Kickin' It With The Box Kickers

It's been a couple of years since I reviewed Greg Izor and The Box Kickers first release, I Was Wrong. Since then, Greg has been on a roll, touring the country and many parts of Europe. He's headed back overseas for a summer tour as I type this, with stops in the Canary Islands, Spain, Italy and Norway.

Back home in Austin, Izor has admirably filled a void left after the passing of Gary Primich. Much like Primich, Izor has a palette on which he splashes color from other genres kin to, but slightly outside of the blues; all while blowing superb harmonica notes. I think that some labeled Primich's last recordings as Americana, I guess since the Grammys lumped Blues into that category, but all of Primich's albums had that musical extension applied. Primich's influence most certainly has seeped into Izor's musical vision, but he definitely brought some of that with him after living in New Orleans and mentoring under Jumpin' Johnny Sansone, who mashes up and slings the same type of musical gumbo. 

A strong suit of Close To Home is Izor's songwriting. The twelve self-penned tunes here offer ample examples of a man who is a keen observer of the life that has swirled around him. I'll stick him on the same level as my favorite songsmith, James Harman, when it comes to that. I sure don't know how autobiographical these cuts are, because I don't know if he's ever had trouble collecting money from deadbeat friends on "Get My Money", if he's been unemployed and run out of whiskey when his lover runs out on "Can't Get It Right", if he's been in prison and having trouble with doing "Straight Time", if his love is stronger than a monkey grip on "What's It Gonna Take", if he shot pool with his friend "Broadway Joe", or if he's been in the military on "G.I. Blues", but he spins some mighty fine believable stories. And that's what his songs are; well crafted, well told stories.

Izor's vocal chops aren't of the octave ranging type, but his singing style is very effective. He's gets these small nuances going that produces enough tonal variety to keep things interesting, much in the same way that Doug Sahm got his songs across. On the bonafide blues numbers he puts across a sense of urgency when shouting that he wants his money on the shuffling blues, "Get My Money", doom and gloom drip and seep from his lips on the lowdown, slowdown, "Broadway Joe", he soars a bit as he tells stories, sad and true, on "The Rub", and he even sounds a bit like James Harman on "Hooper Street". I can hear the heartbreak in his voice as he sings  I lost everything when I lost that woman of mine on on "Can't Get It Right". He gets downright twangy on "Straight Time", "What's It Going To Take", and "Call Me Lonesome", which mixes up a little country western and R&B together. Speaking of Doug Sahm, to my ears he evokes Sahm's cohort, Augie Myers, on these cuts. 

Izor is a badass harmonica player and can throw down with the best of 'em (I've seen his high energy life shows), but he doesn't set out to prove that on his recordings. His harp is always in service of the song and not a riff-a-rama fest. He does come out smokin' on the opening cut with some greasy amplification on "Get My Money" and struts out some nice solo licks, but then he backs off with simple, deeply drawn chromatic chords to open and then close out the gutbucket "Can't Get It Right". Most of the song is filled with some nice single guitar notes from one of his two note slinging Box Kickers, Mike Keller or Willie Pipkin. One of them also dominates the twangy "Straight Time" also. Izor does display his chromatic chops on the instrumental, "Three-eyed Tiger", which sounds as if the tune would be at home in bar in Spain with a couple of Flamenco dancers tapping out the rhythm. He does the same on another instrumental, "Close To Home", but puts the chromatic through it's lowdown blues pace. His chromatic also sets up the lost love story, "The Rub", and some mighty fine big chords lends to the moodiness of the tale. of I'd venture to say that Sansone probably had a lot to do with Izor's excellent attack on the big harp.

His acoustic harp skills are on display on "Call Me Lonesome", "What's It Gonna Take", and "Hooper Street". On the first two, he waits until mid-song to stick his harp into the mix, tossing out some great octave and upper register runs into "What's It Gonna Take", and nice single note runs on "Call Me Lonesome". Sonny Williamson II style licks drive "Hooper Street" down into the alley. He hangs around the low end of the harp to provide the doomy, gloomy "Broadway Joe" with the amplified doom and gloom tone the song calls for. He effectively uses just a few deeply drawn notes through his harp mic to drag this song into the depths of sadness.

