Texas '51 Records artist: Van Wilks - 21st Century Blues - New Release Review
I just received the newest release, 21st Century Blues , by Van Wilks and it's quite good. Opening with Strange Girl you immediately hear strong,Texas blues rock framing and pop styling. Singer, songwriter, guitarist, Van Wilks is joined by Tommy Taylor on drums, Reggie Witty on bass and Billy Mason on keys for a clever opener. Billy Gibbons penned, Drive By Lover , has a lot of the drive of ZZ Top and there is actually quite a bit of similarity between Wilks' and Gibbon's voices. With a driving bass line and fluid blues guitar riffs, Wilks shows his stuff. On Golddigger , the band has a strong swagger and warm guitar rhythm. This is a super track and sans a few hot pinched harmonics and other stylistic guitar tricks, this could be ZZ Top. Very nice! One of my favorite tracks on the release, Just Walk Away , is a bluesy ballad with a lush melodic melody and nice guitar underpinnings. There's A Sin In There Somewhere has a much more primitive feel on the intro with ...