Jay Gordon & Blues Venom - Live At WoodyStock Blues Festival 2022

Size: 137.7 MB
Time: 59:07
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2024
Styles: Blues Rock
Art: Front

01. Hoochie Coochie Man (7:00)
02. Crossroads (5:06)
03. I Drink Alone (7:54)
04. Slow Burn Biker Mama (8:37)
05. Fire And Brimstone Boogie (8:29)
06. Good Morning Little School Girl (4:34)
07. Green River/Suzie Q (8:17)
08. Train Train (4:22)
09. Stranger Blues (4:42)

Jay Gordon grew up in Chicago where he is known for his slashing guitar and passionate vocals. While his influences include Buddy Guy, Johnny Winter, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, he has his own style. Gordon has recorded 17 CD’s the last being 2019’s “Slide Rules”. Gordon has opened for Eric Clapton, Johnny Winter, ZZ Top, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins and many others. He was invited by Clapton to perform at the 2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival. Gordon, who apprenticed and recorded with Texas Guitar legend Phillip Walker, has won multiple South Bay Music Awards (California) and LAMA Awards (Ireland). His bassist Sharon Butcher has also received Bass of the year awards from both of these organizations.

This live album was recorded at the 2022 Woodystock Blues Festival in Laughlin, Nevada; and at the same festival in Bullhead City, Arizona. Gordon opens this recording with a rockin version of the Muddy Water’s classic (I’m your) Hoochie Coochie Man first recorded by Muddy in 1983. His trio includes bassist Butcher, and a “right on” drummer. Gordon asks the audience “can you feel it” and you would be dead if you did not. He then plays the Robert Johnson classic “Crossroads”, first recorded by Johnson in 1969, and it’s a great vocal by Gordon.

“I Drink Alone” was a song written by George THorogood and performed by him and his band in 1985. Gordon re-arranges the song leaving more time for his guitar frenzy. “Slow Burn Biker Mama” is reprised from Gordon’s 2011 studio album “No Cure”. “Fire and Brimstone Boogie” is a tribute to John Lee Hooker from Gordon’s 2003 “6 Strings Outlaw” recording on Dixie Frog Records. Some great bass opens “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl” appropriately credited to it’s author Harding Guyon DesMarais. Next is a medley of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s songs including John Fogarty’s “Green River” and Dale Hawkins’ “Suzie Q”.

“Train Train” is credited to Rickey Medlocke of the Southern Rock group Blackfoot. “Stranger Blues” is from Elmore James, first recorded in 1962. “I’m a stranger here and I just moved into your town…because I’m a stranger everybody’s doggin’ me around”.

Jay Gordon is an exciting Blues player who is able to connect to his audience. He is teaching our young how to connect to the Blues. ~Richard Ludmerer

Live At WoodyStock Blues Festival 2022 MP3
Live At WoodyStock Blues Festival 2022 FLAC

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Jay Gordon's Blues Venom - Slide Rules

Size: 137,2 MB
Time: 58:59
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2019
Styles: Electric Blues, Blues Rock
Art: Front

01. Dripping Blues (4:38)
02. Pain (6:23)
03. Lost In Time (4:01)
04. Lucky 13 (3:37)
05. Dockery's Plantation (7:25)
06. Stranger Blues (3:56)
07. Voodoo Boogie (3:35)
08. El Diablos Blues (3:41)
09. Travelin Riverside Blues (3:45)
10. Pure Grain Alcohol (4:58)
11. Six String Outlaw (4:42)
12. Sweetheart Blues (4:24)
13. Train Train (3:49)

The first slide guitar recording (and first instrumental blues recording) was made by Sylvester Weaver for Okeh Records (No. 8109) in 1923, the A-side being "Guitar Blues" and the B- side "Guitar Rag." Since that time many practitioners have distinguished themselves as exceptional. Early players included Ur-bluesmen Charlie Patton, Son House and Robert Johnson. Middle players included Robert Nighthawk, Earl Hooker, Elmore James and Muddy Waters. The later and most contemporary exceptional slide guitarists include Duane Allman, Johnny Winter, Derek Trucks and Sonny Landreth. This blues subgenre remains a very fertile source for music as evidenced on Jay Gordon's Blues Venom's Slide Rules.

