Maybe you know Bobby's name, or maybe not. Bobby Messano has been playing mostly rock guitar for some time with many well known names like Steve Winwood and Lou Gramm, he has played guitar on about 35 albums.
Bobby has now done his own blues CD, and a good start for going down that road it is.
Bobby has the right kind of voice for the blues, rough enough to sound "for real" and smooth enough to sing more soulful lyrics. Bobby's guitar playing on this album is crisp, clean and clear as a bell, it's real fine. The title track "Holdin' Ground" has killer smoking guitar with a laid back feel and great singing, it's smooth stuff. The song "Hard World" is just that, a harder style but still super, this tune fires up acoustic and shifts to electric slide This track is a bit hard to describe, at times is has a down home quality, but at other times it has a rock anthem feel. What I mean is you can picture thousands pushing at the stage when Bobby sings "Hard World High, Hard World Low", it just has that sound, and that's a real good sound.
"Get Up And Dance" (With The Blues) is funky, I mean like Parliment Funkadelic funky. If this song doesn't get you out on the dance floor you are never going, it's hot stuff. If you like a good jam you should like "Dominion Road", this one has a driving beat like a train going down the tracks. This jamfest (almost 8min long) has all kinds of solos and lots of wah-wah for the guitar fans, I am out of breath just listening to the band work out on this song. To help you relax after the last track, the band does "In The Depths Of Love", a slow soulful number with a nice groove, it's a smoothie.
The CD takes a detour with "Guess Life Always Works That Way", it's a nice slow ballad style tune, done very well, it even has a good mix of acoustic and electric. Another part of the detour is "I Will Try" (less than 3 min), this one is much too nice & sweet for me, but I bet the ladies will swoon over it, nice acoustic Dobro touch if I do say so. Bobby turns the rock back on with "Sea Of Hope", this one has a driving beat that you can tap your toes to, both "Guess Life.& Sea Of Hope" gave me a similar feel to what I thought about "Hard World". These two songs are very different in style although they both give me that "big stadium" feeling as I mentioned before.
"One Way Lover" is something like the blending of rock / jazz music and blues lyrics, it's a really unique style and it rocks with plenty drums and keyboard action going on. I think the final track on this disc is one of my favorites, "The Way Things Used To Be" is a very easy to get into song, just super stuff with a great dancing beat. This song is one of those new songs that has a familiar feel to it, you like it the first time you hear it.
Overall, "Holdin' Ground" is a good one with a great blend of blues / rock or rockin' blues if you prefer, either way if that's your style then you should like this one. Bobby has done a lot of other styles over the years, I hope he continues down the blues highway, is a great road to travel.
You can check out Bobby at www.fishheadrecords.com
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