Death & Taxes
Abe’s
L.A.-based hired gun Hawthorn did well enough playing for local artists and supplying music for TV and movies to release a self-titled solo album in 2006 under the Johnny Hawthorn Band moniker. Encouraged by the response, he’s back as just Johnny Hawthorn with “Death & Taxes.”
Again assisted in production and engineering by Todd Nichols (Toad the Wet Sprocket, Hawthorn’s high-profile touring gig since 2002), the blues-rock-with-a-country-twist guitarist turns out another solid, varied set featuring plenty of exemplary slide. The CD was recorded at Nichol’s Studio City house, Hawthorn’s apartment in Venice and Abe’s Studio in North Hollywood.
In addition to the usual electric/acoustic guitar and slide guitar, a mid-’50s Supro lap steel is featured on more than half the cuts, the most prominent of which is the closing instrumental, “St. Stephan’s Green.” On it, Hawthorn plays the Supro through a Marshall half stack and uses an Eventide delay patch to great effect.
The disc’s other instrumental is “Bamboozled,” a Stevie Ray Vaughan-style blues-rocker in the vein of “Stang’s Thang” or “Boilermaker” but with an oh-so-small hint of rockabilly.
Other highlights include the title track, with its “death” verses and “taxes” chorus; the more pop-oriented Internet single “Punk in the Street,” which won several awards at GarageBand.com; the Blind Willie Johnson classic “In My Time of Dying,” in which he quotes toward the end from Led Zeppelin’s “Friends” off “Led Zeppelin III”; and “Traveling Roadside Blues,” featuring a 12-string Taylor acoustic tuned open and played with a slide for that country blues feel.
Tracks
1. Punk In The Street
2. Death & Taxes
3. Bamboozled
4. Lover’s Game
5. In My Time Of Dying
6. When I Kiss You
7. Cold Hearted Woman
8. Traveling Roadside Blues
9. St. Stephan’s Green
Total time: 29:16
External links
artist’s website
amazon.com
iTunes Store