He places no harp into "From Hello" nor "G.I. Blues". The former would most certainly get the "two stepping" dancers out onto a barroom floor. The ballad has that greasy Louisiana swampy feel to it with a few countryish guitar licks and crashing cymbals from Jason Corbiere. The latter has some finely picked blues licks dominating throughout the tale of serving until the fightings done.

Of course The Box Kickers represents one of the best backing bands that a harp player could possibly recruit. Mike Keller plays with the band whenever he's off the road with that other harp guy, Kim Wilson and his T-Birds. He and Willie Pipkin are like red beans and rice. There is no indication as to when one is taking a solo, but when they aren't, their rhythm guitar backs the other as good as any example that I can think up. Corbiere and Corey Keller split equal time at the drum set on these twelve cuts and both steer the ship when they do. Oh, and the bass player? I'd run out of ink if I attempt to run down the number of blues bands for which Ronnie James has thumped his instrument.

Danged fine recording by a danged fine harmonica man and a danged fine band. Can't ask for more than that. Greg Izor has definitely established himself as one of the best in the business and adds to the legacy of fine harp men who jumped started their careers from an Austin launch pad. Close To Home will sit close to home next to my stereo for some time to come. Check out www.gregizor.com for info about where to buy and find out when he's coming to town (after he gets back from Europe).

The Little Elmore Reed Blues Band

"Honey, you've got to get out more", is what the white hair matron says to those that she feels needs a casino fix. I don't do casinos, but she's on the money when it comes to me needing to get out there and listening to some "live" blues. That way I'd probably already have been over to Austin to hear The Little Elmore Reed Band.

No, there is no Elmore Reed in the band, just a conglomerate of some of the finest musicians playing some of the finest blues. To be honest, the reason I bought this release was because I thought that Greg Izor was blowing some of his deep toned magic on blues harp, because my research told me that he played with these cats around Austin. I reviewed Greg's debut CD on the blog here and then caught what he can do live at Sonny Boy Terry's Harp Fest last summer. Impressed I was.

Greg doesn't blow here, but Dale Spalding opens the disc, blowing like hell on a tune credited to guitarist Willie Pipkin called, "The G.P. Blues", and I'm assuming that it is a tribute to the legendary harp man, Gary Primich and is a kick butt instrumental. See, I've never heard of Dale Spalding, but since the disc cover indicates a man of my advance tenure in the world, I'd say that he's been on the blues scene quite some time; especially since his technique on the blues harp is fat backed and stone solid of tone. He immediately jumps into Sam Myers' "My Love Is Here to Stay" next with chops that'd make old Sam rise up and smile. Not sure who's impressive vocals carry the tune, because Pipkin, Spalding, and Mike Keller are all listed as vocalist and individual songs aren't credited. I'm voting for Spalding since it is a harp centric song and I've heard the other two sing before. Same with "I Can Tell". Deep toned harp thrown down there too. The man can play and sing (if it's his voice). I gotta get out more.

I mentioned on the Izor review that I'd seen Willie Pipkin play with the South Texas Jug Band at Conroe's Crighton Theatre a few years back, and even though they are far from being a blues band, they played some bluesy stuff a time or two and Pipkin's blues bending was substantial, as it was in support of Izor. As on the Izor disc, he works in tandem with blues guitar wizard, Mike Keller, which is another reason I bought this. Keller, who hits the road with The Fabulous Thunderbirds, has been one of my favorite blues guitarist for quite awhile. Those two guys bounce guitar licks off each other like Chinese ping pong artists. Don't know who is doing the reverb drenched pulls on "I Can Tell", but they're slaying it. The ripping leads on "Young Girl" is most likely Keller, since it's his song, but then again he may be deferring to Pipkin, since he's singing the rocking' tune.

"It's Wrong" is a Louisiana swamper by Earl King and Spalding pulls out some of his nastiest, dirtiest licks before giving way to low down string bending by one of those guys. Since these guys don't care if I know who's doing the singing and I guess it doesn't matter, but I'll guess Pipkin.

