Dave Davies

I Will Be Me

Purple Pyramid

With a little help from a lot of friends, Dave Davies’ second album since his 2004 stroke is a conscious effort to emphasize the guitar rock and tone down (relatively speaking) the spiritual/metaphysical themes that have suffused his output since going solo with 1980′s “AFL1-3603.”

In an interview in the blog Lehigh Valley Music, the former Kinks guitarist says he spent a year writing the album’s songs and a year putting it together. Brian Perera, head of Purple Pyramid parent label Cleopatra Records, told Good New Music by e-mail that he and Davies selected the rotating cast of musicians with help from producer Jurgen Engler (co-founder of German industrial-rock band Die Krupps), Jonathan Lea (of psych-pop group The Jigsaw Seen) and A&R man John Lappen.

Right off the bat it must be said that regardless of whose idea it was to have New Orleans session man Bruce Tyner contribute pedal steel guitar to “Midnight in L.A.,” it was a stroke of genius. And speaking of country rock, ditto for the Jayhawks’ guest appearance on “Remember the Future” and its twanging duel guitars by Davies and Gary Louris that recall the Kinks’ “Muswell Hillbilly” era.

On the other end of the spectrum there’s “Erotic Neurotic,” with Australian punk band The Art; “In the Mainframe,” with garage-blues-punk band The Bloody Hollies; and the nostalgic “Little Green Amp,” with punk rockers Anti-Flag.

Less easy to pigeonhole are labelmate Geri X (a Bulgarian-born singer/songwriter) and John Wesley (a singer/songwriter/prog-rock sideman). Making things even more eclectic are Lithuanian-born violinist Yura Zeleznik, lo-fi performer Ty Segall, stoner-rockers Dead Meadow and fuzz-rockers The Lost Souls Club. The closest thing to a mainstream group here is U.K. blues-rocker Oli Brown.

Three tracks worthy of special recognition are the sitar-laden “The Healing Boy,” which is about Davies’ new grandson; the synthesizer-and-guitar-only “Walker Through the Worlds,” with its Middle Eastern riffing and Tuvan throat singer effects; and the closing, title track “Côtes Du Rhône (I Will Be Me),” featuring some elegantly restrained slide guitar to drive home its message: Don’t let the Establishment tell you what to do and be, “You can be anything you want.”

Tracks
1. Little Green Amp (w/ Anti-Flag)
2. Livin’ In The Past (w/ Ty Segall)
3. The Healing Boy (w/ Yura Zeleznik, The Jigsaw Seen)
4. Midnight In L.A. (w/ Bruce Tyner, The Jigsaw Seen)
5. In The Mainframe (w/ The Bloody Hollies)
6. Energy Fields (w/ Dead Meadow)
7. When I First Saw You (w/ Geri X and John Wesley)
8. The Actress (w/ Oli Brown Band)
9. Erotic Neurotic (w/ The Art)
10. You Can Break My Heart (w/ The Lost Souls Club)
11. Walker Through The Worlds
12. Remember The Future (w/ The Jayhawks)
13. Côtes Du Rhône (I Will Be Me) [w/ Chris Spedding]

Total time: 1:04:17

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Tags: rock

Spin Doctors

If the River Was Whiskey

Ruf

Forget the kryptonite — Spin Doctors have scored a pocket full of blues.

During the U.K. run of the “Pocket Full of Kryptonite” 20th-anniversary tour in 2011, the blues-rock-pop band resurrected three original blues songs from early in their career. The group and their fans enjoyed them so much, more were broken out for the U.S. and European tours later that year and in 2012. Ultimately those and other reincarnated tunes from the band’s New York City blues-bar beginnings comprised a self-produced album that was recorded last summer, made available at shows during this year’s U.K./Spain tour, and is just now seeing an official release.

“Whiskey” consists of five previously unrecorded/unreleased songs; three rerecorded and rearranged songs (two of which were previously available on 1994 maxi CD singles and one that had surfaced on 1996′s “You’ve Got to Believe in Something”); plus two brand-new songs.

In an interview from January 2012 on the Facebook profile for fan site Spin Doctors Archive, drummer Aaron Comess offers some backstory: “We have a whole repertoire of blues songs that we used to play. Right around the same time that we were writing all these songs for PFOK playing around in NYC, we used to play some blues clubs in New York. So in order to get the gigs, we had to have blues songs. So we wrote a bunch of original blues songs.”

