This CD while being self-produced, shows a lot of effort in the song structures. The fact that this is a one-man show for the most part, indicates that Jim Emmons has a lot of talent. It's not easy to sing and play nearly all the parts for an entire CD. A lot of guys can play
guitar and sing, but fall short when it comes to bass and rhythm guitar. The songs themselves are pretty decent but most of the lead guitars have an overdriven direct sound that doesn't blend as well in the overall mix. Vocally, Jim Emmons has a pretty smooth voice. I'm not sure who I would compare him to actually, but it certainly works well with his songs.
As far as the individual songs go, the opening track 'My Faith In Love' opens with a picked acoustic guitar which leads into a really tasty series of clean electric blues licks. This is a laid back blues song, almost a shuffle but not quite. The song itself could be done as a blues or pop format. This is one of the best songs on the CD. 'Blue Bird' gets a little heavier with distorted guitars and a medium driving beat. 'I Got the Blues For You' is a straight-ahead shuffle. 'Cotton Candy Man' is an instrumental with lots of slide guitar and harmonica, which has a delta blues feel to it. 'I Broke Down And Cried Last Night' is a slow blues that could be a good grinding slow dance song. 'I Coulda Died' has a slow southern rock feel to it. 'Shine A Light' is a straight-ahead rocker that could have come straight out of the late 50's musically.
Bottom line...The songwriting is good to excellent, the overall musical ability is good, but the production could be better. This is a good CD that rates 3 stars out of five for songwriting and 2 out of 5 for performance and production.
Murf
e-mail murf01@sprynet.com
http://home.sprynet.com/~murf01/
Permanent Records
166 S. Maple Street
Orleans, IN 47452
Phone 812-865-2711
Jim Emmons - vocals, lead, rhythm, bass guitar and backup vocals.
Fred Courtright - percussion & Blues harp
Mark Stanfield - blues harp
This review is copyright © 2001 by Robert Murphy, and Blues On Stage, all rights reserved. Copy, duplication or download prohibited without written permission. For permission to use this review please send an E-mail to Ray Stiles.
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