Bman's Blues Report

I just received the newest release, True & Blue , from Hans Theessink  & Terry Evans and it handles the roots of blues with modern sophistication. Opening with Demons , an easy paced country blues, Theessink leads the way on vocal with light harmonies by Evans. Traditional, Mother Earth , has a more soulful delta feel with excellent acoustic guitar work. Both Theessink and Evans work the lead vocals as well as harmonies. Very smooth guitar solos on this track make it one of my favorites. Fast paced Glory of Love is a great finger picked number with smoothly blended vocals. Gotta Keep Movin' features nice acoustic slide work and Evans on lead vocals. Very nice! Vicksburg Is My Home , a slow 12 bar number, again features Evans on lead vocals. This is a very traditional style track and very effective. Ledbelly's Bourgeois Blues , done a long time ago again by Ry Cooder is another of my favorites. A great strut feel and aggressive slide work coupled by Theessink on harp...

I just received the newest release, Delta Time , by Hans Theessink & Terry Evans and it's terrific! This very earthy and warm recording begins with Delta Time , a bouncy blues track written by Theessink with deep thick vocals, acoustic and slide guitar. Blues Stay Away From Me has a real roots (country) feel and beautiful vocal harmonies with Ry Cooder bringing in some distinctive riffs. A great duet on It Hurts Me Too brings freshness to a well traveled track. The instrumentation has been applied like paint on a canvas just a light dab here and there as required. How Come People Act Like That , another cover track, is handled in a fresh light and again the duo with their rich vocals and Ry Cooder adding his flair on guitar makes for a very cool track. The Birds and The Bees , a classic pop track, has been included memorializing Evans contribution to the original track some 50 years ago. Build Myself A Home , a Thessink original, has a distinct gospel feel and is beautifu...

His musical journey began in Vicksburg, Mississippi, in the heart of the Delta, where he was born. He was in the church choir as a young person and used to sing tenor, baritone and bass. He jokes that he wasn't allowed to sing the "rough stuff" like rock and roll in those days and that he was only allowed to sing gospel. He'd have to "slip away" to sing secular songs. Terry secretly listened to people like Elmore James, Little Walter, Albert King and B.B. King, to name a few. It was then that he decided he wanted be a soul singer. In the sixties, Terry worked with an acappella group called The Knights, touring throughout the South in clubs and juke joints. From there Terry was lured to the west coast where he first picked up the guitar, started writing music and soon became a prolific songwriter. Pops Staples as well as the late, great Louis Jordan (among others) have recorded his songs. Long before Terry made his first recording fronting his own band, music...