Bman's Blues Report

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Yard Sale , by J-Rad Cooley and it's a solid blues rocker. Opening with Livin' Downtown , J-Rad Cooley leads on piano, harmonica and vocal. Joined by Victor Wainwright on piano, Aubrey McCrady on guitar, Josh Karrick on bass and Shake E. Folkes on drums, this is a simple pop rocker. Bluesy, Now She's A Drifter has a real warm feeling with strong vocals by Cooley and great piano backing by Wainwright. Lightly funky All Night Mama has a nice strut, and a regal backbeat with real nice piano and drum work. Wrapping the release is my favorite track on the release, Til Hate Is Gone , a swampy ballad with a lot of soul. This is a nice showcase for Cooley on vocal and songwriter, and his own harmonica playing adds a nice contrast over the keyboard/drum combo, tasty guitar riffs and backing vocals. This is an excellent closer for this release, sounding like it's from Muscle Shoals studio.        If yo...

I just received the newest release, Yard Sale , from Matthew Patrick . Patrick is a talented singer/songwriter/guitar player and his talents are reflected in this release. Opening with Fly , a reggae rhythm pop track with well orchestrated vocal harmonies between Patrick and Jillian Trawick. Patrick plays some slick guitar riffs over Don Hoffman on organ and Andrew Diamond on drums. Howl At The Moon has a blues rock and not only features some nice slide work from Patrick but also some cool harp riffs from Brian Veditz. The Fool I've Got To Be has a real country rock flavor cut from the Ramblin' Man cloth. One Ride has a cool Latin rhythm highlighting David Kasochi on bass and Diamond on drums. Patrick again opens up on slide and his style is really nice. A pretty cool track, this is probably my favorite track on the release. Wrapping the release is the traditional track, Midnight Special , done along the lines of John Fogherty with a little bit of a reggae twist. A cool re...