Show Me the Way Home, Honey

Carl Unbehaun, KSRQ Minnesota: "Nigel Egg takes blues to a new level with unique subject matter, gritty vocals, and melodies that won't leave you alone--an incomparable effort by a rising blues artist!"

This is a singer-songwriter album - a singer-songwriter who loves the blues. It is no coincidence that the release date (7/1/2014) coincides with the 99th anniversary of Willie Dixon's birthday.
Nigel Egg believes that the Blues could be as popular as Country music if we would just make great music that connects with how people live in the 21st century. He says, “Let’s move beyond ‘Keep The Blues Alive’. It’s time for the Blues to prosper and multiply! Willie Dixon made it happen fifty years ago by writing new kinds of blues songs. His music became the new blues tradition because it fit the times. The times haven’t stopped changing.
"Somewhere out there is a teenager who has the talent and courage to blaze a new path in the blues that resonates with other young people. If we really want to keep the blues alive, I hope we give her a big welcome and lots of encouragement. Blues has become the province of the Baby-Boomers and let's face it, we're all going to die soon. We need to let go of the power to define what is, and what is not Blues and give that power to the kids."

You can read and download all lyrics to these songs from nigelegg.com along with CD art and liner notes with comments and background for each song.

Only acoustic instruments were used in recording this album. You'll hear some unusual tonal features. When you hear Tony Balluff's clarinet, you may wonder why the clarinet isn't used more for blues - it has just as much expressive potential as the blues harp. The horn arrangements on three tracks were written by trumpeter Zack Lozier and performed by Balluff, Lozier and trombonist Steve Sandberg. The horn ending on "Imagining You Naked" evokes classic burlesque and benefits from Lozier's experience as a trumpet player in the Doc Severinsen Big Band.
The electric guitar has become a dominant blues instrument of the 20th and 21st centuries. The electric guitar has the sustain and dynamics to evoke the human voice and beyond. Bob Ekstrand's acoustic guitar playing on this album shows how the more percussive nature of the acoustic has its own voice to add. Ekstrand is a master and his soloing puts wood and steel at the center of the mix.
Greg Schutte and Tom Lewis lay down solid rhythms on eight of the twelve tracks. Lewis is a particularly inventive bassist and there are instances on this record that hint he can play free jazz with the same fluidity he applies to this album. Schutte is an all-around percussionist who tours with the Mickey Hart band as well as playing with modern dance troupes and rock outfits. Dale Peterson's piano brings a little Otis Spann to the table on three tracks. David Stenshoel, World Music master of the violin provides flavor and pizzazz to three tracks, blending with the horns and providing counterpoint to Egg's harp playing. Egg credits Tony Glover as his main harmonica influence. "I got Tony's blues harp instruction book many, many years ago and he said the main thing is to play from your heart. I don't play a lot of hot licks, I just try to play what fits and what I'm feeling at the time."

I’ve known Andrew – “Half Deaf Clatch” for a while now, have seen him perform several times and we’ve even played on the same bill together. And every time he performs, he grabs the audience, who cannot help but be transfixed by his passionate vocals, his foot stomping butcher’s block and his haunting slide guitar playing.

I know the Blues are meant to be moody, but man, is this collection of songs moody!? And here the emphasis is on the songs, rather than Clatch’s trademark sound. Sure, the songs feature resonators with slide – and Clatch’s Butcher Block stomper is definitely in attendance, but it is the words and themes of the songs that impress here – I particularly like the way that Clatch’s baritone voice sounds right at home in this collection.

Hard Times Just Got Harder kicks this collection off, and for fans of Clatch we have the trademark sounds straight away; stomping feet and slide guitars back up a mournful take of a song steeped in blues tradition – with Clatch in unison on the chorus. The mood is set for the rest of the album right here – “Beg Borrow Steal, to get where you want to be”

Title track A Road Less Travelled continues the feeling of despair that hangs over this collection – “Sold up the river, shiny pennies for your dreams” “Darkness is falling – the end is drawing near” – familiar blues themes, but with a slight wisp of hope that might be found by taking “The Road Less Travelled”.

