Otis Grand - Perfume & Grime

Size: 156,1 MB
Time: 66:35
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1996
Styles: Electric Blues
Art: Full

01. Six Ways (Pam's Tune) (4:26)
02. How Come (5:46)
03. Between Heaven & Hell (5:26)
04. Don't Ask Why (3:44)
05. Magic Mood (3:55)
06. Knock, Knock (3:00)
07. Perfume & Grime (8:04)
08. Just One More Time (4:00)
09. 100 Years (5:38)
10. She's Got My Dog (3:17)
11. When My Heart Beats Like A Hammer (5:59)
12. It Took A Long Time (4:16)
13. Has Been Husband (3:56)
14. Grime Time (5:00)

Personnel:
Otis Grand - Guitars
Luther Allison - Guitars on "Perfume & Grime"
Joe Louis Walker - Slide Guitar on "100 Years"
Curtis Salgado- Vocals & Harp
Darrel Nulisch - Vocals
Brother Roy Oakley - Vocals
Toni Lyn Washington - Vocals on "Took a long time"
Neil Gouvin - Drums
Rob Stupka - Drums
Steve Gomes - Bass
Eddie Bo - Piano on "Knock, Knock"
Al Rapone - Accordian on "Magic Mood"
Bruce Elsensohn/Chuck Chaplin - Piano & B3
Amadee Castenel - Tenor Sax
Stacey Cole - Trumpet
Joe Saulsbury - Jnr Alto Sax
Mike Hobart - Bari Sax
Steve Diamond - Keyboard

Otis Grand - who is, unquestionably, the biggest star of British Blues and the only UK artist in the genre to have had significant success in America for decades - releases his brand new album" Perfume & Grime " on Sequel Records. This new release was recorded in New Orleans on Feb. 1996 with some of America's top blues musicians, includinging Joe Louis Walker, Curtis Salgado, Luther Allison, and Eddie Bo.

While retaining his signature sound," Perfume & Grime " finds Otis moving forwards to create contemporary blues with the flavours and crosscurrents of Rap, World music, New Orleans Funk, and southern Soul.

"I am very excited about this new album," explains Otis " I have written with the influence of my Blues mentors in mind but also thrown in contemporary attitudes and stylings that I like. PERFUME stands for the beauty and soul Blues. GRIME stands for my hard-hitting and nasty style of guitar playing."

Perfume & Grime MP3
Perfume & Grime FLAC

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Darrell Nulisch - Just For You

Size: 89,0 MB
Time: 37:53
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2009
Styles: Electric Blues, Blues Soul
Art: Full

01. You Don't Know Me (3:07)
02. The Woman Don't Live Here No More (3:16)
03. Work For Love (3:45)
04. Just For You (4:02)
05. It's A Shame (4:07)
06. Just A Little Blues (4:01)
07. Far Too Lonely (2:49)
08. All The Love We Had (4:33)
09. Let A Woman Be A Woman (4:42)
10. Natural Thing (3:27)

Singer/harpist Darrell Nulisch returns to the soul-blues he's best known for after 2007's more bluesy Goin Back to Dallas. His fifth release for the Severn imprint is a typically tasty set given a comfy, homey feel likely due to Nulisch once again working with longtime veteran sidemen such as guitarist Johnny Moeller, bassist Steve Gomes, and drummer Rob Stupka. Like Robert Cray, Nulisch is generally incorrectly pigeonholed as a blues singer when really he's a soul man more in line with '60s R&B greats like O.V. Wright, Otis Clay, and James Carr. These ten smooth, low-wattage yet passionate songs don't quite hit the 40-minute mark, but add up to an album most fans of the genre will likely return to often. Four obscure yet perfectly selected covers share space with six Nulisch/Gomes originals, and it says a lot that these new songs are every bit as authentic feeling as the versions of the tunes from Lou Pride, Slim Harpo, and others. Most of the material falls into the ballad category with a few easy shuffles increasing the tempo, but generally Nulisch, who also co-produces, keeps the mood in a more muted, occasionally swampy R&B vibe. Comparisons to the Stax and Brunswick labels will be easy for fans of the genre to spot, but the whiskey-and-honey voice of Nulisch also shifts into a jazz/gospel groove for "Let a Woman Be a Woman," propelled by tambourine and Benjie Porecki's churchy organ. Brass, courtesy of no less than eight horn players with arrangements by the great Willie Henderson, keeps the sound rooted in the classic soul that Nulisch doesn't update as much as polishes off. He's not breaking any new ground on Just for You, but he's nailed a groove that keeps paying dividends, especially when the material and performances are as passionate, tasteful, and beautifully crafted as they are here. That makes this another keeper in Darrell Nulisch's impressive catalog. ~Hal Horowitz