Guessing Pipkin on "School Girl", which is driven by drummer and bass man, Mark Hays and J.P. Whitefield respectively....and drive it they do. Spalding shines once more on the mouth harp with some nice bends on his runs. And someone nails the hell out of Muddy's slide guitar on "Country Boy", which, of course is tailored made for the harp man to get down with it.

The one song credited to Spalding is "You're The One", which convinces me that he sang on the early couple of the songs. He's got a solid voice for the blues and this shuffle is once again driven by the rhythm section, especially the cymbal crashes thrown out by Hays. The band turns Spalding loose on his harp and one of the string slingers picks it up and rips a whole through the tune.

I know that Keller is singing on his rollicking "Hey Little Girl" because I heard him sing it on one of Primich's shows and Spalding gets some mighty fine octave work going on, then Keller plays lights out on his Telecaster. I think.

Billy Boy Arnold's "Kissing At Midnight" gives Spalding an excuse to showcase his acoustic harp tone, which proves might fine and tasty chicken picking. It's a stripped down jaunt with an incessant groove provided my someone's one chord acoustic guitar plucking

Hell yeah, I need to get out more. I love these guys and now I know more about Dale Spalding. What I don't know is whether or not he's a mainstay with The Little Elmore Reed Blues Band, because I keep up with Greg Izor and do know that he plays live with them frequently. They seem to have a rotating crew, anchor by Whitefield and Hays, but what do I know. I don't get out enough. 'Nuff for now.

Greg Izor & The Box Kickers

I don't know why it's taken me so long to get my hands on some of Greg Izor's harp playing. The first time I heard his blowing was on satellite radio's BB King's Bluesville. A song popped up with that greasy fat amplified blues harp blasting and I had to find out who was blowing. I've totally forgotten the name of the band that he was playing with, but I looked them up back then long enough to find out that it was Greg Izor. I had all intentions of tracking him down, but life got in the way and I forgot to follow up. My loss, but not any longer, since he kindly sent me a copy of I Was Wrong. The cover has a picture of Izor cupping a bullet mic that covers the bottom third of his face. Whenever I see a CD cover with such, my first thought is "Okay, now back it up with your blowing". Greg Izor lives up to that photo.

He gets down with it from the "get go" by opening "Who You Lying To" with a few fat back harp licks that sets the tone for what follows. What caught my ear very quickly, though, was Izor's vocal chops. The man's in great voice throughout this release. One of the drawbacks with a lot of blues harp aces who stretch out into front man territory is the ability to pull it off vocally. Izor can do the do in that category. I place him on a shelf with Mitch Kasmar, Tad Robinson, John Nemeth, and Darrell Nulisch-to name a few contemporaries that can really sing the blues. Speaking of Nulisch, the first time I heard him sing was pre-Sam Myers Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets, and guess what? Izor is now the post-Sam Myers lead man for Anson Funderbugh's group.

Here he leads his Greg Izor & The Box Kickers band through a tough set of predominantly original blues. The Box Kickers feature a couple of guitarists that ring my bell. I've been listening to Mike Keller slinging blues guitar notes since he and his brother Cory walked on stage at Antone's as the Keller Brothers back in the day and floored audiences with their command for the blues at such a young age. Today he's Johnny Moeller's partner in chime with The Fabulous Thunderbirds, as well as laying down some mighty fine stuff  with Izor's band. I first heard guitarist Willie Pipkin at a gig with The South Austin Jug Band, which had threads of bluegrass, country, folk, and blues emanating from the stage. Pipkin was the blues card in the band and when he lit into it, he impressed me. I'd say that he's in his element as a Box Kicker. This duo bends some stone cold blues strings throughout the CD and follow the variety of vibes that Izor lays out for them, whether it's a Louisiana swamp rocker from Izor's native state, like "I Thought It Would Be Me", something country twinged, or gettin' jazzy. On the former he gets his fat chords sounding kinda like a squeeze box that's reminisent of his mentor, Johnny Sansone.

