With Kenny Wayne Sheppard on the verge of losing his fanbase because of his abandonment of his blues roots, Dutchman Coen Wolters seems to be the perfect choice in picking up Sheppard's discarded skepter.
Coen Wolter's debut Broken Glass finds the axe burner giving many nods to his heroes Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. If these gentlemen never existed then Coen could stand a chance of blazing new paths.
But with Hendrix waxing psychedelia into blues logic and Stevie re-introducing the genre in the early 80's, Coen might have to bear the brunt of being a non-original: Another axe grinder who studied the same licks as Sheppard while putting his own spin on it.
Which doesn't mean the music is bad. Far from it. Coen lays down thick Strat tones and his Chris Duarte vocals match his blues rock compositions. Wolters harnesses his Texas influences in "Kings Cafe" and turns "Aint No Way" into burning slow mournful blues. Drummer Nico Groen and bassist Michel Mulder are the Double Trouble to Coen's Hendrix/Vaughn guitar hybrids. A surprising take of "Spanish Castle Magic" shows Wolters waving the freak flag that Hendrix so boldly carried.
A big plus is Wolters writes his own material. He can play a mean Texas shuffle and come up with spicy riffage thick as Mesquite Sauce. Quite evident from listening to "Ride The Katy" and "Time After Time." He can apply the funk in the wah-wah drenched "She Takes My Breath Away."
Like many other players in their twenties, Wolters can't resist a Fender Guitar and cranking out those licks made popular by messers Hendrix and Vaughan. While it's not breaking new ground, the young Dutchman has to be extended some credit for trying to keep legacies alive. What could be a blessing could be construed as a curse. Wolters will have to work hard at finding his voice and striving for originality. But originality is hard to come by in the blues world. When so many masters and disciples discover those magic licks, players of Wolter's caliber can easily get lost in the shuffle.
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