Damon Fowler
Sugar Shack
Blind Pig Records
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Sugar Shack (Blind Pig)
is Florida native Damon Fowler’s debut album for
Blind Pig Records, and what a start he’s made! He
has released some albums previously Riverview
Drive, Roots & Branches, and
Live At Skipper’s
Smokehouse, but this CD is way out in front in
both quality and content. This
guy is refreshingly different, and writes a lot of
his own material – he wrote nine out of the 12
tracks on the CD – and when he does a cover version,
it’s not the run of the mill blues number that gets
covered by everyone else, this guy picks things from
Merle Haggard!
Obviously, people are noticing this young man, he
was voted Best Guitarist, Slide Guitarist and Lap
Steel Player in Creative Loafing Magazine in Tampa,
Florida last year. It’s not difficult to
understand why when you listen to this album.
Influences would seem to include some swamp blues,
Johnny Winter and Duane Allman, amongst others.
The
CD opens with a bouncy country-style blues “Some
Fun,” which nicely demonstrates Fowler’s
excellent guitar picking, as well as his songwriting
expertise – it’s a good way to start the album and
it leaves the listener wanting more. The tempo stays up with
a nice boogie blues called “VFW,” another Fowler
original which leads into a slow, slow blues – “I
Hope It’s Gonna Rain” – moody, well written, and
good listening.
The
slide guitar makes itself known on track four, “Lonely Blues”, a well-balanced rocking blues which
shows that Damon Fowler is a mean slide player, up
there with today’s best.This shows up well on track
six, “Sugar Lee,” as well – a track that I just
couldn’t sit still while I was listening.
The
Merle Haggard cover, “Tonight The Bottle Let Me
Down,” is a great up tempo version, and I have to
admit that I like this version more than the
original!! It retains a little of the country
twang, whilst merging a great bluesy background.
This
is a CD that merits a place in any blues lovers
collection, but be warned it could get stuck in your
CD player because you won’t want to take it back
out!
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Terry Clear