Showing posts with label Crooked Eye Tommy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crooked Eye Tommy. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Tomislav Goluban w. Crooked Eye Tommy - Nashville Road

Album: Nashville Road
Size: 79,7 MB
Time: 34:17
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2025
Styles: Blues, harmonica blues
Art: Front

1. Hard Run (2:39)
2. Rock Dog (4:03)
3. Up Is Down (3:17)
4. Bad Choices Make Good Stories (5:08)
5. Hip Hop Shake (2:51)
6. Hard Candy (3:07)
7. Keep On Moving On (3:35)
8. Life Is Good (3:27)
9. There Is A Train (6:08)

Tomislav Goluban is a Croatian harp player. Crooked Eye Tommy is a west coast guitar player. So why not get together to create an album called Nashville Road? Goluban (which translates to Little Pigeon and is his nickname) was weaned on Slim Harpo and Sonny Terry, so it was only natural harmonica blues were in his future. And Ventura, California gave rise to Tommy and the sound of blues rock by him and his band. When Goluban heard them, he wanted to get together with them and they did. First in Croatia and then in the States, their music became intertwined and an album was just destined.

Recorded at Jasco’s Music Lab in Nashville, the album is all original music. Goluban wrote all but the final track which was penned by Crooked Eye Tommy Marsh. Anamarija Nekíc wrote the lyrics for “Life Is Good.” The Little Pigeon handles vocals on tracks 3 and 7 and harp throughout the album. Marsh is on vocals for five tracks and handles guitars, and on the first 8 cuts Eric Robert is on keys, Doug Selbert is on bass, and Alphonso Wesby is on drums. Jesse Duende is on guitar on the first four tracks, Bill Gillman is on upright bass for the final track and Grady Clark is on slide for that last cut, too.

“Hard Run” starts things off. Goluban gets some dirty harp going and Marsh lays out some good licks and the piano adds some cool boogie in there, too. Theres a rocking groove laid down to move things along as the group gets the ball rolling fast with a great opening instrumental. Next is “Rock Dog” with some slightly distorted harp and vocals. This one’s a mover and shaker with a driving beat and sold work by the back line. “Up Is Down” has some boogie woogie piano and gritty vocals. Lots of solo harp here in another driving song.

“Bad Choice Makes Good Sense” follows with a lesser, more thoughtful pace. Marsh sings emotively and Goluban adds a tasteful solo as does Marsh right after it. Then it’s “Hip Hop Shake” where the bass and drums get it rolling and Tommy’s guitar then lays out a boogie over them until the Little Pigeon’s harp comes in as the final layer. Some piano is then added before the harp takes charge and leads the instrumental onslaught. Harp and piano solo for us to savor; pretty cool stuff. “Hard Candy” features guitar and harp as Marsh sings about a woman who is hard candy. Piano tinkles, a little slide on the guitar neck for fun for a jumping slick track.

“Keep On Moving On” has more greasy harp, some nice organ helping out and Goluban’s gritty vocals. Up next is “Life Is Good” a slower paced number with Marsh singing and and Goluban responding on harp. Robert does a nice solo and then Marsh adds a good one of his own. Goluban takes us home on harp with a prolonged outro. “There Is A Train” completes the album with a 6 plus minute acoustic cut with lap steel added by Marsh for fun. Slow and cool, with the acoustic sounds, harp and steel guitar giving us a dirty and imaginative sound. /Steve Jones, Blues Blast Magazine

Nashville Road mc
Nashville Road gofile

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Crooked Eye Tommy - Hot Coffee And Pain

Size: 112,5 MB
Time: 48:07
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2020
Styles: Electric Blues, Blues Rock
Art: Full

01. Death Letter Blues (5:06)
02. Sitting In The Driveway (4:21)
03. Hot Coffee And Pain (4:02)
04. Twist The Sky (6:28)
05. Baby Where You Been? (5:19)
06. Angel Of Mercy (5:49)
07. The Time It Takes To Live (7:22)
08. The Big House (4:16)
09. Congo Square (5:20)

Brother guitar duos are a rare and special commodity in the music world, with such a bond resulting in historic acts like AC/DC, The Kinks, CCR, The Everly Brothers and Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan. Ventura County brothers Tommy and Paddy Marsh formed Crooked Eye Tommy in 2010, becoming six-time Ventura County Music Award winners and two-time International Blues Challenge semi-finalists (2014 and 2019) and in 2020 reached the IBC finals as a duo act.