The above lists provide a convenient stylistic map to follow as those later players were almost always influenced by the earlier ones. For Gordon, his major muse for the slide guitar is Johnny Winter and his vocals, the love child of Steve Marriot and Delbert McClinton. Gordon's songwriting is freshly original while being influenced by an array of past blues composers. Eleven of the thirteen pieces presented are original compositions marked heavily by the power trios of the 1970s. His rhythmic and harmonic choices are pleasantly entertaining and his lyrics shrewd and informed.

This is not a recording for the faint of heart. Gordon means business. His slide guitar playing is dense and precise enough to drive a power trio without being rote and boring. He has a well-established ability to alternate between slide and standard fingering with a facility between that of George Throrogood and Rory Gallagher. Gordon shows this off on the opening "Dripping Blues," a standard 12-bar blues spacially related to Jimi Hendrix's "Red House." "Pain" begins with an interesting figure that segues well into another slow blues groove, while remaining throughout the song as a molten leitmotif. "Lost in Time" is a pile-driving slab-o-rock that would have sounded in place in a Leslie West and Mountain setlist.

The best song of the set is Gordon's stop-time "Lucky 13." The guitarist's Johnny Winter mojo is on grand display, employing Winter's favored technique of soloing over drums and a single chord. Gordon's invention here is impressive as well as his lyric writing. It will be a great in-concert barn-burner if things ever get slow. While "Dockery's Plantation" possesses some of the most solid guitar playing on the record, the lyrics ring cliche with a recounting of The Robert Johnson Story. That said, Gordon makes up for all with a radioactive rumba treatment of Elmore James' "Stranger Blues." "Pure Grain Alcohol" (a nod to J.B. Hutto's "Too Much Alcohol") stomps hard, as does "Sweetheart Blues." It is gratifying to hear so well-crafted a collection of blues-rock near the dawn of the 2020s. ~C. Michael Bailey

Personnel: Jay Gordon: guitar, vocals; Sharon Butcher: bass, vocals; Tom Parham: drums.

Slide Rules

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Jay Gordon & Blues Venom - Woodchoppers Ball

Released: 2015
Size: 147.0 MB
Time: 64:05
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Styles: Blues Rock
Art: Front

1. The Stinger [3:21]
2. Hobo Hilton [5:22]
3. Chainsaw Boogie [4:45]
4. Stranger Blues [3:57]
5. Voodoo Woman [3:36]
6. Travelin Riverside Blues [3:47]
7. Pain [6:24]
8. Message to Collins [4:29]
9. Drippin Blues [4:41]
10. Pure Grain Alcohol [5:00]
11. Blues Venom [9:08]
12. Original Sin [9:29]

The new album “Woodchoppers Ball” from this seven time award winner,
Grammy Nominee and Gretsch Guitar endorsed artist is a sharp, raw edged Blues diamond that
combines intriguing lyrics, outstanding musicianship and is a true memorable listening experience.
Seven profound fresh tracks feature artists Sharon Butcher (Bass), Ric Daly, (Drums) , Richie Valens
younger brother Mario Ramirez (Saxophone), Rich Wenzel, (Hammond B3) and Rich Gordon (Drums)
in different combinations.
There are five re-mastered Blues jewels hand picked from Jay Gordon's
previous releases that add a certain and honest depth to this new release. Stacked together, the
twelve Blues cuts are a clear example of Jay Gordon's and Blues Venom's no nonsense approach to
making exceptional Blues Rock.
The opening offering “The Stinger” is an off the bat, eye-opening rocker. Gordon's electric guitar
work and lyrics drives home to the listener that he is a Blues guitar slinging Bluesman and that is what he was always meant to be. Jay Gordon has the Blues coursing through his veins and is a real
“Stinger” with relentless fret work talent .

Woodchoppers Ball

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