Earl & Them - Special Blend

Bitrate:320K/s
Year:2011
Time:57:29 
Size:132,3 MB 
Label:Swingin' Door Records 
Styles:Blues/Funk/Southern Swamp Rock/Soul Blues   
Art:Front 

Tracks Listing:
 1. Puttin' Out Fires - 5:22
 2. Loved By You - 3:59
 3. Remedy - 5:12
 4. Woman Sawed In Half - 5:03
 5. Smoke qnd Mirrors - 4:43
 6. When She Was My Girl - 4:31
 7. Party All Night - 6:04
 8. Shape I'm In - 3:58
 9. Ophelia - 3:50
10. Yellow Moon - 9:06
11. Dirt Road Woman - 5:36

Earl & Them’s Special Blend is straight up tail shaking, badass music. From the irresistible funky groove of “Putting Out Fires” to the blues harmonica driven wail of “Dirt Road Woman”, this CD won’t let you sit still, and that’s a very good thing. The CD includes five original cuts, three of which were penned by blues artist Jimmy Thackery (of the Drivers) who also lends his riveting guitar licks to this recording. Jason Davis (vocals and guitar) authored the other two. The covers on the CD are well-chosen and equally well-executed, including The Neville Brothers’ “Yellow Moon” and the Four Tops’ “When She was my Girl”. 
 Lead vocals are shared by Davis and drummer, Terry Cagle. Cagle’s voice and percussion are perfectly suited to both the soulful funk and southern swamp rock sounds found on this release. He shines on the cover of The Band’s “Ophelia”, which should come as no surprise; he’s Levon Helm’s nephew. Davis’ voice has some of the same rough, raw, heartbreaking quality I love in John Hiatt’s. This band’s cover of Hiatt’s “Woman Sawed in Half”, featuring Davis’ vocals, is excellent. Davis’ voice on his own “Smoke and Mirrors”, a slow love song with a great retro 50s sound, aches in beautiful symmetry to the lyrics.
 While this may be the first recording for this particular line up of mostly Arkansas-based musicians, the band and the guest artists featured on this CD are all veterans of the music business with impressive pedigrees. In addition to Davis and Cagle, the core members are namesake Earl Cate, who along with twin brother Ernie was one-half of the acclaimed Cate Brothers Band, and talented bassist Mike Murray. Also contributing notably to the CD are killer sax player David Renko and blues harmonica wizard, R.J. Mischo. This is a disc you’ll want to keep spinning.
Originally published in the September, 2011 issue of  The Current Magazine

Special Blend