Year: 2014

In Chicago’s blues community, everybody knows Toronzo Cannon, although outside of the Windy City his name is less recognized. For years he battled it out on Chi-town’s fiercely competitive circuit. Having paid his dues as a sideman and bandleader, it’s on this new album that Cannon is fully unleashed.

Using a core group of musicians that include drummer Brian “BJ” Jones, bassists Larry Williams and Dave Forte, and Roosevelt Purifoy on keys, Cannon gets an assist from other talented musicians as well. Drawing from the full range of the black experience, Cannon channels Hendrix for the title track, an R&B/gospel influence on “Cold World,” and the funk of Albert King on “Been Better To You.” Forgoing obsessive-compulsive guitar tones in favor of pure expression, soul, and stories, Cannon’s guitar bites, stings, and spits.

Cannon’s music sits firmly between Chicago’s brutal asphalt and it’s unforgiving winters. He gets a vocal assist from Joanna Connor and Mike Wheeler on the beautiful acoustic ballad “Let It Shine Always,” with Connor lending high-octane virtuoso slide playing on the John Lee Hooker-esque “Sweet, Sweet, Sweet.”

Throughout John the Conquer Root, Cannon displays the grit, artistry, and musicality of his native Chicago. – Oscar Jordan

This article originally appeared in VG‘s May ’14 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

In an age when cultural currency seems measured in units of irony, brothers Page Burkum and Jack Torrey are an astonishing revelation. The duo fronts the Twin Cities-based Cactus Blossoms, drawing inspiration from the likes of Bob Wills and Lefty Frizzell, but also honoring the country tradition of brother harmonies that includes the Monroes, Stanleys, and Louvins. All the while, the pair exhibits earnestness where others so young might resort to yokel-y accents and corn-pone humor.

This set, recorded on a sweltering summer evening at St. Paul’s Turf Club (incidentally, a former neighborhood C&W tavern turned rock club) cherry-picks 10 peerless covers and three Torrey originals from the evening’s proceedings. Kicking off with Wills’ “San Antonio Rose” and including record-collector gems like “A Little Unfair” (the Hank Cochran/Chuck Howard composition recorded by Frizzell and Willie Nelson) and Johnny & Jack’s “Down South In New Orleans” (at whichThe Band once took a stab), the recording features an ace backing band comprising standup bass, fiddle, accordion, and Randy Broughten (Gear Daddies) on pedal steel and Dobro.

The highlight is the Torrey composition “Change Your Ways Or Die (The Buffalo Song),” with lyrics that sound as if they could have been scratched on the back of an old Sinclair map out on the dusty plains during the FDR administration and a western jazz lick that would do Junior Barnard proud. As Torrey sings on the closer, a cover of an Edgar Dowell/Andy Razaf prewar jazz chestnut, “Yes sir!”

This article originally appeared in VG‘s May ’14 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

To the rest of the world, the Swampers are best known from the cryptic verse in Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama.” And while they might have picked up Mr. Van Zant when he was feeling blue, most folks can’t say the same.

But that’s simply because most folks couldn’t name a song the Swampers played on if their life depended on it. For better or worse, that’s the way the world turns for most good studio musicians.

And the Swampers – a.k.a. the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section – are indeed good. Most all guitar players and true music fans can list many a song for which they created their trademark soulful, snappy, and downright swampy backline, including tunes by Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Percy Sledge, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Bob Seger, and yes, Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Happily, the Swampers and the Muscle Shoals, Alabama, recording studio they called their sweet home is now getting its due amongst the rest of the world thanks to director and producer Greg “Freddy” Camalier’s phenomenal documentary film. As the subtitle states, it’s indeed “The Incredible True Story of a Small Town With a Big Sound.”

The four founding Swampers are guitarist Jimmy Johnson, bassist David Hood, drummer Roger Hawkins, and the late keyboardist Barry Beckett. They were later joined by guitarmen Pete Carr and Eddie Hinton and keyboardist Spooner Oldham, among others. Their nickname came thanks to one of their biggest fans, Leon Russell.

The rhythm section was created by Rick Hall, owner of Fame Studios. The town became one of the most famous and influential music meccas in the world. Think of just some of the songs cut there: “Mustang Sally,” “When A Man Loves A Woman,” “Brown Sugar,” and a take of “Freebird.”

Fame and the Swampers’ subsequent studio at 3614 Jackson Highway also stood at a crossroads of race. Here, in the heart of the Deep South, a backline of all-white musicians supported black singers like Wicked Wilson and the Queen of Soul in crafting some of America’s most influential music. Muscle Shoals became a melting pot. And a magic cauldron.

If the documentary can be criticized for anything, it’s a reliance on too many interviews with “name” musicians – ironic, in a way, given the “nameless” sessionmen who played such a key role in making the music. But all of the stars pay homage where homage is due. Included are Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, James and Sledge, Greg Allman, Bono, Clarence Carter, and Jimmy Cliff. Still, it’s the interviews with Hall and the Swampers that really add the insight into the studio’s and music’s story.

Muscle Shoals is beautifully filmed and told. And, as might be expected, it’s bolstered by a phenomenal soundtrack. If you only see one film this year…

This article originally appeared in VG‘s May ’14 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

Roy Orbison waxed optimistic about life and music on December 4, 1988, the day he played a concert near Cleveland and did a video interview discussing his dramatically revived career. Two days later, he suffered a fatal heart attack at his mother’s home outside Nashville.

This CD/DVD package includes a CD of the final show (previously issued in 2009) and a DVD with the final interview and seven performances (all Orbison standards), four from a 1981 California concert and three from a never-seen 1986 Texas show.

Never recorded to be released, the Ohio concert is mainly a historical document with notable fluctuation in vocal levels. One upside: compared with earlier versions, you can now hear what the band is doing.

Son Alex Orbison’s essay notes that his dad used his custom black Gibson ES-335 onstage while guitarist Bruce Pearson used Roy’s backup 335, having broken a string before the show. Vocals aside, Roy’s capable picking emerges on the other tunes. Orbison used the 335 on the Texas material, a black Strat on the earlier California tunes.

This is not the fabulous Black and White Night (which Legacy also recently reissued), but an interesting footnote for true fans.

This article originally appeared in VG April 2014 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.