The Black Oil Brothers - Mean Business (2016)

Tracklist

01. Curse O' My Mind
02. Git Gone
03. Ain't It Strange?
04. Talk to Me
05. Free (For Now)
06. The Mysterious Disappearance of Rufus Green
07. Cross Yr Fingers Blues
08. Trouble Rides a Fast Horse
09. Black Tie Crowd
10. Rhea !
11. Gratitude Boogie



Many bands come along laying claim to the Delta Blues and Mississippi vibrations that have for years added to the heritage that is the “well-known-blues-tunes.” Or as stated on the Black Oil Brothers bio, the sound of a good man feeling bad. Now as far as this insistence goes, Black Oil Brothers in fact bring a new sector to the mixing kettle of Delta and down right Dirty Blues.

Black Oil Brothers recently put together an LP titled ‘Mean Business’. First off the LP title feels questionable…until the tracks start to roll out. With some sort of special magic, this band takes from the past Blues men who sang about crossroads and battered times; all the while never at any point does Black Oil Brothers come across as a put together act hoping to accomplish a decent Blues album.

‘Mean Business’ guarantees an 11 track slide guitar enthusiasts dream. While each song brings a tribute to varied sections from curses to disappearances, there never comes a point where Black Oil Brothers present themselves as a gimmick or parody of the old time Mississippi front men before them. Take the 9th track ‘Black Tie Crowd’ where a singular guitar is being plucked until a mass build up from the heavy bass line and electric guitar giving the song an almost ‘The Devil Went Down To Georgia’ repetitive adjustment.

If at any point ‘Mean Business’ comes across as a fine-tuned LP, it would be as the 10th track ‘Rhea‘ played out. Because ‘Rhea‘ comes off as a foot-stomping jig that sings about putting someone in the ground and digging their own grave. Without ever crossing the overly morbid barrier, Black Oil Brothers found an existing line where playing with the thought of murder could essentially be humorous.

Again being able to toe the line between humor and a luscious dark tune, can easily be messed up and become received as a rookie mistake. However, Black Oil Brothers send out a picturesque album that involves a quarrelling nature of the crossroads to the inner workings of the human soul and the hell that burns the bridge at both ends.

So by the Black Oil Brothers ending their new LP with ‘Gratitude Boogie’ with a line ‘I’m a Black Oil Brother and I mean business’ perfected a serious classic footnote that only exists in Blues records found at the bottom of some shop along the Georgia state line; the Black Oil Brothers have found something within their sound that will become priceless.

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