CD’s, VINYL & DOWNLOADS
Otis Tough Time: Tribute to John Brim (
www.otisband.net) I first encountered
Otis when they opened for the mighty Wet
Willie band down in Macon, Georgia last year. Long story short, I was absolutely blown away. My mind immediately began drawing comparisons - it always does. My thoughts drifted immediately to Gov’t Mule; Warren Haynes in particular. The quartet were as solid as the rock of Gibraltar, and the gui- tarists Boone Froggett (also the owner of one of the finest voices I have heard in a while) and Steve Jewell together are, to put it in “Buffalo” terms, “monsters.” But make no mistake; no man is an island here folks. The rhythm section is as tight as a fat man in a bathtub with the blues. Andrew Glipin on drums and John Seeley on bass are also members of the monster club. When Tough Times arrived in the post last
week, I was actually excited. I rarely get ex- cited about a CD before I even hear it. After twenty years of reviewing music, getting any- where from ten to twelve discs per week on average, the “new” wore off of the experience years ago. But see, this one was different. I have been thinking about this group ever since the aforementioned concert, and a cou- ple of weeks ago I was conducting a new, up- date interview with my buddy, the great Greg Martin (Kentucky Headhunters) and we spoke a bit about his fellow Kentucky pickers. The first thing that grabbed my attention
was the CD cover art. No ego soaked band photo up front. Instead, there is a vintage blues poster style rendering of John Brim, the
man who is paid a much-deserved tribute here. I had no idea who John Brim was. Then I read the liner notes, as you should yourself. Brim’s music stands up just as well as any of the Chicago blues legends, although he was born in Kentucky, which is why Otis have such a love for the man’s music. To me, a lot of the new blues releases tend
to bleed into one another and sound like “more of the same.” Not so with Otis. They have that vintage sound, filtered through an Allman Brothers/Warren Haynes vibe, yet maintaining a solid sense of self. Otis are not imitators, they are innovators. Get this CD, sit down and crank it up. Pairs well with straight Kentucky bourbon.
-Michael Buffalo Smith
Jerry Lee Lewis At SUN Records: The Collected Works (Bear Family) Embossed on the front of this massive box
set are the words, “What the hell else do you need?”My thoughts exactly. As a life long fan of the SUN Records legacy and of Jerry Lee Lewis and all of the other original rockabil- lies, I was so blown away when I received this box that I felt like it was Christmas, my birth- day and my anniversary all rolled into one.
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