Just For You MP3
Just For You FLAC

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Darrell Nulisch - Times Like These

Size: 101,6 MB
Time: 43:06
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2003
Styles: Texas Blues, Blues Soul
Art: Full

01. Lonely Man (3:31)
02. Handle It With Care (5:07)
03. Something Else (3:20)
04. Don't Look Back (3:42)
05. Good Thing (4:28)
06. Running Out (2:24)
07. The Snow Is Falling (3:18)
08. Times Like These (4:08)
09. Breaking Out (3:41)
10. I Found Love (3:38)
11. That's A Good Idea (2:34)
12. Right Here At Home (3:09)

The fact that Darrell Nulisch was nominated for a W.C. Handy Award does mean something in the blues world. Times Like These does make a person wonder why, though. While it's true that Nulisch's voice is deeply expressive and rings loud and clear in the way Joe Turner's did -- albeit much smoother in delivery -- and he's a more than adequate harp player, the material here is generic at best. This record, with its tightly arranged and conducted horn charts, muted, stylistic B-3, rounded-off lead guitar solos, and in-the-pocket drums, sounds exactly like what it is for the most part: a blues record made in New England. What passes for guttural blues here is played a bit sloppier by your local bar band. But blues isn't the only thing that Nulisch tackles here, thank goodness. It's his soul tunes, both his originals and his cover of Smokey Robinson's "Don't Look Back." Here is where Nulisch shows his gift as a singer; he moves just behind the beat, pronouncing every syllable with a smoothness that is reminiscent of Bobby "Blue" Bland and a passion that James Carr would be proud of. His reading of the Ashford & Simpson nugget "Running Out" is vocally honest and true, but the band is stilted and wooden -- had he a better backing unit, this would have been the best track on the album. His back-to-back interpretations of Ray Charles' "I Found Love" and Otis Redding's "That's a Good Idea" are emotionally true, deep-in-the-belly-of-fire readings. Even the horns come through with a raw-enough sound outside the cookie-cutter Massachusetts blues factory box. Nulisch's own tune, "Handle It With Care," feels like Johnny Rivers' "Poor Side of Town" without sounding a bit like it -- pure, honest, and full of nuance, grace, elegance, and a truth that we can use more of in this time. On this tune, the band flows behind him with a pure fluid accuracy that stays in the groove, letting it float without attempting to push a vocal that's as fine and mellow as a vintage Chianti. On his next outing, Nulisch will hopefully write more; he's extremely talented, and this song was worth the Handy nomination alone. And perhaps he should record in Detroit or Chicago, where musicians will be far more sympathetic to his considerable gifts as a true soul singer. ~Thom Jurek

Times Like These MP3
Times Like These FLAC

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Various Artists - Blues Harmonica Spotlight

Blues Harmonica Spotlight focuses on New Orleans label's generous array of blues-harp talent. /AllMusic

Album: Blues Harmonica Spotlight
Year: 1992
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:04
Size: 120,2 MB
Styles: Harmonica blues
Scans: Front

1. The James Harman Band - Wake Up Call (2:37)
2. Darrell Nulisch & Texas Heat - Love And War (3:34)
3. Sam Myers & Anson Funderburgh - My Love Is Here To Stay (3:33)
4. Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers - 4811 Wadworth (5:37)
5. Mike Morgan & The Crawl Feat. Lee McBee - I Don't Want You Hanging Around (2:09)
6. Sam Myers w. Snooks Eaglin & Anson Funderburgh - Bombastic (4:05)
7. Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters Feat. Sugar Ray - My Home Is A Prison (5:16)
8. The James Harman Band - Mad About Somethin' (4:40)
9. Mike Morgan & The Crawl Feat. Lee McBee - Big D Shuffle (2:31)
10. Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers - Back Door Man (5:23)
11. Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters Feat. Kim Wilson - Ridin' In The Moonlight (4:07)
12. Sam Myers & Anson Funderburgh - Hep Cats In Big Town (4:54)
13. Lee McBee & Mike Morgan - Sweet Lolita (3:32)

Blues Harmonica Spotlight mc
Blues Harmonica Spotlight zippy

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Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets - She Knocks Me Out!

