Damn Right I’ve Got The Blues – Pam Taylor Band vs. James Cotton vs. Mike Eldred Trio

Damn Right I’ve Got The Blues – Pam Taylor Band vs. James Cotton vs. Mike Eldred Trio
PAM TAYLOR BAND
Hot Mess
Pam Taylor Band

Pam Taylor from Lancaster (South Carolina not Lancashire) is a car sales person, who works with her dad, Mike Taylor. When they’re not offering easy finance and competitive terms at low-low, giveaway prices, they play together in a blues band. Ms Taylor takes care of the singing, Pa Taylor takes care of the saxophone playing, and together with Kyle Philips (lead guitar), Rusty Gilreath (bass), LA Freeman and Gerry Hagstedt (drums), they’ve put together an enjoyable CD.

It’s the kind of mixture of blues rock and soul that you’ll find gracing many a roadhouse on a Saturday night. Music for drinking and dancing. But there is nothing wrong with that, when the music is performed well, and with passion. And that’s what you get here. Apart from a cover version of ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’, the music is all original and peaks on the lengthy slow blues, ‘Next Time You Think Of Cheating’.

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JAMES COTTON
Cotton Mouth Man
Alligator

Damn right, he’s got the blues! He may not be able to sing any more, thanks to the Cancer, but he can still honk a sweet harp, and blow a mean moothie.

In case you don’t know, James Cotton is harmonica legend, having done a 12 year shift in Muddy Waters band, as well as forty years of fronting his own band. Nowadays you will find Darrel Nulisch taking care of the vocals, alongside Tom Holland (guitar), Noel Neal (bass) and Jerry Porter (drums), although producer Tom Hambridge seems to take care of the drums here, as well as co-writing a lot of the songs. Bung in some guest stars, and I use the word advisedly, such as ‘Midnight Train’ with piano from ex Allman Brother Chuck Leavell, as well as, wait for it, Gruntin’ Gregg Allman on vocals! Oh, yes.

You’ll also find Keb Mo’ on ‘Mississippi Mud’, Ruthie Foster on the slow blues of ‘Wrapped Around My Heart’ and a cracking turn from Delbert McClinton on ‘Hard Sometimes’. Joe Bonamassa and Warren Haynes also turn up, but nothing takes away from this being a great James Cotton album.

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THE MIKE ELDRED TRIO
Elvis Unleaded
Rip Cat

Ah! See what they did there? It’s a pun, right? Unleaded. Clever. Cos it’s a petrol pump and cos, Elvis was, like, um. It’s a pun, right?

Ach. See, once upon a time Elvis Presley sang a load of blues and blues influenced songs. Before he got fat and boring. Singer and guitarist Mike Eldred used to be a member of ex-Stray Cat Lee Rocker’s band, so knows his way around Elvis styled material. So who better to take us back to those years on a set of twenty tunes from the likes of Little Richard, The Coasters, Lloyd Price, Jimmy Reed, Fats Domino, and more, all of which were done by Elvis.

So, there are visits to ‘Burning Love’, ‘Lawdy Miss Clawdy’, ‘T-R-O-U-B-L-E’), ‘Long Tall Sally’ and ‘Rip It Up’. You can tell the band love doing this, and I loved hearing it as the fire and energy of the early days of rock’n’roll came burning through. The musicians are tight, the music is hot, and it’s just an invigorating ride from start to finish. An absolute treat.

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