Music Review: Little G Weevil – ‘Moving’

Little G Weevil is probably unique among modern blues musicians. There is unlikely to be another one who was born and raised in Hungary and came to America because of his love for the blues. When he first got here he washed dishes on Beale Street for a year and he explains in the liner notes to Moving that this is where he bought his first acoustic guitar, in a Memphis pawn shop for $75. He’s come a long way from home to establish a thriving career and win Best Solo Vocalist and Best Guitarist at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis earlier this year.

Weevil has a real love for the old blues masters and those old records that were recorded under primitive conditions with no fancy equipment or overdubs. He wanted to capture that sound for Moving. So the CD was recorded in a 20×15 room at Bakos Amp Works Studio in midtown Atlanta with one microphone in the middle of the floor and other microphones placed around the room for the band. The sound is amazingly similar to that of the old Blind Willie McTell and Robert Johnson records. Close your eyes and listen and you will forget you are listening to a man who is recording today and not one of those hotel room recordings the scouts used to make of those cats back then.

Weevil kept his band simple but top-rate too. He has Maurice Nazzaro of popular Atlanta band The Cazanovas on harmonica. Dustin Sargent plays upright bass, while Danny V. Vinson of The Cazanovas helps out on rhythm guitar on “Moving” and solo guitar on “Mean and Dirty” and ‘Swing in the Middle.”

All of the songs on the CD are original except for “Let’s Talk It Over (Come Back Baby)” which is a traditional number. No one number stands out over the others; they all form one harmonious whole. Weevil plays dobro on some numbers; cigar box guitar and acoustic on others. Nazzaro keeps the harmonica subtle but effective in emphasizing and enhancing the phrasing of the songs. The stomped-off beat adds to the intimacy of the music. The field-holler vocal delivery in Weevil’s whiskey-rough-sounding voice makes you feel transported to someone’s porch or a little juke joint in a cornfield somewhere.

This CD is not for those who like their blues smooth and commercial. Weevil proved he could do modern blues on The Teaser. This one is for those who share his love for those great old authentic blues styles and instruments free of amps and overdubs – just like it comes from the hearts and souls of the singers and players, purely for your listening entertainment. It could not be more highly recommended for those blues lovers.