Billy Crain Family Matters (Slidebilly Records)
Billy Crain just
gets better and bet- ter with his solo al- bums. The former member of The Henry Paul Band and The Outlaws writes, produces,
plays the instruments and records his own albums, and they are all great, but Family Matters kicks it up yet another notch. The melodies stick in your head, and the words obviously come straight from his heart. Many of Billy’s songs have his devoted
love of Jesus at the heart, but he is not a Contemporary Christiana artist, he is a Southern Rocker who found the Lord, and it flows through his vocals and especially his writing and guitar work. From “Dark House,” in which he attempts to bring someone out of the darkness and into the light to “True Beauty,” which speaks of giving up vanity and finding real beauty coming from the heart,(with some amaz- ing lead guitar) these ten songs are all equally great. “Lucky Penny” begins with what is ei-
ther bagpipes or a reasonable facsimile thereof, and tells the story of a 6-year old girl in Heaven after being killed in a class- room shooting. A beautiful song that will make you cry and smile at the same time. Also great is “Road Warriors,” an autobio- graphical story about becoming a profes- sional musician alongside his brother Tommy Crain. Billy once again burns up the guitar on an extended solo that brings to mind the sound of The Outlaws.
Family Matters is a must hear. Buffalo
says “Y’all check it out!” -Michael Buffalo Smith
John Mayall Find a Way to Care (Forty Below)
It makes me happy
to see John Mayall re- turn to the studio and record another sensa- tional blues album. Find a Way to Care is masterfully written and exquisitely per-
formed. Returning to the studio with Mayall is guitarist Rocky Athas, bassist Greg Rzab, and drummer Jay Davenport, who were all present on his previous stu- dio album A Special Life. Mayall breathes a new funky and soul-
ful life into Percy Mayfield’s “The River’s Invitation”. With Mayall manning the keyboard, and a terrific horn section at his side, this song takes on a sort of “Bar-Kays Soul Finger” vibe. I dig this one a lot. Riding this same wave of feel-good music, is the vibrant Lightning Hopkins cover, “I Feel So Bad”, which makes me feel so good when I give it a listen. There’s no shortage of traditional blues
here either. Mayall serves up nothing but the best of it as he splendidly tackles Jun- ior Parker’s “Mother in Law Blues”, Muddy Water’s “Long Distance Call”, and Charles Brown’s “Drifting Blues”. I’m quickly drawn in to the music on
“War We Wage” a heady guitar blues track by acclaimed UK guitarist Matt Schofield.
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