Johnny Laporte - That's Me

Bitrate: 320K/s

Year: 2023
Time: 42:27 
Size: 99,4 MB 
Label: Sounds Haarlem Likes Vinyl
Styles: Blues
Art: Front 

Tracks Listing:
 1. Waitin' - 3:44
 2. Better Run Through The Fire - 3:01
 3. Forbidden Fruit - 4:18
 4. World's In A Tangle - 5:06
 5. At The End Of The Book - 5:26
 6. Angel Fly Home - 4:17
 7. Ramblin' On My Mind - 3:32
 8. Bobby Ain't Dumb - 4:08
 9. We Gotta Tie Her Down - 3:57
10. Storyteller - 4:53

Johnny Laporte (1952, Medan) emigrated with his family from Indonesia to the Netherlands in 1958 to settle in Haarlem. At a young age, Johnny, with his brother Guus, entered the music scene as guitarists. Johnny went on to play in the Oscar Benton Blues Band. Since 1974, Johnny has played with his brother in the Haarlem blues band Barrelhouse. Barrelhouse has been awarded two Edisons and was inducted into the Dutch Blues Hall of Fame in 2012. The band will be celebrating its 50th anniversary next year. This anniversary will be celebrated with an extensive farewell tour. In 2018, Laporte made the album 'I Am Back' with Oscar Benton and in 2019 the album 'Mirror's Don't Lie'. During the corona period, he started working on his own repertoire in his home studio. The result will appear on his first solo album this month. This album, 'That's Me', can rightly be called a solo album because Johnny plays all instruments on this album and also makes his debut as a singer. Simultaneously with 'That's Me', Johnny's debut novel "Zwijgen Zweeg Gezwegen" is published on the same day (November 18). The lyrics for a number of songs on the album are taken from this novel. Album and book were presented on November 18 in Theater Hakim in Haarlem. 'That's Me' opens uptempo with Waitin'. Melodic guitar work and a familiar guitar solo halfway through. Better Run Through The Fire, with subdued vocals, is a beautiful blues that occasionally reminds me of I just can't be satisfied by Muddy Waters. The guitar playing is beautiful, in the style of Peter Green, in the blues ballad Forbidden Fruit, inspired by the classic Summertime. The guitar licks in Jimmy Rogers' mid-tempo blues World's In A Tangle and in the subdued gospel-like blues At The End Of The Book are then lyrical. The 'yearning' sung Angel Fly Home is a guitarist gem. The piano playing is nice next to the biting and lyrical guitar work in Robert Johnson's classic Ramblin' On My Mind. A beautiful version. In addition to playing the electric guitar, Laporte is also performing as a bassist in Bobby Ain't Dump. A synthesizer can be heard in the reggae-like We Gotta Tie Her Down. Laporte plays the piano beautifully again in the quiet jazzy Storyteller. In the boogie There's A War Outside, Laporte sounds clearly influenced by John Lee Hooker. The closing song, the instrumental swamp blues Play It, with tight drumming and a beautiful piano solo, is enhanced with a number of samples from the 'Swamp Fox' Tony Joe White.
Conclusion:
'That's Me' is a varied blues album by a passionate and all-round bluesman. A very pleasant solo debut.

That's Me
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