Capitalizing on that momentum their sophomore effort, “Hot Coffee And Pain,” contains nine blues and roots rock tracks: three covers and six originals, including a duet written by Tommy Marsh featuring Grammy nominee ,Teresa James, on vocals and piano. The project was recorded at Carbonite Sound in Ojai, CA with Grammy-winning audio engineer Jason Mariani (Joe Bonamassa, Robben Ford) at the helm.

The set kicks off with a Bay area psychedelia inspired ‘Death Letter Blues;’ the energized track letting us know Crooked Eye Tommy is not an old timey skiffle group but an electric band with dual lead guitars from the Marsh brothers, swirling Hammond B3 from Jimmy Calire, and a heavy groove from the rhythm section of Samuel Corea on bass and drummer Charlie McClure.

Paddy takes over lead vocal on the down and dirty slow blues ‘Sitting In The Driveway,’ wearing his heart on his sleeve as a man struggling with his sobriety due to hard times. The band sound is augmented by a horn arrangement written and played by Calire and saxophonist Craig Williams for the sentimental title track ‘Hot Coffee And Pain,’ with Tommy lamenting his lost love and Williams delivering a sweet solo on the smooth track of pure Memphis soul. A gritty riff pulls us into the mind-bending rocker ‘Twist The Sky’ that features Paddy on scorching leads.

Having old friends sit in is always a special moment during recording sessions and the Crooked Eye boys make the most of having Teresa James lend her immeasurable talents on both piano and vocals for the soaring duet ‘Baby Where You Been?’ trading verses with Tommy while the horns ramp up the drama of the dynamic show stopper. The fellas then give us a glimpse of their live show on the mash up track, ‘Angel Of Mercy,’ that weaves together the Grateful Dead classic, ‘Mr. Charlie,’ and a Johnny Lang tune in between twisty guitar jams.

The brothers mesh both their vocal and guitar skills on the introspective slow burning ‘The Time It Takes To Live,’ before paying loving tribute to Gregg and Duane on the stylish instrumental ‘The Big House,’ which gets its name from the estate that was home to the Allman Brothers Band's original members, their families, and various friends from 1970 to 73 and is now the band’s official museum. The album concludes with the Sonny Landreth touchstone ‘Congo Square,’ another tribute to sacred ground delivered with a fiery arrangement of driving horns and rhythm.

This fine collection of tunes brewed up for “Hot Coffee And Pain,” will maintain the brothers, Crooked Eye Tommy, on an upward trajectory. ~Rick J Bowen

Hot Coffee And Pain MP3
Hot Coffee And Pain FLAC

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Crooked Eye Tommy - Butterflies & Snakes

Size: 123,0 MB
Time: 52:23
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: Blues Rock
Art: Front

01. Crooked Eye Tommy (4:00)
02. Come On In (5:19)
03. I Stole The Blues (4:03)
04. Time Will Tell (4:33)
05. Tide Pool (5:17)
06. After The Burn (5:21)
07. Somebody's Got To Pay (3:24)
08. Love Divine (5:39)
09. Mad And Disgusted (3:38)
10. Over And Over (7:11)
11. Southern Heart (3:52)

This record is an Amalgamation of Deep Seeded Blues and Smokey Southern Rock with Big Guitars and even Bigger Vocals. Warm and Inviting, Raw and Sensual and All ORIGINAL The Whole World Gonna See... What a "Crooked Eye" can do.

Crooked-eye Tommy proudly representing the Santa Barbara Blues Society erupted on the Southern California Blues scene in 2013. Sporting scorching performances; original music firmly rooted in traditional blues, which feels familiar but somehow new. Blame Tommy Marsh’s considerable songwriting, vocal and guitar skills. Capitalizing on local talent, Tommy and his brother Paddy Marsh invited the legendary Jimmy Calire on sax and the deeply grooved, driving rhythm section of Tony Cicero on drums and Glade Rasmussen on bass to join the effort. The result is an irresistible alchemy of veteran experience, raw talent and enthralling original material.

Butterflies & Snakes