Size: 88,4 MB
Time: 37:45
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1983/2008
Styles: Electric Blues
Art: Full

01. She Knocks Me Out (2:11)
02. Howlin' For My Darlin' (2:56)
03. A Word About Women (2:50)
04. You Know My Love (3:05)
05. Your Funeral And My Trial (2:27)
06. Look What'cha Done (2:43)
07. Two For Pete (2:07)
08. Love Me With A Feeling (3:49)
09. Gonna Keep What I've Got (3:05)
10. The Blues Seem To Follow Me (2:32)
11. Is There Something Inside You? (3:04)
12. Goin' Away (4:00)
13. The Things I Do For You (2:49)

In recent years, Dallas-based guitarist Anson Funderburgh has taken his band the Rockets out of the clubs and onto the festival stages with his critically acclaimed recordings for the BlackTop label out of New Orleans. With Jackson, MS-native Sam Myers delivering the vocals and harmonica treatments, this band mixes up a powerful gumbo of Texas jump blues and Delta blues that can't be found anywhere else. Funderburgh & His Rockets are a particularly hard working band, performing across the U.S. and Europe nearly 300 nights a year.

Funderburgh was born November 15, 1954, and got hooked on the blues when he got his first guitar at age seven or eight. His first musical experiences happened in the clubs in Dallas. He developed his team approach to blues music while learning from the likes of Freddie King, Jimmy Reed, and Albert Collins when these great bluesmen were passing through Dallas-area clubs, but Funderburgh had already taught himself guitar mostly from listening to classic blues records. He never had the chance to see Muddy Waters, but he did get to play with Lightnin' Hopkins in the late '70s. Funderburgh formed the Rockets in 1978, but didn't meet Sam Myers until 1982.

Funderburgh recorded with the Fabulous Thunderbirds on their Butt Rockin' album, and went solo in 1981, when the New Orleans-based BlackTop label released Talk to You by Hand, the label's first release. Funderburgh added Myers on harmonica and lead vocals in 1986. Myers had traveled for years on the chitlin circuit, where he had the chance to accompany people like Elmore James and Robert Junior Lockwood. Funderburgh admits that adding Myers on vocals and harmonica was a turning point for the Rockets, partly because of the image they project from the stage, a big towering black man and three white guys backing him up. Funderburgh continued his association in the '90s with Black Top releasing Tell Me What I Want to Hear (1991), Live at Grand Emporium (1995), and That's What They Want (1997). After releasing nine albums on Black Top, in 1999 Funderburgh changed record labels with the release of Change in my Pocket for Bullseye Blues. At the beginning of the new millennium, Funderburgh is just coming into his prime by way of his songwriting talents, so his career deserves close watching in the coming years. The best is yet to come from this guitarist and bandleader. ~by Richard Skelly

She Knocks Me Out!

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Darrell Nulisch - Bluesoul

Size: 92,2 MB
Time: 39:08
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1996
Styles: Texas Blues
Art: Full

01. Crime Of Passion (3:21)
02. Love Song (3:07)
03. You Were Right (3:43)
04. I've Been Searching (3:36)
05. Again And Again (4:19)
06. Worried (3:08)
07. I Don't Need Nothing (4:01)
08. Going Back To Texas (5:20)
09. Heartful Of Blues (4:37)
10. What Have I Done Wrong? (3:51)

Darrell Nulisch was born in Dallas, TX, in 1952. He grew up on soul singers like Otis Redding and Al Green, inspiring him to take up a similar path and work on his voice. He was a founding member of Anson Funderburgh's Rockets and sang with that group in the '80s, when he also did time in groups like Ronnie Earl's Broadcasters. He eventually left Texas and started a solo career in 1991, relocating to Boston and releasing albums that showcased his incredible blues-harmonica skills and his passionate voice. Even legendary soul singer James Cotton asked Nulisch to work with his touring band when he lost his voice, giving Nulisch a chance to work with someone he admired. He continued his solo efforts into the next century, releasing the critically acclaimed I Like It That Way in the spring of 2000. ~by Bradley Torreano.

