John Earl Walker - Mustang Blues (2015)

Tracklist

01. Hey Baby
02. The Devil Follows Me
03. Mustang Blues
04. Funkify
05. I'm Already Gone
06. My Mama Told Me
07. Superstorm Sandy Blues
08. Readjust
09. One Plus One
10. Even Up the Score

I just received the newest release, Mustang Blues, from John Earl Walker and it digs in deep. Opening with Hey Baby, a cool 12 bar jam with a Allstars flare. John Earl Walker has been playing his guitar for some time and he lays on it early showing he knows his way around. Joined by Peter Harris on bass, Frank Diorio on drums and Gene Cordew on keys, this track is a great opener! Solid down, The Devil Follows Me, sounds like it's straight from Chicago and Walker slings his guitar with comfort. His riffs roll off of his fingertips like water pushed along nicely by Cordew on piano. Title track, Mustang Blues, has a funky R&B feel along the lines of Mustang Sally or Poke Salad Annie. This is a cool track with Steve Ress adding some real nice slide guitar work on the mix. Funkify is a guitar led instrumental with a funky beat and extended guitar soloing. I'm Already Gone is a modern blues style take on a soul feel. It has the blues basis with strong bass by Harris and keys by Cordew with Savoy Brown like guitar and vocals giving it a very cool bluesy sound. One of my favorite track on the release. My Mama Told Me is a nicely paced shuffle track with stinging guitar riffs. Slower drag blues, Superstorm Sandy Blues plays into any blues guitar's hand with a great tempo and plenty of space to improvise. Walker really breaks loose on this track with some great trem bends. Excellent! Readjust falls more into a rock feel with R&B anchor. Tandem guitar leads and one flat out solo near the end of the track cap it off. Another nice shuffle track, One Plus One, finds Walker using some real nice double stop techniques on his solos giving them a grittier feel and George Thorogood like vocals makes this another top track. Wrapping the release is Even Up The Score, a driving shuffle backed track with Walker on vocal and lead guitar. A rowdy blues rocker, this is a fine track to close the set.

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