Written by Fantasma el Rey
From 219 Records comes two new hard-hitting blues albums, one from John Lisi and Delta Funk and the other from Ray Cashman. Connecting these two recordings is the participation of one Jimbo Mathus playing bass and other instruments on both CDs.
John Lisi and Delta Funk have been around for a few years and have put down three other albums. The new Dead Cat Bounce finds Lisi on vocals, mandolin, electric and acoustic guitars as well as dobro and lap steel. Another talented musician, Mathus, works his magic on this disc playing bass, piano and tambourine. Joining them is a fine young drummer named Cody Dickinson, who can play the electric washboard and a mean tambourine as well. He has his own band, North Mississippi Allstars, with his brother Luther.
With these three talents together the resulting album is just about as good as jumpin’, rockin’ blues can get. The title track “Dead Cat Bounce” opens hard and heavy, setting the pace for the rest of the songs that follow. The tune has a solid bounce from start to stark finish, crisp guitar, pulsating bass and steady drums.
“Woke Up Pissed (Sleep Away My Blues),” has the boys showing how blue they can get by slowing to a mid-tempo shuffle. Lisi puts down a steamy guitar solo, while Dickinson keeps time behind him perfectly on a tune about those days where all you want to do is sleep to avoid punching some one.
“Slow Down Sugar” seems like more or the same mild blues but picks up and slams back down hard towards the end of track. Dickinson kicks it up a notch while Lisi is hot on his heels with his smoking guitar, and oh yeah, Mathus is co-pilot as the three set the place on fire and reach light speed with their playing. So much for slowing down sugar!
Two more sonic numbers that are meaner than hell are “Flip Flops” and “Git’er’Gon.’” Both have a “Jimi Hendrix beyond the gates of fire” drive that makes the Kittens toss their hair and slink while the Kats are pumpin’ their fist and nodding their heads. “Flip Flops,” a rough lament about the annoyance of a girl’s footwear is even followed by “Flip Flops- Slight Return.” Need I say more?
“Git’er’Gon” is by far the “tuffest” track on “Dead Cat Bounce.” The boys are driven to madness and take you along for the ride. Dickinson hits the skin off his kit, while the others must have burned through at least one set of strings each with that much heat coming off the fret boards. This one will be spinning for a while on my stereo.
Article comments