Bluesoul

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Darrell Nulisch & Texas Heat - Business As Usual

Size: 103,5 MB
Time: 43:44
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1991
Styles: Electric Blues
Art: Full

01. Count On Me (4:07)
02. Just Around The Corner (4:06)
03. Love And War (3:33)
04. Beggin' You To Leave (4:01)
05. Teach Me How To Love You (2:29)
06. Love Attack (3:56)
07. Orange Soda (4:01)
08. Pouring Water On A Drowning Man (3:00)
09. Inside Out (3:58)
10. Business As Usual (4:21)
11. I Can't Be Satisfied (3:05)
12. Won't Throw It All Away (3:03)

Darrell Nulisch was born in Dallas, TX, in 1952. He grew up on soul singers like Otis Redding and Al Green, inspiring him to take up a similar path and work on his voice. He was a founding member of Anson Funderburgh's Rockets and sang with that group in the '80s, when he also did time in groups like Ronnie Earl's Broadcasters. He eventually left Texas and started a solo career in 1991, relocating to Boston and releasing albums that showcased his incredible blues-harmonica skills and his passionate voice. Even legendary soul singer James Cotton asked Nulisch to work with his touring band when he lost his voice, giving Nulisch a chance to work with someone he admired. He continued his solo efforts into the next century, releasing the critically acclaimed I Like It That Way in the spring of 2000.

Business As Usual

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Darrell Nulisch - One Night In Boston

Size: 154,5 MB
Time: 65:30
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: Modern Electric Blues
Art: Full

01. The Warm Up (7:05)
02. Love At First Sight (5:58)
03. Morning Train (5:25)
04. Announcement (0:23)
05. Humbuggin Me (3:54)
06. After All (4:55)
07. Pouring Water On A Drowning Man (5:33)
08. No Use Crying (4:49)
09. Lonely Man (3:31)
10. Love Attack (6:50)
11. I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down (5:46)
12. Dead Love (4:02)
13. What Have I Done Wrong (7:11)

For thirty five years Darrell Nulisch has been one of the premier blues vocalists on the scene. His first national exposure came by way of his work with North Texas native Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets. Their 1981 album on Black Top Records entitled, Talk to You By Hand was the band’s debut album and the first for that New Orleans based label. That recording was followed up by She Knocks Me Out, further cementing in the minds of blues fans Nulisch’s terrific vocal chops.

Since then Nulisch has sung on albums by Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters, Hubert Sumlin, Hash Brown’s Texas Blues Revue, Otis Grand and others. Last year alone he appeared on two great recordings; one by German guitarist Kai Straus, the other by The Knickerbockers All-Stars.

Nulisch may be best known for his near twenty year association as the principal vocalist with the James Cotton Band. All the while, Nulisch released a steady stream of first rate solo albums. One Night In Boston is his eighth release and the first live album in his prolific career.

For this outing Nulisch rounded up a band of veteran players from the north east blues music Mecca, New England. They are drummer Mark Texiara from the Duke Robillard Band fame and bassist Marty Ballou who has played with...well everybody. Monster Mike Welch of Sugar Ray and the Bluetones renown handles the guitar duties. Welch continues to emerge, as this album demonstrates, as a versatile talent of the highest order.

The real revelation on this album is the Hammond B3 work of Dave Limina. Limina in recent years can be heard on Ronnie Earl’s albums. It is this jazz organ trio sound that sets the tone and mood for One Night In Boston right out of the shoot. The album’s opening track is an instrumental listed in the CD’s liner notes as simply Warm Up. It is, in fact, a Jimmy Smith number entitled Blues for J. from his early 60’s Verve years which featured guitarist Kenny Burrell. Here Limina and Welch, along with the rhythm section, play in the spirit of those jazz greats. The band flexes their own prodigious chops in that wonderful arena where jazz and blues take a ride on the same swing. By the time the band is done with this tune, which clocks in at just over seven minutes, they are not only warmed up, but played with enough fire to melt all the snow in Massachusetts.

The star of the show then takes to that scorching hot stage for a burning Texas shuffle, via the tune Love at First Site. Welch now turns from some impressive jazz chops to the rhythmic guitar territory that has had dancers doing the “push” in Dallas dance halls and nightclubs for generations.

From there Nulisch goes into Morning Train and visits that soul-blues territory that he has drifted towards over his past several outings. Where others often sound awkward in this blues sub genre, Nulisch, whose voice might put you in mind of Johnny Adams, seems right at home in this setting.

Next we are taken into the Excello swamp with Hum Buggin’ Me. Nulisch is a fine harp player and has the good taste not to play that instrument on every tune. In fact this is the only appearance of the harmonica on One Night In Boston.

The tune After All is a slow blues ballad with a wonderful jazzy feel via the great B3 playing by Limina and a brief, restrained solo by Welch.

The album continues to mine these rich veins of blues gold. This live album has a great sound and features simply stellar accompaniment to go along with the great vocal chops of Darrell Nulisch. This is a very solid, self released, twelve track outing by musicians at the top of their game.

