Jason Vivone and the Billy Bats - The Avenue - New Release Review

I just received the newest release, The Avenue, from Jason Vivone and the Billy Bats and it's raw and fun. Opening with a Bo Diddley style track, The Vivone Song (pronounced Viv O Nee), a musical chant with heavy tom tom rhythm and thick warm lower octave guitar melody on vibrato, a cool opener. Jim Jackson's, Kansas City Blues, is a rumbler with Vivone on wild slide guitar and lead vocal, Matt Bustamante on drums, Rick Maclvor on piano and Jeremy Clark on bass, topped off by Joanna Berkebile, Ben Hoppes and Paula Crawford on backing vocal. A solid boogie woogie and absolutely camaraderie among the band makes this a great track. Title track, The Avenue, tells the story of the gritty part of town where the dirt goes down. With the band in common vocal style and with very cool vibrato glistened guitar work, this track shimmers. Very nice. Hello Mrs Radzinsky is a driving boogie with a great walking bass line complimented nicely by MacIver on keys and featuring Vivone on slide. Ray and tasty! Train Musta Jumped The Tracks is a really cool track with a north Mississippi feel (to me). It's a loose blues with rag tag slide work and tightly organized vocals. Very cool! Calendar is an easy paced blues with thick slide work framing the seedy calendars known to grace men's garages and offices. With it's deliberate bass line, slashing slide and backing vocals, this is certainly a crowd pleaser. My Heart Is In The Right Place is a cool rocker with a bit of funk and jazz. A hard line is set down by Clark and Bustamante giving a nice platform for soloing by Vivone and MacIver. His Honor, The Mayor is a super closer with reverb saturated guitar work only in a perfectly clean environment. I solemn introspective track, this track hits dead on. Excellent! 

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Eddie Ate Dynamite - Jason Vivone and the Billy Bats - New Release review

I just received the newest release, Eddie Ate Dynamite (January 28, 2014) from Jason Vivone and the Billy Bats and it's a modern Louis Jordan with a twist. Opening with Cut Those Apron Strings, Vivone lets off a full swing number featuring bopping backing vocals from Paula Crawford and Joanna Berkebile as well as Bryan Redmond on sax and Chad Boydston on trumpet. Placebo has an unusual beat and a composition that is a part Zappa, part Little Feat and part Captain Beefhart with particularly cool slide work from Vivone and bass from Jeremy Clark. Mean opens with a haunting vocal lead from Crawford. BB King like blues riffs permeate the trance like melody and Matt Bustamante keeps it tight on drums. Title track, Eddie Ate Dynamite is a loose slide guitar led track with swing like rhythm. It's obvious that this band is serious but their music is intended to be a lot of fun. Analog has a standard blues style and turnaround but is very simple format with vocal, bass and drums. Using a traditional melody and simple guitar solo the track gets it's point across. The Blues and the Greys has a "train" rhythm but presents itself with primary storytelling intent. Pretty cool. Me Thinks The Lady Doth Protest Too Much opens with a nice "Dazed and Confused" style bass part. The walking bass is built upon by nice key work by Rick MacIvor and light chord anchors from Crawford. Where Did The Day Go opens with nice primitive style slide work from Vivone rhythm guitar from Crawford. This is primarily a bluesy guitar jam with both interesting lead and slide work. Clark steps up with a nice solo and Bustamante also gets a chance to stretch on this track as well. Very cool! I Can Never Say Goodbye is a gospel/R&B style ballad with Vivone taking the lead on vocal accompanied by McIvor on piano. This track has a sweet melody ad is a good closer to an interesting release. You're not likely to hear anything else like it this year!

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Lather, Rinse Repeat - Jason Vivone & The Billy Bats - New Release Review

I just received the newest release, Lather, Rinse, Repeat from Jason Vivone & The Billy Bats. The line up is Vivone on vocal, guitar and harp; Matt Bustamante on drums, Jeremy Clark on bass; Paula Crawford on vocal and guitar; Imani Glasgow on vocal and percussion and Ben Hoppes on vocal and banjo. The release opens with a seductive I Hear A Heartbeat, a Texas Boogie style track with tempting lyrics and rippin' cigar box slide. Baby Fat using a tongue in cheek rhythm features Vivone on solo vocal and minimal band backing except a slide melody and drums. The Nina, The Pinta, The Santa Maria is a sped up Chicago blues with 50's style vocals and classic blues riffs but with a touch of humor and instrumentals. The Black Lone Ranger, loosely based on a Muddy Waters track and with a touch of George Thorogood, keeps the groove and again gives the slide king a chance to show his stuff. One Hot Mother, a prototypical 12 bar blues track allows Vivone the freedom to sing clever lyrics to anotherwise basic track. My favorite track on the release by far, Photograph, has the characteristics of a Tex/Mex blues along the lines of something Ryland Cooder would do. I like the melody and the slide work is controlled and interesting. Do The Nod has hints of Bo Diddley and further modern punk music. It breaks away form a lot of the balance of the recordings in that it is much more loosely recorded. Liquid Diet is a funky scratch track on the simplest basis. Medusa Blues wraps the recording with a more complex track... not in execution but in composition. This song has very simple components but is actually quite interesting with a quiet wailing harp. This is a party blues recording so get out your stuff and have a ball.

  If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band!