CD Review
Sauce Boss
Come and Get It!
(Burning Disk BD004)
by Gordon Baxter
Review date: February 2005
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"Keeping the Blues Alive Award" Achievement for Blues on the Internet Presented by The Blues Foundation
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Bill Wharton (aka The Sauce Boss) has been serving up his own brand of gumbo--both culinary and musical--for several years. Wharton has developed the Sauce Boss persona over the years which began when he started singing recipes as he cooked up huge pots of gumbo on stage. Both sides of the act have continued to develop, and the Sauce Boss has now fed over 100,000 people since 1990.
"The Gumbo Song" gets things off to a nice happy start. Based around an Afro-Caribbean beat, and featuring a neat percussion interlude, this song calls to mind some of the work of Johnny Clegg. The light airy feel that is present on this track permeates much of the album. Wharton does not go in for any guitar histrionics, he just does what he has to do, and does it very well. This includes several fine slices of slide guitar playing, mostly with the backing of the band, but on "I Broke My Heart" the band is stripped right back to just guitar/slide and vocals.
Stylistically there's a few drops of country ("Down In The Valley," "Locals," and "We're On Our Way), a dash of Brazil (the bossa nova beat of "Four Letter Word") and lashings of blues. The balance works well for the most part, although "The Bottom Of Our Love" does perhaps get a little too close to MOR. Oh, and just in case you missed the bossa nova reference, the album rounds out with a very fine instrumental rendition of "Four Letter Word."
"Come and Get It!" has a nice light feel to it, that brings to mind warmer times and warmer climes. It is not easy to find an act to compare the band's sound to, even though there are recognizable styles in the mix. It is very good though, and if you want to recreate the live Sauce Boss experience at home, you will have to rustle up the gumbo yourself. (For those who need it, you can get the recipe from the Sauce Boss website.)
www.sauceboss.com
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