Gearing Up for Duck Jam!!

Hey guys! I am excited to be a part of JOHNNY SANDLIN'S DUCK JAM! Performing with by Spartanburg, SC buddies, The Silver Travis Band.

Buff's Picks for the Week

 These are the ten most often played CD’s around the office for this week. Please note that we include new releases, soon to be releases, older CD’s MP3’s and vinyl. Consider this a blatant attempt at influencing your musical diet.

1.      Somewhere South of Eden    Tommy Talton

The brand spanking new release from founding Cowboy member and solo superstar Tommy Talton is one of his best yet! (Review coming as soon as I can come up with enough adjectives to describe how much I love it!)

2.      Got Soul   Robert Randolph & The Family Band

Smoldering hot rocking soul infused magic from a man who has mastered his own unique sacred-steel style of pedal steel guitar. Sliding toward number one!

3.     Red Hot    Paul Hornsby

After many decades on the other side of the microphone as producer, long time Capricorn Records producer and musician Hornsby delivers his first solo CD, filled with covers of classic blues, Nuawlins funk and hot rockin’ oldies. Surely one of the best releases of 2016.

4.     Tea Surfing   The Boxmasters

The Boxmasters are one of the most prolific bands I know. They have a bunch of great albums, almost every one a double disc set, but they also have a stash of yet to be released material. The team of J.D. Andrew and Bud Thornton may well be the new Lennon and McCartney in terms of the sheer volume of great songs they churn out. Review coming next issue!

5.     Windy City   Alison Krauss

It’s been a bunch of years since Alison stepped out solo, but it was worth the wait. I have described her voice many, many times as “angelic.” Of course, thousands of other writers have done the same I am sure. Pretty much anything she sings sounds heavenly.

6.      The Marcus King Band (self titled)

My Greenville, SC home boy is on his way to the very top, with more than a little help from Warren Haynes. Like his daddy Marvin, young Marcus is a guitar monster, and this album has more soul that Shaq’s basketball shoes. Horns and guitar, and Marcus has a great voice.

7.      Highway Call   Richard Betts

Although it came out in 1974, I have to listen to this one at least once or twice a month. 

One of my all time Top Ten albums.

8.      Don’t Try to Fight it     David Olney

I listened to this yesterday for the first time. . . and second, and third. Very unique style that grabbed my attention and would not let go. Review coming soon. Check it out!

9.      X & Y     Coldplay  2005

Somehow, I missed the Coldplay invasion. I read about them and heard about them a lot in the early part of the century, and I had heard some of their music and enjoyed it. Then my stepson Ben gave me this album on vinyl for Christmas, and I have played it dozens of times. In fact, I went to iTunes and downloaded a few of their other albums. Good stuff.

10.   57^th & 9^th     Sting

Sting is back! Although his voice is not quite as high, it has aged like fine wine, and you can hear the raw emotion coming through now, perhaps more than ever before. Just a great album.

CD of the Day: Samantha Fish

Samantha Fish

Chills & Fever

(Ruf)

When I first heard the music of Missouri blues-rocker Samantha Fish several years ago, I was blown away from the outset. The girl can rock out minute and whip off an amazing blues riff the next. Hell, she can also shine on some R&B, and I do believe she can play any style she wants. Samantha has a powerful and sultry voice and her guitar chops rival those of many a “big name” guitarist. There’s even a custom guitar named in her honor. The SF1 (short for Samantha Fish 1) signature model by Delaney Guitars features humbucker pickups and a swamp ash body. The sound hole in the shape of a fish is a cool touch as well.

Her latest album, Chills & Fever was recorded in Detroit Rock City, the city that gave us Ted Nugent. Of course the city is equally known for it’s sweet soul music coming out of Motown, and its punk scene that gave us folks like Iggy Pop. Samantha enlists the help of members of the punk blues band The Detroit Cobras along with producer Bobby Harlow (The GO/ Jack White) to record a widely varied set of songs that manage to show many different sides of the Kansas City bombshell.

The record kicks off with a rocking “He Did It,” with Fish singing passionately and from the heart, and seems to use her guitar as a weapon to underline how she feels about a guy doing her wrong.

It was quite a nice surprise to hear Samantha cover the 1963 Barbara Lewis smash, “Hello Stranger.” It’s one of those songs where you immediately recognize the words and melody, and find yourself on Google looking for information on Barbara Lewis. At least that’s what I did.

Chills & Fever is full of amazing songs, from the rocking “It’s Your Voodoo Working” and “You Can’t Go” to “Little Baby,” Samantha rocks it out and turns right around to blaze up some blues on “Either Way I Lose” as well as some mighty sweet and smooth soul on “Nearer to You” and “Never Gonna Cry.”

Samantha's vocals and fiery guitar is backed by a great band and full on horn section, mixed and mastered by Jim Kissling (The Crystal Method, Fat Boy Slim) creating one of the freshest, hippest records of the year.

-     Michael Buffalo Smith