Showing posts with label Wayne Riker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wayne Riker. Show all posts

Monday, January 15, 2024

The Wayne Riker Gathering - Alphabetical Blues Bash Vol. 1

Album: Alphabetical Blues Bash Vol. 1
Size: 98,2 MB
Time: 42:15
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2022
Styles: Blues
Art: Front

1. All Your Love (Feat. Shelle Blue) (3:55)
2. Baby Please Don't Go (2:07)
3. Checkin' Up On My Baby (Feat. Lauren Leigh) (3:27)
4. Dust My Broom (2:38)
5. Eyes Like A Cat (Feat. Billy Watson) (3:55)
6. Fever (Feat. Janet Hammer) (3:43)
7. Going Down (Feat. Deanna Haala) (3:22)
8. Honky Tonk (3:17)
9. I'm Willing To Be Your Friend (Feat. Debora Galan) (3:25)
10. Jailhouse Blues (Feat. Ron Houston) (2:53)
11. Killing Floor (Feat. Michelle Lundeen) (2:36)
12. Little Red Rooster (Feat. Liz Ajuzee) (4:43)
13. Move It On Over (2:09)

Wayne Riker is a long time guitar teacher and author of music books from Southern California. Here he demonstrates his guitar prowess with a dozen blues standards with vocal assistance from nine San Diego area singers. His career has entered his sixth decade and he’s a master of the six string. Riker handles all the electric guitar work. Oliver Shirley III play bass and Marty Dodson is on drums. Rebecca Jade and Ron Christopher Jones do some fun backing vocals on tracks 5 and 9.

Shelle Blue does a fine job with Otis Rush and “All Your Love.” Riker nails the guitar lead. He follows that with an instrumental version of “Baby Please Don’t Go,” the Joe Williams standard. It’s well done. Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Checkin’ Up On My Baby” is next and Lauren Leigh handles the fronting of the band quite well. It swings and bounces nicely and Wayne and band aptly support the effort. “Dust My Broom” is next and Riker does some mean slide in this nice instrumental. “Eyes Like A Cat” features Billy Watson who traces vocal licks with Rikers guitar. It’s a nice jump blues. Riker wails on his ax for us and it’s very sweet.

Next up is “Fever,” and Janet Hammer does a sultry and superb job with it. Deanna Haala handles “Going Down” as Riker rocks out a bit for us. “Honky Tonk” is another interesting instrumental with a mid tempo groove and a song that Riker makes his own. “I’m Willing To Be Your Friend” has Debora Galan on lead vocals and Riker doing some fine guitar picking. “Jailhouse Blues” is an old Bessie Smith song. Ron Houston give the cut a down home feel and Riker helps in setting the mood with some pretty solo guitar behind him.

“Killing Floor” follows that with Michelle Lundeen in the lead. She grabs this one and gives it her all as Riker plays some mean guitar. Up next is “Little Red Rooster” with Liz Ajuzee handling the singing. These two Howlin’ Wolf songs are fun as Wayne shows his stuff. He finishes up with a swing and jump version of “Move It On Over,” and Riker has a lot of fun with the song. Now that he’s covered A through M, I expect Volume 2 will cover the second half of the alphabet. These familiar songs get respectful covers and interesting takes by Riker and his crew. The album is a fun ride with his great guitar and his cadre of nine singers and his band.

Alphabetical Blues Bash Vol. 1 mc
Alphabetical Blues Bash Vol. 1 gofile

The Wayne Riker Gathering - Alphabetical Blues Bash Vol. 2

Album: Alphabetical Blues Bash Vol. 2
Size: 98,2 MB
Time: 42:29
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2023
Styles: Blues
Art: Front

1. Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out (Feat. Sandi King) (2:33)
2. One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer (Feat. Stacy Antonel) (3:38)
3. Parchman Farm Blues (Feat. Steve Gouveia) (2:06)
4. Quarter To Three (Feat. Shelle Blue) (2:43)
5. Rollin' And Tumblin' (2:29)
6. Still Can Boogie (4:06)
7. That's What The Blues Is All About (Feat. Joshua Taylor) (4:31)
8. Unchain My Heart (Feat. Rebecca Jade) (3:21)
9. Ventilator Blues (Feat. Deanna Haala) (3:03)
10. Walking Blues (Feat. Roni Lee) (3:52)
11. X (2:28)
12. Your Time Is Gonna Come (Feat. Lauren Leigh) (3:54)
13. Zeitgeist (Feat. Nathan Raney) (3:40)

Not much can add to the praise already given San Diego guitar maestro Wayne Riker, but much of that bears repeating with vigor, if only for the benefit of music lovers unfamiliar with the magnificence he applies to the blues. In recent memory Riker has released a scintillating slew of top-tier blues guitar efforts, two records especially. The first, 2018’s Blues Breakout, is a hard power-trio effort with a surfeit of the guitarist’s quick-witted licks. Wayne fills all the empty spaces and enters a rapture with his long improvisations overrun with slinky, sleek, and slicing ideas, one atop the other.

The second, 2020’s Blues Lightning, a pulsing session with swift riffs, a well-greased rhythm section, and a series of guest vocals by an assemblage of the best blues singers available. Punchy, rocking, the guitarist, the band, and his guest singers show a proficiency in feeling and finesse for a variety of R&B categories. His latest albums, Alphabetical Blues Bash Volume l & 2, has a new edition of the Wayne Riker Gathering with bassist Oliver Shirly III, drummer Marty Dodson and a familiar cast of grit-worthy guest vocalists. /Ted Burke, San Diego Troubadour

Alphabetical Blues Bash Vol. 2 mc
Alphabetical Blues Bash Vol. 2 gofile