Bman's Blues Report

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release (June 30, 2024), Brick By Brick by JP Soars and it's a strong blues rocker. Opening with title track, Brick By Brick , JP Soars on vocal and guitar, hits the road running with a potent melody and a great hook. Chris Peet on drums hits it hard and heavy under signature guitar riffs by Soars, joined by Raul Hernandez on percussion. Solid opener. Keep Good Company is a cool rocker with a a somewhat funky rhythm and radio feel, with Peet on drums and bass, Jeremy Staska on percussion, Bob Taylor on Hammond and Annika Chambers on backing vocals. Little Milton's, That's What Love Will Make You Do , has a cool back beat and Soars double on bass with a hot bass line under his excellent lead guitar work. Terry Hanck really adds some great sax work doubling down on this track. Wrapping the release is Baton Rouge meets Tex Mex on Down by The Water . Soars knows how to articulate it both on vocal and guitar and with the pr...

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Good Trouble , from Annika Chambers & Paul DesLauriers and I really like it. Opening with New Orleans flavored, You've Got To Believe , and a great bass and drum rhythm by Chris Peet. Annika Chambers on lead vocal really gets this track going. With Paul DesLauriers on mandolin, southern slide guitar styling by JP Soars, and Kim Richardson on backing vocals, this is a strong opener. On one of my favorite George Harrison compositions,  Isn't It A Pity , Chambers and DesLauriers add a cool funky rhythm and style. DesLauriers lays down some fluid guitar lead and with tight drum accents makes this one of my favorites on the release. Joe South's soulful Walk A Mile In My Shoes is transformed by Chambers and DesLauriers to a great R&B/Gospel track with excellent form and execution. Chambers is certainly capable of carrying this vocally, and with Richardson, Soars and Gary Davenport, who also lays down a great...

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, I Don't Like What's Going On , from Peter Roland and it's a cool contemporary blue release. Opening with Black Cat Bone , Peter Roland wastes no time showing that he can work the fretboard hard. A smooth, slow blues number with only George Caldwell on bass and Jermane Dukes on drums. Midway, the track doubles pace and with JP Soars really smokes it. Very nice. Evil pairs Roland again with strong vocal with Soars on dobro and a stiff foot drum by Dukes setting up a country flavored blues rocker with the swagger of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Trading lead with soars on electric guitar, Roland keeps it clean and articulate. Really grinding in with SRV like rhythm and tempo on Lonely Tonight , Roland's  lead guitar work is vibrant and tight. This band is a tight unit with Roland's vocal and guitar cementing it all together. Wrapping the release is title track and my personal favorite on the release, I Don't Like W...

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Bounce , from the Paul DesLauiers Band and it's a cool rock release with deep roots in the blues. Opening with It's All on You , a swaggering track featuring DesLauiers on lead guitar and vocal with Alec McElcheran on bass and Sam Harrisson on drums. This is a really nice opener with DesLauriers' slide playing having the fat resonance of Jimmy Page. Very nice. On Take Me To The Brink , DesLauriers revs it up with a "Train Train" like rhythm and hot hot chicken pickin style. Excellent! With a rocking funky beat, Driving Me Insane has a great back beat and strong melody. I think that anyone who likes the basic sound of Led Zep would really like this. With a bit more Hendrix like bite but remaining blues based, Picked a Bad Day is a strong rocker featuring the guitar work of DesLauriers and JP Soars. Hi intensity shuffle, Feeling All Kinds of Good , is one of my favorite tracks on the release with s...

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Let Go Of The Reins , from J.P. Soars and he takes you on a wild guitar saturated ride. Opening with Been Down So Long , a cool funky blues country "Elvin Bishop" kind of thing, Soars really sets a strong groove. Soars sets a funky rhythm guitar and vocal lead base over drums by Tab Benoit, B3 by Tillis Verdin, bass by Chris Peet. His lead guitar soloing ins smart and funky with a cool blues edge. Excellent opener. Osark Mountain Daredevils hit, If You Wanna Get To Heaven is a fairly straight forward remake of the original but with rip roaring guitar picking replacing the trademark harmonica riff. Very cool. One of my favorite tracks on the release is funky instrumental, Crow's Nest with it's a great rhythmic beat, Soars' ultra funky guitar solos and a super B3 solo by Verdin. Nice! Lonely Fire is a radio style track with a solid melody but it's the acoustic Spanish guitar playing by Soars ...

JP SOARS' "SOUTHBOUND I-95 TOUR" HEADS NORTH  Performs Locally:  BLUE 5 in Roanoke - Friday, August 10 - 9:30pm   (Roanoke, VA) - JP Soars & The Red Hots' "Southbound I-95 Tour" heads North in August for an East Coast run, with a local performance at Blue 5 , 312 2nd St. SW , Friday, August 10./ Showtime: 9:30pm. Free show. Info: (540) 904-5338 or visi...

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Southbound I-95 , from JP Soars and it's really cool. Opening with Ain't No Dania Beach , there's a country flavor but still folky/rock along the lines of the Band...you know...just right. Joined by Travis Colby on organ, Paul DesLauries on ultra cool slide, Greg Morency on bass, and Sam Harrison on percussion, this is a stylin' opener. Swamp funky, Sure As Hell Ain't Foolin' Me , is a great track with a solid bass line and vocal delivery by Soars. His guitar playing is really nice as well, backed by Teresa James on vocals, Oscar Santiago on percussion and Scott Ankrom on trumpet, this is my favorite track on the release.  Title track, Southbound I-95 has great Dale/surf feel with dancing guitar work and a great rocking bass line by Jason Newstead. Excellent! Rock n Roller, The Grass Ain't Always Greener , will really get you moving with a tight piano solo by Colby and a ripping sax solo by ...

I just received the newest release, Full Moon Night in Memphis , from JP Soars and it's a blast. Opening with title track, Full Moon Night in Memphis , Soars leads the way with his raspy voice and melodic slide work, accompanied by Chris Peet on drums and Todd Edmunds on drums. Brandon Santini adds significantly with some hot harp riffs as well. Back To Broke is a funky track with rap like vocals. Mark "Muggy Doo" Leach adds a nice B3 edge and Soars clean picks a pretty nice solo. Makes No Sense is a really smooth slower blues with sumptuous chords and clean bluesy riffs. A really nice T-Bone Walker like approach to this track makes it stand tall with any of Soars earlier work. Somethin' Ain't Right has a strong blues rock feel reminding me of Mountain. Raul Hernandez adds some cool percussion to this track giving it a different texture. Soars really attacks the electric guitar on this with some real sting. Where's the cowbell? Very nice! Mean Old World ...

This was my fifth Blues Cruise and this marks the third review of the LRBC I’ve done for Bman’s Blues Report .   I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve become a well-seasoned cruiser by now, or if it’s because I had some close friends join me on this cruise, or if the music was any better, or if the islands were more friendly, but this was the best Blues Cruise yet for me! If you haven’t heard me say it before, I’ll start off with these words of wisdom.   A Blues Cruise vacation is exactly what you make it. You don’t even have to be a fan of blues music to have the time of your life, but it helps!   You can listen to as much music as you want starting as early as 10:30AM and going non-stop somewhere on the ship until 6:00AM.   One night I wandered into the Crows Nest at 5:00AM and listened to JP Soars jam until 5:30AM when they finally called it a night… except for one thing, it was already 6:30AM because we had crossed from the Eastern time zone to the Atlanti...