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Levee Town - Pages of Paperwork

Self LT01175 - CD BABY

14 Tracks - 54min 05 secs

http://www.leveetown.com/

By their own admission, “Levee Town is a hot rockin’ Americana foursome out of Kansas City” and who am I to disagree with that.

The band consists of Jan Faircloth on drums Jacques Garoutte a multi-instrumentalist on the bass; Jimmie Meade plays the harmonica and the band is fronted by axeman Brandon Hudspeth and the music they produce is B L U E S pure and simple.

Right from the get-go, with the title-based track, a slow blues - It’s All Over But The Paperwork - in which the singer bewails the end of a relationship and the Meade harp work surges and falls back in away that reminds me of James Cotton with Muddy – things are right-on blues. Hudspeth brings some inventive guitar work to the killing floor and all the time the rhythm section keeps a steady beat, perfectly supporting the front-line.

Lowdown, the next track up, is a rocker with some driving rhythm guitar and a searing solo from Meade, “I took your picture down and changed the lock, but the memory of you can’t be soon forgot…that’s lowdown baby……” Fabulous.

A Muddyesque lick opens Hurt But Strong, which is is a twelve bar slow blues; a real plodder in the walking blues sense; but nothing plodding about the music. More fine harp work here too and a head nodding, rhythmic power from the band. I bet this is a killer live. Ready… arm up in the air, light from the cell phone on and sway to the beat. This is the type of right-ahead blues – including some slide work – which you too rarely hear these days. Nearly five and a half minutes that hit you in the face. Wonderful.

Song She Sang, is a Peter Gunn like riff-driven rocker, with a close harmony chorus and some delightful picking by Mr Hudspeth……. and the beat goes on.

I like this one so much, I am in danger of trying to sell every track on this album, No need, just let me say that the straight-at-cha blues goes on to the very end; 54:mins and 5 seconds, so no short change here - 14 tracks of pure pleasure, which surely must get some recognition in the traditional blues categories of awards ceremonies before long.

These guys really do keep the blues alive with gusto and fire and are not ashamed (as far too many seem to be these days) to remember, as Willie Dixon put it that ‘blues is the roots, everything else is the shoots’. Long may they continue to do so.

Reviewer Ian McKenzie lives in England. He is the editor of Blues In The South (www.bluesinthesouth.com) a monthly flier providing news, reviews, a gig guide and all kinds of other good stuff, for people living and going to gigs along the south coast of England. Ian is also a blues performer (see www.myspace.com/ianmckenzieuk) and has two web-cast regular blues radio shows. One on www.phonic.FM  in Exeter (Wednesdays: 1pm Eastern/ 12 noon Central), the second on KCOR – Kansas City Online Radio (on Fridays at 1pm Eastern/ 12 noon Central).

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