Chris O’Leary - Gonna Die Tryin' (2015)

Tracklist

01. Can't Help Yourself
02. 19¢ a Day
03. Hook Line and Sinker
04. Gonna Die Trying
05. Letters from Home
06. The Devil Drove to Town in a V8 Ford
07. The Machine
08. Walking Contradiction
09. Harvest Time
10. One More Saturday Night
11. Tell It to Me Straight
12. 19¢ a Day
13. Walking Contradiction



“Chris O’Leary has a vocal style that could make a believer out of a devout athe­ist and a har­mon­ica style that will burn a hole straight through to the deep­est part of your heart. There’s just some­thing in his deliv­ery that has the lis­tener hang­ing on every note and every word. Seven years as a Marine and six years as a mem­ber of Levon Helm’s Barn­burn­ers are enough to con­vince the hard­ened skep­tic that this cat has paid his dues. If that’s not enough, one lis­ten to this disc will drive the point home. A band as solid as the Rock of Gibral­tar back­ing his for­mi­da­ble skills is enough to get the point across that Chris O’Leary is 100% the real deal. Back­ing him on this album are Chris Vitarello on gui­tar, Andy Stahl and Chris Difrancesco on sax­o­phones, Matt Ray­mond on bass and Jay Devlin on drums. Add the piano & organ work of Bruce Katz, Vin­nie Nobile on trom­bone, and Willa Pan­vini McCarthy & Libby Cabello on back­ground vocals…then add John Mooney as a spe­cial guest on gui­tar, and this tasty treat has the cherry on top. The fact that O’Leary wrote all the music and lyrics for the album makes him all the more impres­sive. As impres­sive a word­smith as he is a har­mon­ica player and vocal­ist, this cat is a threat on so many fronts that it’s not funny. This is one of the most impres­sive, solid blues albums I have heard in quite some time. There are no gim­micks, no high-tech pyrotech­nics and absolutely no B.S. to be found, just a band pour­ing heart and soul into a per­for­mance. This one is pow­er­ful and pas­sion­ate, strong as an old loco­mo­tive with a full head of steam and no desire to slow down. This one gets my high­est rec­om­men­da­tion. It belongs in the library of every blues lover…without ques­tion.

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