He adds: “The roots we have are in blues music. But the reason we did it was because we wanted to make some money. There were two clubs in NYC called Mondo Cane and Mondo Perso and those were two of the only places where they actually paid you a guarantee while most of the other clubs paid you a cut of the door money. And if you don’t have a lot of fans yet, you weren’t meant to get a lot of a cut from the door. So everybody wanted to play these places, ’cause you could even go on on a weeknight and you could make 250 bucks, on a weekend you could make 500 bucks. And when you’re 20 years old and a struggling musician, that’s a lot of money! So we basically put together a blues demo and gave it to the guy and just kind of pretended we were a blues band.”

Casual fans might be surprised to learn that these killer tracks are all rough cuts, recorded over a three-day period at Comess’ home studio. “By the third day,” reflects singer Chris Barron in the album’s press release, “we’d recorded all 10 of the demos. We went out to dinner that night, we were all having a cocktail, and someone was like, ‘Gentlemen, I believe our demo is a record.’ And we all just laughed.”

So for now, at least, Spin Doctors have come full circle.

P.S. Those wanting to hear what they sound like in concert these days are advised to check out this free late-night performance they gave on the day the album recording session was finished.

Tracks
1. Some Other Man Instead
2. If The River Was Whiskey
3. Sweetest Portion
4. Traction Blues
5. Scotch And Water Blues
6. About A Train
7. The Drop
8. Ben’s Looking Out The Window blues
9. So Bad
10. What My Love?

Total time: 42:23

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Tags: blues, rock

Robert “Top” Thomas

The Town Crier

WildRoots

Take the riff from ZZ Top’s “La Grange,” add a solo vaguely reminiscent of Steve Howe’s from “All Good People” by Yes, and finish it off with an outro possibly inspired by Wings’ “Helen Wheels.” As incongruous as that might seem, it all works on the outrageous opening track from Florida swamp blues master Thomas’ solo debut.

Thank goodness for small regional labels that release hard-to-find music such as this. Bassist, producer and songwriter Stephen Dees explains how he, his wife and an up-and-coming blues pianist founded WildRoots:

“Patti and I met Victor (Wainwright, WildRoots’ first artist) at a charity benefit performance that we were both playing at in Ormond Beach, Fla.,” Dees told Good New Music by e-mail. “We both dug each other’s music. Eventually Victor asked me if I would co-write with him and produce his album. … We all decided that the best way to put out quality records would be to have our own label.”

Dees’ credentials include playing bass for Hall and Oates in the ’70s; forming Novo Combo with Michael Shrieve (Santana, Journey) in the ’80s; touring with Foghat in the ’90s; and working with his wife as The Bandees in the 2000s.

But back to Thomas: “I’ve known Robert for a long while,” Dees told GNM. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with him many times. What we love the most about ‘Top’ is that he’s the real deal — a genuine bluesman. So when it came down to signing our first act other than Victor Wainwright and the WildRoots, it was an easy choice to go with ‘The Town Crier.’ ”

“Mississippi Quickie” and the title track are remakes of tunes recorded in the ’90s by Thomas’ old blues band SmokeHouse, but Dees confided to GNM that he played them with Thomas in other bands before Thomas recorded them with SmokeHouse.

“Blues Grass” homes in on the Delta side of Thomas’ sound, and features some of his tasty electric slide-guitar work. Written by Dees and Wainwright, it originally appeared on Wainwright’s 2009 album, “Beale Street to the Bayou.”

Thomas pays tribute to mentor Lazy Lester by covering the harmonica player’s 1963 Excello B-side, “The Same Thing Could Happen to You,” right down to the Louisiana drawl.

“King Snake Crawl,” a Thomas co-write with Dees, eulogizes Bob “The Midnight Creeper” Greenlee and other artists who recorded for King Snake Records — a Florida-based independent blues label started by Greenlee — whose roster included Rufus Thomas, Lucky Peterson, Kenny Neal, Noble “Thin Man” Watts, Root Boy Slim and SmokeHouse.

Other highlights include the raucous instrumental “YeeHaw Junction”; the acoustic “I’m a Freight Train,” featuring guitar wunderkind Damon Fowler on dobro; and “It Ain’t Easy,” with its gospel-tinged ending featuring the WildRoots Choir.

