Severn Records
Sets October 7 Release Date for Seeing Is Believing, New CD from
Acclaimed Sugar Ray & the Bluetones
ANNAPOLIS, MD – Severn Records announces an October 7
release date for Seeing Is Believing, the new CD from the
acclaimed Sugar Ray & the Bluetones. Seeing Is Believing is
the band’s seventh album for Severn Records and follows their highly-successful
2014 CD, Living Tear to Tear, which garnered them seven Blues
Music Award nominations, including “Best Band,” plus individual nominations for
Sugar Ray as “Traditional Male Blues Artist” and “Instrumentalist – Harmonica,”
and a song nomination for “Things Could Be Worse.” At the most-recent Blues
Music Awards in May, the group was again nominated for “Band of the Year,” as
well as individual nominations for keyboardist Anthony Geraci, guitarist
Monster Mike Welch and bassist Michael Mudcat Ward. Anthony Geraci’s album with
The Boston Blues-All-Stars, Fifty Shades of Blue, received three
additional nominations.
Produced by the band, the dozen tracks on Seeing
Is Believing – 11 originals and a scintillating instrumental cover of
B.B. King’s “You Know I Love You” – sweep out of the speakers with the power of
a gale force wind, blowing with a transcendent groove. The band: Sugar Ray
Norcia on lead vocals and harmonica, Monster Mike Welch on guitars, Anthony
Geraci on pianos and Hammond organ, Michael Mudcat Ward on bass and Neil Gouvin
on drums, never wastes any notes. From the opening Mississippi blues of “Sweet
Baby,” that features Norcia's down-and-dirty harmonica and his signature
blues growl, and the wink-and-a-nod jazz blues of “Misses Blues,” to the
smoky lounge tune, “Not Me,”
Sugar Ray and the Bluetones wring out every emotion,
demonstrating just how blues ought to be played.
“We do this to have fun,” laughs Sugar Ray. “Every time we
go into the studio or out on a road trip or onstage, we always say ‘let’s have
some fun’.” It’s that spirit of keeping it loose and playing for the fun of it
and simply letting the music carry them wherever it will that keeps Sugar Ray
& the Bluetones burning up the musical landscape. As the band sings on the
song, “Blind Date,” written by Norcia, “if you ain't having fun/you're doing
something wrong.” Each player’s ability to step right up and plug right into
the groove with his own musical vision for the song creates the overarching
unity of the band’s music.
“We’re almost telepathic in the way we work together,” says
Sugar Ray about the band’s communication, creating a unity that results in the
band’s tightness. No notes ever get left on the floor, and Welch, Ward, Geraci,
and Gouvin seem to know just when to come in with a riff or a beat and when not
to. Monster Mike “understands me very well musically,” observes Sugar Ray; “so
if I want to play a low-down blues, he has the part down and comes right in.”
Mudcat knows the right things to do and the right things not to do, “and that
last part might be even more important,” chuckles Norcia. It’s so refreshing to
work with Anthony and Neil, too, Norcia says, because “they, like all of us,
want to play this music right to pay homage to it.” This unity of musical
vision and ability, says Norcia, is what “sets us apart.”
That musical oneness also grows out of the Bluetones’ time
together. They just celebrated 35 years as a band. Monster Mike Welch is the
“youngster” of the band, since he’s only been with the Bluetones for 16 years.
Over those years, the band has put out many critically-acclaimed albums and
garnered high honors; this past April, Sugar Ray & the Bluetones were
inducted into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame. In 2014, Sugar Ray received
his third Grammy nomination (“Best Blues Album”) for his playing on Remembering
Little Walter.
On Seeing is Believing, as on all their albums
and at their shows, Sugar Ray & the Bluetones are having fun—and so will
anyone who listens to any song on this new album—but they’re also paying homage
to this “beautiful, wonderful genre of music.” This new album itself is a work
of beauty and wonder, indeed, both paying tribute to the music of everyone from
Muddy Waters, Otis Spann, and Little Walter to Louis Jourdan and Louis
Armstrong. The sound is that big and that tight.
Itinerary
Aug 26 - Blues & BBQ
Event, Webster, NY
Sept 2 - Blues In Hell Festival, Hell, Norway
Sept 4 - Harvest Time Blues Festival , Monaghan, Ireland
Sept 9 - Thunder Road, Somerville, MA
Sept 10 - The Knickerbocker Cafe, Westerly, RI
Sept 17 - Pennsylvania Blues Festival (Boston Blues All-Stars)
Lake Harmony, PA
Sept 24 - Pitman’s Freight Room, Laconia, NH
Oct 1 - Crossroads Music Series, North Andover, MA
Nov 19 - Blackstone River Theater, Cumberland, RI
Nov 25 - Poland (Sugar Ray and the Bluetones with The Boston Blues
All-Stars Featuring Anthony Geraci, Darrell Nulisch and Michelle Willson)
Nov 26 – Holland
Dec 2 - Blue Rooster, Sarasota, FL
Dec 3 - Bradenton Blues Festival, Bradenton, FL
Dec 7 – Englewood’s On Dearborn, Englewood, FL
Dec 8 - Wireless Blues Society Christmas Party, Dothan, AL
Dec 9 - Aces, Suncoast Blues Society Christmas Party,
Bradenton, FL
Dec 10 - Eats and Beats, Parkland Amphitheater, Parkland, FL
Dec 16- Chans, Woonsocket, RI
I just received the newest (release date April 9, 2013) Duke Robillard release, Independently Blue, and it's killer. Robillard pulls out all of the stops on this release playing some of his best riffs in years. The release opens with Al Basile track I Wouldn't-a Done That, a loping Texas style blues track. Robillard takes a stinging guitar solo on the track and has fine support from Bruce Bears on keys, Brad Hallen on bass, Mark Teixeira on drums and percussion, and featuring guest musicians Monster Mike Welch on guitar, Doug Woolverton on Trumpet and Billy Novick on clarinet. Another Basile track, Below Zero has a real interesting sound with ZZ Top like guitar distortion and a simple blues rock beat. This is a great track! Monster Mike's Stapled To the Chicken's Back is a swing blues instrumental with great lead work. You want to hear classic Robillard, this is it! Robillard and Welch trade smokin' hot riffs on this track pushed along by Hallen and Teixeira. Porter Granger penned Patrol Wagon Blues is an absolute blast calling up all of the swamp of Louisiana and featuring great trumpet mastery by Woolverton and sexy clarinet work by Novick. Robillard plays it crisp on this track but the horns lead the way. Robliiard plays a little jazzy interlude backed by the always great key work of Bears. Original track, Laurene, is a Chuck Berry style rocker and the guitar slingers pull out all the "double" stops. Even a little shimmering bend work is present and Bears adds to the original rock n roll feel. Another Robillard original, Moongate, has a real atmospheric feel with overlayed guitars in the background and reverbed guitars in the front. Really cool. Strollin' With Lowell and BB, another Robillard original, lets the guitar do the talking, swing style. Bears gets the chance to step up front for a while and of course he never wastes a note. Another really nice track. Another Welch original, This Man, This Monster has a really subtle opening playing T Bone Walker style... oh yeah...this is the real deal. As the track opens up, so does the playing. This is one smoking gun! A funky number, Groovin' Slow, finds Hallen pushed forward in the mix. Keeping vocals to a minimum, this is a really nice groove with a lot of guitar riffin' for guitar geeks like me! Finishing with Robillard original, If This Is Love, Duke gives up some of his personal best vocals on the release. Stinging guitar riffs answering each vocal line and the guys hold nothing back on this track.
This is a super release and should automatically go to the best of 2013 list prospects!
