I have had the opportunity to review the new recording Road Ends In Water by Turchi. It will be available for sale on March 1. This is a really interesting recording and one that should be well received by fans of the new primitive blues movement (like me). By the new primitive blues movement, I refer to bands such as the Black Keys, The White Stripes and so many other bands who have gone back to the roots of the blues and put their own spin on the style.
Turchi has done a masterful job of presenting his own music, not a copy of the aforementioned bands, and it is really cool. The recording features 10 tracks, but I am unsure as to how many are originals as the interpretations are fresh. The first track, Keep On Drinkin' is great to get the groove started with Turchi's field holler type voice over slide work and backing instrumentals. On Watchya Tryin he uses the effective technique of singing along with his resonator on the melody and then steps back to play lead on what sounds like an electric guitar tuned in an open tuning. Be Alright has the tempo of the early Chicago blues stuff when it was first becoming electrified and the slide tone of Hound Dog Taylor (not his style...but the raw tone). One of the things that I really like about the release aside from the raw guitar playing is the vocal delivery which is sometimes distorted and sometimes delayed and sometimes in the present. Overall it is very effective. Do For You again a Chicago style blues in that it has the sound of the early electrified blues. Really cool. Don't Let The Devil Ride is a little more modern sounding but still retaining the raw edge present throughout the recording as with the great slide playing. I Can't Be Satisfied, the old Muddy Waters song is done much at the tempo of the original with substantially altered vocals actually putting me in mind of some of the effects the the Stones used on early recordings. Had the artist not thought through all of these issues I don't believe that the song could have carried it's weight. Really great! Shake'em keeps the original tradition strong with the slide resonator and dual slide work throughout. The final song, Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning has a very fresh look at the song. I have 3 times seen the title and gone back to the recording to hear it. It's a great tune and one that most of us know well. It is almost like a Hot Tuna take on a blues song but in this case, Turchi stays much closer to the original than Hot Tuna did on this song 40 years ago. It retains it's spirituality and is a great cap to the end of the recording.
I highly recommend this recording to anyone who likes the pure blues in an unadulterated form done by modern musicians. I feel that Turchi has done an excellent job.
Releases 01 March 2012
Vocals: Reed Turchi
Guitar: Reed Turchi, Luther Dickinson, Chris Reali
Bass: Chris Reali
Drums: Cameron Weeks
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