One Night in Boston was recorded back in September of last year in what the rather minimalistic liner notes describes only as “…a small club on an even smaller bandstand.” I would go hear Nulisch and this band play anywhere, anytime, day or night, on any bandstand. I hope they get out this year on the festival circuit and bring this great music to folks outside of Bean Town. In the meantime, pour yourself a glass of your favorite beverage, kick back and enjoy Darrell Nulisch’s One Night in Boston in your own hometown.? ~David Mac

One Night In Boston

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Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters - Test Of Time: A Retrospective

Year: 1992
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 71:04
Size: 163,8 MB
Styles: Electric blues
Scans: Full

1. Ronnie Johnnie (2:56)
2. I Smell Trouble (4:22)
3. Ridin' In The Moonlight (4:05)
4. Baby Doll Blues (6:03)
5. You Give Me Nothing But The Blues (2:38)
6. Narcolepsy (3:53)
7. Waitin' For My Chance (2:42)
8. Soul Searching (2:45)
9. Backstroke (4:19)
10. Ships Passing In The Night (4:52)
11. I Want To Shout About It (3:32)
12. I Wish You Could See Me Now (3:35)
13. I Cried My Eyes Out (2:52)
14. T-Bone Boogie (3:50)
15. A Soul That's Been Abused (6:22)
16. One Of These Mornings (4:21)
17. Off The Hook (2:58)
18. AKOS (4:51)

Test of Time collects the highlights from Ronnie Earl's six Black Top albums. The 18-song compilation showcases one of the finest blues guitarists of the '80s, picking nearly all of his finest material, which happen to include duets with Robert Jr. Lockwood and Hubert Sumlin. The album is an excellent introduction to Earl, as well as his most consistently entertaining release. /Thom Owens, AllMusic

Test Of Time mc
Test Of Time zippy

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Anthony Geraci & The Boston Blues All-Stars - Fifty Shades Of Blue

Size: 126,7 MB
Time: 53:55
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: Blues
Art: Front

01. Everything I Do Is Wrong (3:23)
02. Fifty Shades Of Blue (3:25)
03. Sad But True (3:53)
04. Heard That Tutwiler Whistle Blow (5:17)
05. If You Want To Get To Heaven (4:15)
06. Don't Keep Me Waiting (4:10)
07. The Blues Never Sleeps (3:13)
08. Too Late For Coffee (2:53)
09. Diamonds And Pearls (4:12)
10. Cry A Million Tears (5:56)
11. In The Quicksand, Again (3:10)
12. Your Turn To Cry (3:55)
13. Blues For David Maxwell (6:06)

Personnel:
Anthony Geraci: piano & Hammond organ
Monster Mike Welch: guitar
Michael "Mudcat" Ward: acoustic/electric bass
Marty Richards: drums (all tracks except 2 & 4)
Sugar Ray Norcia: vocals (2, 3, 4, 6, 8 & 12), harmonica (3, 4 & 12), Native American flute (13)
Darrell Nulisch: vocals (1, 7 & 10), harmonica (7)
Toni Lynn Washington: vocals (9)
Michelle "Evil Gal" Willson: vocals (2 & 5)
Neil Gouvin: drums (2 & 4)

Anthony Geraci (pronounced Jur-Ah-See) it seems has always known he was going to be a piano player. Out of the blue as a four year old, he told his parents he needed a piano. Although he describes his folks as not being into music or being particularly musical, they always supported his passion. The New England native admits, “Music is just something that I was born with. It is something that is just inside me.”

Geraci started out on an old upright and soon thereafter a baby grand piano was introduced into the household. So were lessons and some serious musical training. Even at a young age his teachers recognized his sense of improvisational instincts. Geraci attended the Neighborhood School of Music in his hometown of New Haven, Connecticut, which was affiliated with nearby Yale University. That education continued at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Outside of these prestigious institutions in this Ivy League environment, another type of musical education was happening after school. At a young age Geraci befriended a like minded school mate, Ed Cherry, who would go on to become an accomplished jazz guitarist. Day after day, year after year, the two youngsters would go home after school and listen to blues records. Muddy Waters, early Buddy Guy and perhaps most notably Jimmy Rogers and others were listened to over and over again. “I remember the album Chicago Bound by Jimmy Rogers. That record turned my mind around. Here was music that was so simple yet, so complex at the same time. That record took me by storm. It had everything I was looking for in music. I heard that record when I was sixteen years old. Five years later Jimmy Rogers was my roommate on the road.”

