San Francisco Bay Area slide guitarist Ron Hacker says that he fell in love with the blues back in 1956 after a bit of juvenile trouble got him hooked up with a number of African American counselors who dug the sounds of B. B, King, Elmore James, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed and Howlin' Wolf.
With the blues firmly planted in his heart, Hacker taught himself to play guitar, later hooking up with the late Yank Rachell who taught him many of the finer points of the Delta Blues. Since forming his band in 1980, The Hacksaws, Hacker and company have been working clubs throughout the Bay Area and making an impression on blues fans at festivals in Northern California and in Europe.
Accompanied by band mates Artis Joyce on bass and Ron Smith on drums, Ron Hacker and the Hacksaws latest independent release is entitled Burnin'. Burnin' is Ron Hacker's fifth recording, following his 2000 release on Saloon Records, Back Door Man. While only three of the twelve songs on Burnin' are Ron Hacker originals, every song on the recording features Hacker's distinctive slide guitar and growling vocals. The covers on the CD represent an interesting cross section of Delta blues, blues rock and Chicago blues including songs by Elmore James, Yank Rachell, Fred McDowell, Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson and Sleepy John Estes, along with rockers Chuck Berry and ZZ Top. With a solid backbeat provided by Joyce and Smith, Ron Hacker and the Hacksaws provide a nice punch and some unique renditions of several well known songs.
Clearly, Hacker's electrified versions of such songs as "32/20" (Robert Johnson), "Peach Tree Blues" (Yank Rachell) and "Red Cross Store" (Fred McDowell) are first hand reminders of the way other well known blues pioneers like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf did when they electrified the country blues sounds that they brought from the Delta back in the 1940's and 50's; making old songs new with an updated and more powerful sound. On known electric songs like ZZ Top's "Fool For Your Stockings" and the Chuck Berry classic, "Almost Grown," Hacker's adaptation makes the songs sound completely different from the original. Overall, the music is pretty pure and straightforward, without any special effects, giving it an "live in the studio" sound.
As indicated earlier, there are three original songs written by Ron Hacker on Burnin'. The first original, "Prison Mind" has a Jimmy Reed shuffle feeling to it and is filled with burning slide guitar and Hacker's characteristic vocals. This is followed directly by "Mailman Blues", an autobiographical piece with a hypnotic rhythm and no real slide work. The title track "Burnin'" closes out the CD, described by Hacker as "a little ditty I do when I'm warming up to practice. It gets me in the groove." This is the only full out instrumental on the CD and it does really give Hacker an opportunity
to show his chops on slide guitar, representing a hot and hard close to the CD.
Lovers of straight ahead blues and blues rock are invited to give Ron Hacker and the Hacksaes latest release, Burnin', a listen. To pick up a copy of the CD and to learn more about the man and his band, visit Ron Hacker's website at www.ronhacker.com.
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