Savoy Brown – “Blues All Around”
Album Reviews | Feb 25th, 2023
Record Label: Quarto Valley Records
Genre: Blues
Buy on Amazon.com
There’s never a bad time of the day/week/month/year for blues. Thankfully Savoy Brown is back with some new songs, although it’s a bit of a sad moment considering the band’s founder and constant guitarist and lead vocalist Kim Simmonds passed away in December. Alas, the music must go on-and the band has, with “Blues All Around.”
“Falling Through” is a simple, modern dirge that is remarkably reminiscent of those early bluesmen who sang on Southern porches. Then comes “Black Heart,” which is dirty good fun that reminds me of the Texas sound of the Blasters and Jimmy Vaughan. The same can be said of the following track, “Going Down South,” which, uh, might have several meanings. “Gypsy Healer” has a rocking blues guitar solo mid-song, and the fun only continues on “Blues All Around,” “Texas Love” and “Winning Hand.” The uber-bluesy “Can’t Go Back to My Hometown” is an adult’s lament about adolescent heartache, and one of the record’s best. The album closes out in high style, with “My Baby” and “Falling Through the Cracks”—the latter a more energetic, electric version of the album’s first song.
There is great music in here, and “Blues All Around” could be the backdrop to not just the South but anywhere the blues continues to live on.
Notable Tracks: Can’t Go Back to My Hometown, Black Heart, Gypsy Healer, Blues All Around
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