That’s pretty much the way it has been for Anthony Geraci. He has played and recorded with a laundry list of the greatest blues musicians in the most prestigious blues nightclubs and at major festivals around the world. The names read like a who’s who of the blues. They include Muddy Waters, Big Joe Turner, J.B. Hutto, Big Walter Horton, Otis Rush, Big Mama Thornton, Hubert Sumlin as well as Jimmy Rogers and that’s the short list. He was also a founding member of Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters. However, Geraci is probably best known as a founding member of Sugar Ray and the Bluetones and after 35 years he remains an essential component of that band, which is still going strong.

Geraci cites a long list of influences. They include musicians from a variety of schools, including boogie woogie masters like Meade Lux Lewis and Pete Johnson to New Orleans players such as Professor Longhair and Huey “Piano” Smith. He also cites Chicago blues masters such as Otis Spann, Eddie Boyd and Memphis Slim as important ingredients of what he calls the “Anthony Blues Stew.”

Anthony Geraci and the Boston Blues All-Stars make their Delta Groove Music debut with their album "Fifty Shades of Blue." The Boston Blues All-Stars are the same musicians Geraci has been playing with for parts of the last five decades. They include vocalists Toni Lynn Washington, Darrell Nulisch, Michelle “Evil Gal” Willson and of course Sugar Ray Norcia. As Geraci points out, “I don’t sing, so why not get the best.” The “best” are backed by guitarist “Monster” Mike Welch, bassist Michael “Mudcat” Ward and drummers Marty Richards and Neil Gouvin. The All-Stars take on thirteen Geraci penned numbers that are full of fresh original ideas that are applied to music that come from many shades of the blues palette.

Fifty Shades Of Blue

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Darrell Nulisch - Goin' Back To Dallas

Size: 94,9 MB
Time: 40:32
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2007
Styles: Texas Blues, Modern Electric Blues
Art: Full

01. She's My Baby (2:29)
02. Too Much (3:08)
03. Feel Like Ramblin' (3:49)
04. Blue Monday (4:46)
05. Too Young To Die (3:38)
06. Play It Cool (3:29)
07. Straight'n Up (3:52)
08. Come On In This House (3:43)
09. Shame, Shame, Shame (2:55)
10. That's A Problem (3:34)
11. Goin' Back To Dallas (5:04)

Best known as a soul vocalist who gravitates toward the blues, Darrell Nulisch "returns to his roots," as the cliché goes and press materials claim, on this stripped-down release. It was recorded live in the studio with his touring quartet of veterans, which provides a live, gritty feel somewhat, but not entirely disconnected from the singer/harpist's previous work in a smoother, soul-based vein. Despite the title, which pertains to Nulisch's home state (he was born in Dallas), the sessions were recorded in Severne, MD. Still, the style is closer to his early work as vocalist for Anson Funderburgh & the Rockets. That's particularly true of Jon Moeller's reserved, clean, yet powerful guitar lines that seem to have been inspired by Funderburgh's similar approach. This is an ensemble recording with no one member hogging the spotlight as the band runs through standard Texas blues shuffles and slow blues with confidence and class. Four Nulisch originals integrate seamlessly with covers from fellow Texans Jimmy Reed and Freddie King. James "Thunderbird" Davis' "Blue Monday" is a particularly inspired choice along with Junior Wells' "Come on in This House" and a few lesser-known nuggets from Chicago's Sonny Boy Williamson II, "She's My Baby" and the slow blues "Too Young to Die." Perhaps most enticing for blues fans is that Nulisch uses the occasion to play more harmonica than on previous releases. Since the emphasis has always been -- and remains -- on his sand-and-honey vocals, Nulisch's impressive harmonica skills have often taken a backseat. That's not the case here; he bursts out of the opening track blowing harp and wails on it for all but a few of the remaining ten tunes. Nulisch's voice remains a unique instrument, instantly recognizable even though there are obvious similarities to Kim Wilson, another Texas-born harmonica-playing frontman. While on the surface there isn't much distinctive about this meat-and-potatoes set, the playing is consistently top-notch and Nulisch sounds inspired. He locks together with his band to produce a low-key vibe that is deceptively simple to create. Few blues acts can find this groove, let alone harness it for an entire album, but Nulisch and company ease into it and let it ride for 40 minutes of sturdy yet malleable Texas blues.

Thanks to Marc.
Goin' Back To Dallas

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