He brings the Texas sound (he's lived in Austin since '06) to the table with the hard shuffling "Stuck In Texas", on which he also whips out some of my favorite deep fried, greasy licks of the CD. Drummer Jason Corbiere and bassman Johnny Bradley drive the bottom all the way from the Colorado River to the Sabine with Keller and Pipkin's rhythm and leads riding the groove. I could venture a guess as to who plays what, but then I could be wrong. It's Izor's harp runs, bends, and whomp that sets this apart from any other Texas shuffle, though.

He throws down the George Jackson/Jimmy Webb penned "Old Friend" to venture off into a country western flavored tune. I'm am guessing that it is Keller's Telecaster that kicks this into the ol' two steppin' territory which reminds me of a sort of "Mathilda" riff. Izor could give quite a few of those radio ready faux cowboys a run for the money with his vocal lines here. This is the only cut withot his harp blowing applied.

The title tune lopes along pleasantly with a couple of harp breaks that takes off like a Little Walter solo with nice runs up and down the comb. "Broken Heart" covers the K.C. Douglas song with some of Izor's baddest lowdown Chicago blues harp tones, as he drags some deep stuff from the low end and bends the reeds for all they are worth. Speaking of Little Walter, "Swiss Krissly" has the master's influence written all over it-think "Off The Wall" as a point of reference, but Izor throws plenty of his own making into the mix.

He breaks out the chromatic harp on "I'm Yours", on which the guitar rhythm approximates Stevie Ray Vaughn's "Empty Arms". Izor gets the big harp pumping out a swinging motif with huge octave runs blasting though his mic. William Clarke ain't got nothing on this Louisiana cat. He does the same for the instrumental, "Turkey Necks", which bops along with an insistent beat and a great guitar lead break from one of those two aforementioned slingers. The chromatic on "Voleur", another instrumental, falls squarely into the jazzier realm and he proves that he knows what the button is for on the instument.

When "Soul Survivor" hit my ears, James Cotton hit my brain, because Izor was yanking some powerful stuff out and emulating the "no holds" blasting that only Cotton is known to produce. Of course, James Cotton recorded this tune written by his piano player at the time, Albert Gianquinto, and with the greatest band that he had ever assembled. Izor covers the song remarkably well and switches over to chromatic for one of the harp breaks.

I'm impressed with Greg Izor's talent and his band and this CD. Greg Izor & The Box Kickers have it going on and deliver all the goods that I look for in a release of blues harp music. Thoroughly enjoyed this, or enjoying it, or will keep enjoying it, or whatever. Worth it. Get it.

So, I'm glad that I've finally caught up somewhat with who Greg Izor is, but getting to watch and listen to him strut this stuff at the Texas Harmonica Festival on July 30 at Dan Electros will be loads better. He's definitely a triple threat with his vocals, blues harp playing, and writing. Check out http://www.gregizor.com/ and check out his youtube vids, but beware--you'll get lost in the music over there. 'Nuff for now.

The Fabulous Thunderbirds

Back in May 2008 (dang, has it been that long) I posted a gushing review of  the first T-Birds' gig that I witnessed with the newest lineup of Mike Keller and Johnny Moeller slinging guitars, and Jay Moeller and Randy Bermudes driving the rhythm on bass and drums (respectively). Word from Kim Wilson that night was that they would have a release out with these guys in the fall and I couldn't wait to get a copy of what I felt just might be the best band that Wilson had put together since he and Jimmy Vaughn parted ways. I regularly checked my usual online sites for obtaining blues music (even iTunes) and time passed by with no T-Bird fix. Painted On was available everywhere, but no new news.

Long story short, the new CD appears to have been sitting on their website for some time and that's one place that I sort of quit checking after awhile. Like Kim Wilson's My Blues, it seems that website distribution and gig sales was the chosen method to get the CD out there (or in my case, here). So, of course, I grabbed my autographed copy and must say that it'll go into my file as one of my favorite T-Birds albums. It definitely sports some of the funkiest grooves to ever come out of a T-Birds' band. Of course, if you have any of Johnny Moeller's stuff (case in point, Return of the Funky Worm), then you know he can get funky, but this being a Fabulous Thunderbirds' release, then you know that it'll stay true to Kim Wilson's orchestration and his vision on what their sound must be. Which is a jivin' mix of the blues, R&B, soul and a bit of rock 'n roll.