It Ain’t About The Money is where Clatch seems to set out his raison d’etre for playing the blues – “it’s all about the music, fame will come and go, it’s gonna be alright now, cos the blues is what you know” A low tuned resonator and butcher block stomper drive this song which, like any of the songs in this collection, could have been written anytime in the past 100 years. Keep on slidin’ and doin’ what you do Clatch!

A Place To Stay features banjo as well as Clatch’s usual resonator and butcher’s block stomper. And we have Clatch singing with himself too. A mournful, minor key plea for escape from day to day drudgery.

Summer Moon – a reflective piece about the end of a summer’s day “I’m down with the setting sun”

Can’t Do Right (For Doing Wrong) has a feeling of resignation that “try as you might, you can’t do right for doing wrong” – but there is a slight hint of hope “you won’t know until you take that chance”

Counting Kisses – here we have a Clatch chorus filling out the “yeah yeah” of the chorus and call and response slide guitar and vocals, and the uptempo stomping bring a sense of urgency to this song “don’t be late, no time to wait”

Seeing Red – and yet, amongst all of this gloom and doom, here we have a love song! Red is Clatch’s partner, manager and, most importantly, his muse for these blues. I can imagine that Red’s face will blush to match the colour of her hair when Clatch sings this song: ”Seeing Red I lose my head, she makes me feel insane!”

Roja Blue is a mournful instrumental that adds to the overall mood of this collection – simple, but very effective.

Your Choice with the vintage sound of crackling lets us know the origin of these blues, but Clatch’s arrangements are timeless here and are very current, as strange as that may seem for such a primitive sound.

Clatch has released several albums and e.p. collections, and has given away almost as much music as he has sold, but this collection shows the maturity that he has gained over the last couple of years – it deserves a place in any blues collection, on any blues radio show, and on the bill of any blues festival worthy of the name – a serious contender for Album Of The Year. ~Review by aycliffevillage

Scottish ‘rabble-rouser’ and all-round good guy Dave Arcari has teamed his ‘take no prisoners’ guitar and vocals with two Finnish musicians on this latest release, “Whisky In My Blood”, on the Finnish record lace, Blue North. He is accompanied on all tracks, bar one, by The Hellsinki Hellraisers – namely Juuso Haapasalo (upright & electric bass) and Honey Aaltonen (snare drum, cymbal, and rub-board).

As ever Dave’s roaring, growling vocals and his flailing National steel guitar are to the fore on the 11 orginals and three covers, but two standout tracks – “Still Friends” and “Third Time Lucky” see a switch to banjo. “Tell Me” has definite rockabilly flavours, and another gem is the driving blues, “Get Outta My Way”.

The Finnish musicians contribute fully to the glorious sound throughout the album, complementing Dave Arcari’s input. The three cover versions present are a brace of Robert Johnson classics, “Walkin’ Blues” and “Preachin’ Blues” – both given a ‘good kicking’ here, as is the oft-recorded “Jitterbug Swing”, from the pen of Bukka White, with the aforementioned ‘swing’ of the title firmly in place!

The raucous title cut “Whisky In My Blood”, is an ode to the ‘fire water’ itself; “Wherever I Go” is another highlight and swaggers along in its own sweet way! The whole collection was recorded live in the studio in Helsinki, and gives the album a great feel . . . with the mixing done in Arcari’s native Glasgow, and mastered in Chicago.

It’s easy to see why Dave Arcari is never off the road, with his never less than 100% commitment and energy to the music and performances he’s certainly the ‘real deal’ . . . . catch him on the road near you somewhere soon I’m sure! ~Review by Graham Rhodes

'Zone-O-Tone' contains twelve new songs I've written that were inspired by the music of Stax and Atlantic soul, The Four Aces, Josef Locke, Johnny Kidd, Lonnie Donegan, The Shadows and many more. I am of my time, so are the songs and so is this album!" - Andy Fairweather Low. Joining Andy is Paul Beavis on drums (Thea Gilmore, Robbie Macintosh & Sunday All Over The World), Nick Pentelow on saxes and clarinet (Roy Wood, Roger Chapman and Gary Moore) and long standing associate Dave Bronze on bass (Clapton, Concert For George, Dear Mr Fantasy tribute to Jim Capaldi).

Review:
"A tenderness wraps its arm around a varied mix of soul, folk, country and blues…A cool, composed return." --Guitar & Bass (October 2013, Vol 25, No1) .