The spirit of Memphis from this
thoroughly modern soul diva.
W
hen it comes to iconic recording studios, Memphis has
an embarrassment of riches. But while Sun Studios
and Stax rightfully cast long shadows over the city’s music
W
heritage, another major player – Ardent Studios – deserves
ORLD
more sunlight than it’s actually had. Its output has been rather
phenomenal, after all. Led Zep recorded their third album
here, since when it’s become a magnet for the likes of REM,
The White Stripes, Primal Scream, Big Star and Cat Power. This
being Memphis, its soul pedigree is pretty darn watertight
Ruthie Foster
too, thanks to plenty of overspill work from uber-busy Stax in
the late 60s/early 70s. Let’s not forget that this is where the SOUL
mighty Isaac Hayes cut his magnum opus Hot Buttered Soul.
The resulting 11 tracks do indeed sound like the product of
Diana Jones
some open-ended dream. Almost equally divided between
This all made Ardent a spot-on choice when Ruthie Foster
covers and Foster originals, each one proves Ruthie a singer
was planning her second record. Having wallowed in
of great power, control and interpretation. She’s got the
critical praise for her previous offering, the never-knowingly
vocal horsepower on the uptempo numbers (of which, the
undersold The Phenomenal
self-penned opener Stone Love is an excellent statement
Ruthie Foster, the Texan soul
of intent), while the more contemplative material, like the
singer assembled a small but
extraordinary reading of Patsy Griffin’s When It Don’t Come
stellar band to deliver that gritty
Easy, proves she’s a dab hand at skin-pricking intensity too.
Memphis sound, among them
sometime Bob Dylan guitarist
Not that Ruthie’s remotely sticking to an exclusive diet of
Robben Ford and Memphis music
classic soul. She’s clearly steeped in the blues too, whether
don, Jim Dickinson, on keyboards.
acoustic (see here the gorgeous pre-war stylings of Joy On
Dickinson was particularly
The Other Side) or more supercharged (Truth!, led by Ford’s
delighted at the set-up he walked
soaring roadhouse guitar). For Ruthie Foster, there are no set
into – “Real music. A salt-and-
boundaries delineating where soul ends and where blues,
Ruthie Foster
pepper quartet of seasoned
R&B or gospel start. Hell, there’s even a reggae track on here.
The Truth According
To Ruthie Foster session pros had me thinking I
And quite right too. Pigeonholes are for pigeons, after all.
Proper PRPCD045
was dreaming.”
Nige Tassell
Click on any ALBUM COVER to buy now

B
uddy Whittington was born in 1956 in Texas. By his late

teens he’d discovered the records of John Mayall, Peter

Green and Clapton and was inspired to buy a 1963 Stratocaster
and begin gigging with various bands around Fort Worth and

Dallas. The bands got nowhere but people began to notice

when Buddy played and eventually, in 1993, when John Mayall

was searching for a replacement guitarist for Coco Montoya,

one look was all it took. (Dreams do come true!)

Whittington fitted the Bluesbreakers like a glove and since then
he’s been their guitar boss touring almost non-stop and playing
on albums like Spinning Coin, Blues For The Lost Days, Padlock Buddy Whittington
On The Blues and the 70th Birthday Concert where he shared

Buddy Whittington
the stage with heroes Mick Taylor and Eric Clapton. He’s now
been with Mayall for fifteen years - much longer than either of

BUDW56
his more famous predecessors, Coco Montoya or Walter Trout.

BLUES
Fans pestering him with that big question “when ya gonna?”
have now got their wish with this CD for which Whittington
has put together a minimal four piece band of hot Texan
musicians that can certainly make a lot of noise! Mouse Mayes
is on second guitar, Mike Gage is on drums and Wayne Six is
thine own self be true, you gotta face the fact that what you
on bass. Keyboards are added on a couple of tracks and a horn
thought was black and white might make you blue”.
section slides in on one cut.
But it’s guitar he’s famous for and there’s plenty here from the
Apart from one Billy F Gibbons song, the slow burner Sure Got
stinging staccato surge on Minor Blues and the memorable
Cold After The Rain with it’s stratospheric guitar solos, it’s all
licks on Stevie Rave On, to the funky fuzzed up workout on
Buddy’s material and he shows exceptional talent in that area
Romance Classified and the quivering late nite runs flowing
too with more lyrical content than I’d expected - some of his
over the fluid riffs that permeate the luscious instrumental
wordplay stops you in your tracks. He hones in on the lot of the
Greenwood.
blue collar working-man on Pay The Band, a tune about bad
debt and trouble and Second Banana, where we get the inside
Don’t expect a full-on blues album because it ain’t. It’s a mix of
story from a roadie. You get a perfect capsule of teenage idiocy
rock and boogie that has one big foot stuck right in the middle
in Young And Dumb, wry humour on Romance Classified, and
of the blues tradition and it’s served up on an exceptional disc
an eloquent tribute to the man himself on Stevie Rave On.
full of American roots music at it’s best.
Ken Smith
Every Goodbye Ain’t Gone, in particular, has some spirited
words of wisdom for us all, “You gotta listen to your spirit, to See Buddy Whittington with Gary Moore April/May

See last page for tour dates
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