Might as well start with the tracks on which Wilson blesses us with his mouth harp skills, since a few blues harp fans tap into the blog on a frequent basis. True to most of The Fabulous Thunderbird releases, he puts the songs first and sticks his harp to mouth on those that deserve and/or warrant the instrument. So, let's just begin with the last listed track, Doctor Isaiah Ross' Cat Squirrel (if anyone picked up the latest Collard Greens and Gravy, a good comparison could be made between their version and this 'un). Wilson lays down the mic and whomps out and drives the good Doctor's lick ideas acoustically and into the juke joint where it belongs. Wilson doesn't try to fancy it up any, just play it like it's supposed to be played. He also puts a ragged edge on his other wise smooth vocals to keep the tune way down in the alley where it belongs. The band keeps it there also, especially at the sticks of Jay Moeller's insistently crashing cymbals. The duo guitarists simply riff the rhythm to make the ragged feel stick.

Wilson doesn't break out his harp until the fifth track, Pay Back Time, which is one of the seven originals on the twelve tracks. It's just a nasty ol' blues, with Resonator slide rippin' and Wilson singing through his harp mic to put it in a "downhome" mood, until the band kicks into gear and brings it up to date, and Wilson spits out a few note warbles to set the tone. He jumps in and out with the harp, but it's not the song's feature. Jay Moeller and Bermudes bounce the song around significantly and no one uses those cymbals for effect as well as Moeller.

Baby I Love You invokes Wilson to pull out some Jerry McCain style riffs, mashed up with the Louisiana vibe that he's always been so good at. He waits until halfway through the song before laying it down and getting swamp juice all over it. The boys show how well they can drive a shuffle in a way that just smells and drips T-Bird groove. Keller and Moeller's guitars blend together so well, like Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla and chocolate syrup. Just hard to tell who's the ice cream and who's the topping at any given time.

Satisfied is the butt rocker that kicks off the whole proceedings and informs us that these new guys have the goods to be called The Fabulous Thunderbirds. Wilson lets them showcase what we can expect for the entire CD. Drums and bass upfront, loud and yanking the gear shift into "D". Two guitarists swapping rhythm and lead, lead and rhythm, while Wilson sings his tale (and his tail off) of being nothing but satisfied with his love. Keller and Moeller's guitars get that twangy, reverby stuff going that T-Bird legend is made of.

Speaking of butt rockin', they pull out and cover One's Too Many (and A Hundred Ain't Enough) that was covered on the Butt Rockin' album with Jimmy Vaughan's watery reverb highlighting the tune. The band funks it up quite a bit more and the dynamic duo apply their own guitar-a-rama magic to claim the tune as their own. This is a hidden bonus track, following Cat Squirrel.

They also put a funky spin on O.V. Wright's soul number, Love The Way You Love, and T-Birdify it. One of the boys spits out some rapid fired solo licks towards the end of the number that are nothing short of incredible. The band is at their funkiest on Got To Bring It With You. I'm guessing Johnny Moeller is jacking the funk quotient up with the rhythm guitar that hits from the beginning, but could just as well be Keller. The solo breaks these guys break out backs me up when I say that they are the best guitar tandem working the blues today. They had my hair standing on end.

Bermudes' Runnin' From The Blues proves his meddle as a songwriter. It sits solidly in the soul blues stew and our guitarists prove that can twinkle with the strings in the vein of a Curtis Mayfield, but before the song has faded, they're ripping the blues and the band swoops to a crashing, bashing crescendo with Wilson singing his butt off. They apply the same style of rhythmic vibe to Wilson's Hold Me and dash the funk into it liberally. The crescendo builds to a similar climax with the band banging the hell out of the tune and riffs flying around the proceedings and echoing off the walls. Great stuff.

Okay, that's enough. This is hands down, the best band that Kim Wilson has put together and they've put out one of the best albums that bears the name The Fabulous Thunderbirds. Oh, did I mention the chicken pickin' rockabilly style slinging they get going on Take Me As I Am or the topical message about helping our own here in the U.S. on Do You Know Who I Am? No? Well, just go on over to http://www.fabulousthunderbirds.com/ and buy yourself a signed copy and listen for yourself.