to enjoy within the musical walls of ''Jay Walkin' '' by the Jay Willie Blues Band.

This album is a solid effort that plays very much to the crowd with the selection of covers and originals equally likely to please both the blues club and roots festival audiences. There are no surprise song choices here, and none were expected, because the Jay Willie Blues Band are all about the performance and that, on the evidence here, is their area of expertise. Complementing their down to the crossroads musicianship is a guest voice the energetic ''Malorie Leogrande'' who duly adds a sassy style to both the lively ''Hitting on Nothing'' and the reflective ''The Other Side'' to thus ensure that your ears don't get twelve bar blues bored.

Like I said, the blues are timeless and the Jay Willie Blues Band are the kind of band who won't ever need a watch. -Blues Bunny Music Reviews

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