As any Blues historian will tell you, Jazz, Rock ‘n Roll and Hip Hop are all hybrids of the Blues. Taking all of this one step further Carlos Del Junco (harpist, singer, songwriter, frontman) presents himself as a “Blues Mongrel” and I’m not quite sure who or what Mother Blues hooked up with to create this man, but I will say that it’s a very refreshing approach, albeit a little scary sometimes. His music is probably the most sense-intensive music I’ve heard in a long time. It conjures up visions, feelings, thoughts and emotions that require some attention when you experience this.
The opening track of “Blues Mongrel” presents at least three distinct textures all at once making the mind wander around as it sets into a groove. Pursuant to this treatment, a relatively traditional tune, “Blues with a Feelin’”, grows into an entirely different song. The song goes beyond most folks imaginations as to how this it would be performed and that’s what makes it intriguing. Carrying things into heavy traffic, the second track, “No Particular Place”, an instrumental, emphasizes Del Junco’s unique sense of humor. This fast moving tune, penned by guitarist Kevin Breit, would do well to accompany a Peter Sellers chase scene through Paris.
Things get a little more swanky with the third track appropriately entitled “Plain Old (Down Home) Blues”. This song and the fourth track, “Skatoon”, written by Del Junco, seem to follow more of his claimed influence by Kim Wilson, especially when comparing these tunes to Wilson’s latest outing, “Looking for Trouble”. Nice vintage harp sound throughout Del Junco’s and Wilson’s albums, the difference here is that Carlos takes you down that dark path in the woods with no compass, and a full moon creeps in and out from behind the clouds.
The path turns quite a bit on a wonderful tune called “Don’t Bring Me Down” (by guitarist Kevin Breit) that reminisces modern New Orleans, ala Robbie Robertson, Keb Mo, the Subdudes, Sonny Landreth and my friend Kraig Kenning (KraigKenning.com). This is a lovely ballad that wrings out sadness and hope at the same time.
OK, Carlos scores huge points with me on this next tune, “Our Man Flint” (Jerry Goldsmith). Yes, this is the theme song from the movie starring James Coburn back in the 60’s. I love these Flint movies (yes even to this day) and especially love the title songs to the 60’s spy flicks. This is a marvelous arrangement that showcases the band and Carlos’ fine harp playing. “Run Me Down” is a rockabilly romp that shows off guitarist Kevin Breit’s talents. It’s credited to “Brown”, I’m wondering if it’s Junior Brown.
“Let’s Mambo” starts out exactly as you’d imagine it to start and then throws a few wild dance moves along the way. Nice solo work by Carols on this track, very sophisticated note work that shows he has quite a command of his instrument – the phrasing is phenomenal. This emphasized well by the fact that there’s only bass and percussion on the track. “Long Highway” is another ballad with some clever time changes.
“Blues Mongrel”, the title track, is a bizarre instrumental that starts, stops and wails and presents Del Junco’s dirty Blues harmonics. Frenzy would be a good word to describe this song as it reaches several crescendos throughout the piece.
“Nine Below Zero”, by Sonny Boy Williamson II, displays Del Junco’s ability to breath of out both sides of his mouth at the same time – at least is sounds that way. He’s completely solo on this tune and you hear his moanin’ and groanin’ on this track. Again this guy proves he’s quite a talent. “Don’t Worry Your Pretty Little Head” ends the album with a lullaby. I guess it’s time for the beast to go to sleep.
The cover art is very well done depicting Carlos’ transformation into a mongrel, Lon Chaney Jr. style, in living color. The packaging is environmentally friendly in card stock instead of those awful plastic jewel cases that I tend to drop and crack all of the time. You can tell just from the photos that Carlos is a real character.
Overall the entire CD is a very fine work of art and proves that Carlos Del Junco is not just a great musician but also a true artist. This is one of the most refreshing works to come along since the early Fat Possum releases. This work is very sophisticated, but not at all pretentious and at times quite beastly, albeit the title “Blues Mongrel”. Definitely a ‘must have’ for the collection.
http://www.nothernbluesmusic.com
About the author: Dave Glynn is the lead singer of the Empty Can Band found on the Web at http://www.emptycanband.com.
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