The Blues Daddy
Terry B.
Rootetoot Records
2001
11 tracks
Terry B. sounds like he's just walked out of the bayou and has a huge toad stuck in his throat. The voice is thick and muddy with a raw edge. The style falls somewhere between the old southern bluesmen and David Clayton Thomas with an agonizing sore throat. There's an authenticity to this voice that cannot be denied. The writing is like that too, with a ragged and real sound that belongs to the blues and shouts out to be heard.
There's nothing slick or commercial about the music on this release. The performance is gritty, aggressive music from half-lit, blue-aired rooms filled with the smell of smoke and alcohol. This is the music that creeps under the doors of side-street bars and into the street outside, taking hold of passers-by and drawing them in to the dark room behind the door. This is good rock and roll. This is good blues.
A studio recording, the music on The Blues Daddy sounds live. It has the sound of a too old sound system pushed to its limits so the music can push through the crowd and be heard. It's music best heard over a brew or a shot in a crowded smoke-filled room, but this set brings the bar room home. All you have to do is dim the lights, pour a drink, and relax. These blues will bring you back to where you want to be.
It doesn't hurt that Terry B. is supported by nine excellent blues musicians and three solid backup vocalists. The sound is full and driving, the sort of music that may let you sit in one place but won't let you doze off. Even the slow songs are driven by a groove that's made to get people up and dancing.
All but two of these songs were written by Terry Blankley a.k.a. Terry B. His understanding of the blues and respect for the tradition behind the blues is apparent in every song. Most have the feel of acoustic blues or of the sort of electro-acoustic sound we often heard in the Fifties. All sound authentic enough to have come out of that long-ago era.
Many of these songs sound like the blues-driven rock and roll of a half century ago. "Wind Me Up and Turn Me On" is pure Carl Perkins, with a rocking country beat, blues guitar riffs, and a tongue-in-cheek hillbilly lyric. Slipping into the world of rhythm and blues, the slow-walking "Ports of Call" ends with a brief tip of the hat to the The Drifters' late-Fifties hit, "Ruby Baby."
Other songs take on a jazzier style, bringing jazz and the blues together in a comfortable marriage. The very B.B. King sounding "Will Love Come Callin'" and the quieter, groovier "Lenny" are two examples of this transition into the world of jazz.
"The Old Bluesman" stands out as the song that departs furthest from what many will consider the blues tradition. This song shuffles along on a backing of Louisiana reggae, not as schlock as Jimmy Buffet's songs and more varied and interesting. This song gives the listener a nice break at the middle of the set. It's like when the band walks off the stage and throws on the jukebox for twenty minutes while the musicians grab a smoke.
One of two songs on this release not written by Blankley, his interpretation of "Trouble in Mind" takes me back to several great recordings of this song released in the Fifties and Sixties. This is a soulful, authentic presentation of a powerful song. Terry B. wails on this number like he's lived with sorrow all his life.
An independent release, The Blues Daddy brings live music to the car stereo and the living room with a level of authenticity that's rare in studio-produced blues records. This release should be added to any collection of contemporary Canadian blues.
Unfortunately, the website for Terry B. is not working at this time. However, The Blues Daddy can be ordered from Rootetoot Records, 690 Simcoe Street North, Oshawa, Ontario L1G 4V7, Canada.
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Review written: March 23, 2005
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