DUKE ROBILLARD BAND

CALLING ALL BLUES

2014-10-26

Always a guitar lover's icon, Duke Robillard is back with yet another addition to his rich library of recordings. As with many of his releases, Robillard's liner notes annotate the many guitars and amps he uses to create the rich stew of sounds found on the disc. There's everything here from the jump/swing blues of "Confusion Blues" (with pianist Bruce Bears doing his best Mose Allison tribute on vocals) to the boogie blues of "Motor Trouble", the raucous rock of "Nasty Guitar", the soul blues of the Carter Brother's "She's So Fine", the multi-layered "Svengali", the spacey reinterpretation of his early 90's track, "Temptation" and the R & B gem "Emphasis on Memphis" which features slinky vocals from Sunny Crownover and a guest appearance by the Roomful of Blues Horns. Adept at every style of electric blues guitar Robillard has an endless supply of riffs to play in the service of this diverse offering of tunes. At 65 years old Robillard continues to push blues lovers to explore the sonic delights that exist beyond the simple shuffles and boogies that mark so much of the blues canon. Smitty

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Compiled by the WYCE Journalism Club

The opinions expressed in these reviews are those of the individual volunteers that submitted the article and do not necessarily reflect the views of WYCE or GRCMC; nor its staff, donors, or affiliates.