Richard Ray Farrell & Steve Guyger
Down Home Old School Country
Blues
Blue Beat Music
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It’s not always the case with modern albums, but on the new disc by
Richard Ray Farrell and Steve Guyger you get exactly
what it says on the packet – just good old Down Home Old School Country
Blues. It’s played by two musicians who really love their trade and
have a wealth of blues experience between them.
Richard Ray Farrell and Steve Guyger, both now based in Philadelphia, are
two guys whose love of blues music just spills out and corrupts everyone
around them – the enthusiasm just bubbles out of them.
I can’t think of a better way to showcase their enthusiasm and their
skill than to put out an album like this.
It’s obviously the music that influenced them as they started on their
careers, and they treat it with the respect that it deserves.
There’s no double tracking, no synthetic music, no wah wah boxes, no
distortion – just pure blues played the way it has always been played
down through the years.
From Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Good Mornin’ Little Schoolgirl” through
Big Bill Broonzy’s “Diggin’ My Potatoes,” there isn’t a bad track on the
whole CD (or even one that is less than perfect!).
From “Schoolgirl” onwards these two guys dip into Little Walter, Tampa
Red, Robert Lockwood, Tommy Johnson, Big Joe Williams, and more – the
choice of tracks is almost as good as the execution of them.
Listen to “Rollin & Tumblin,” “Sail On” and “Big Road Blues,” and you'll be
soaking up the flavour of what the blues is all about.
Both of the Sonny Boys are represented, the original and Rice Miller,
and the sleeve notes carefully detail the composer of each song. To me,
the track that truly represents what this album is all about is Robert
Lee McCoy’s “Friar’s Point Blues” (track five). Farrell’s picking and
vocals are perfectly complimented by Guyger’s warm harmonica tones to
produce a little piece of magic taking you back to the 1930s.
As you progress through the album you get to hear the different vocal
styles of Steve Guyger and Richard Farrell, with each taking a turn on
vocals – Farrell is smooth and nasal, Guyger rough and gritty, and the
contrast is perfect – I just hope that this isn’t the only collaboration
between the two of them.
If you like country blues, traditional blues, old blues, any old blues,
buy this CD and enjoy!!
--- Terry Clear