Tracks
1. Mississippi Quickie
2. Blues Grass
3. The Same Thing Could Happen to You
4. Lazy Little Daisy
5. King Snake Crawl
6. Bad Seed
7. What’s the Matter Ma
8. Sugar Shop
9. YeeHaw Junction
10. I’m a Freight Train
11. Daddy’s Gone
12. The Town Crier
13. It Aint Easy

Total time: 43:23

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Tags: blues, rock

Jason Freeman

Hex & Hell

BR2 Music Publishing

Freeman, who also is a member of Memphis pre-World War II blues cover band Bluff City Backsliders, plugs in for his first solo effort — a wild mélange of Texas boogie; Louisiana swamp; Mississippi Delta and hill-country blues; and Sun Studio-style rockabilly.

And he’s no stranger to that last subgenre, either, working as a Sun Studio tour guide by day. “Working at Sun Studio has expanded my view of the role Memphis has played throughout history,” Freeman says in his bio on the website for “$5 Cover Amplified,” a package of 12 online documentaries produced as a complement to Craig Brewer’s 2009 musical drama series for MTV, “$5 Cover.” “I think that’s helped me raise the bar as to what I’m doing, knowing I’m representing a brand that’s known all over the world. In my own humble way, I’m a representative of that tradition.”

In fact, “Hex & Hell,” a collection of 10 Freeman originals, is the first release on filmmaker Brewer’s new record label. Freeman has a song featured in all of Brewer’s films — ”The Poor & Hungry,” “Hustle & Flow,” “Black Snake Moan” and “Footloose” — and taught Samuel L. Jackson how to play slide guitar for “Black Snake Moan.”

If one had to draw a voice comparison, fellow slide guitarist Roy Rogers might come to mind. But it’s Freeman’s gutsy slide that’s in the spotlight here, presented in a variety of styles and tones, backed by just bass and drums on most tracks.

For variety’s sake, three tracks enjoy expanded instrumentation. “Florida Watah,” the title track and “Love Baby” add organ, violin/violin/cello and saxophone, respectively — all to great effect.

Tracks
1. Dirty Heart
2. Florida Watah
3. Help Me
4. Hex & Hell
5. Love Baby
6. Magic In My Home
7. (Do The) Rump
8. Memphis Bridge
9. Teasin’ Me
10. The Beginning Of …

Total time: 35:26

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Tags: blues, rock, rockabilly

The Stone Foxes

Small Fires

INgrooves

The Stone Foxes refined their San Francisco blues-rock sound over two albums (three if you count “Black Rolling Thunder,” a CD-R they made for friends in 2006 whose title track was reprised on their self-titled official debut in 2008). After 2010′s “Bears & Bulls,” the group lost second guitarist Avi Vinocur, added keyboardist Elliott Peltzman and decided it was time to experiment. The quartet focused on lyrics, abandoned their Fox Den garage studio in favor of a real one and brought in Doug Boehm (Dr. Dog, Drive-By Truckers) to engineer and help produce.

“Small Fires” was funded partly by fans through PledgeMusic, allowing the band to preserve their artistic integrity. They booked The Carriage House in Los Angeles for 12 days and recorded a song per day (no confirmed plans yet for the two outtakes).

Opening track “Everybody Knows” might indicate a penchant for murder ballads, as it’s based on Edgar Allan Poe’s “Tell-Tale Heart” and follows “I Killed Robert Johnson” from the last album. Drummer Shannon Koehler’s harmonica provides well-placed contrast and a couple of mini-solos.

“Ulysses Jones,” about a man who doesn’t want to lose his home to foreclosure without a fight, gives the first real taste of Peltzman’s formidable prowess on the Fender Rhodes, while the Wilco-like “So Much Better” showcases his organ work as well as Shannon’s brother Spence’s intense electric and acoustic guitar stylings.

Other highlights are the mysterious “Cold Wind,” about crack-toothed Jimmy and his unwillingness to take ownership of his blunders; “Talk to Louise,” possibly the only song to pay homage to The Band and the Rolling Stones simultaneously; the American Indian-sounding “Jump in the Water,” featuring killer bass from Aaron Mort; and “Goodnight Moon,” the lone track that proves the Stone Foxes haven’t lost their country credentials.

Tracks
1. Everybody Knows
2. Ulysses Jones
3. So Much Better
4. Cotto
5. Small Fires
6. Battles, Blades & Bones
7. Cold Wind
8. Talk To Louise
9. Jump In The Water
10. Goodnight Moon

Total time: 39:27

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Tags: blues, country, folk, rock