Tenry Johns left Shelby, Mississippi for Chicago in the 1960's. After stints leading bands for Denise Lasalle and Bill Coday, he finally made the step up to front man with "In Here Tonight," which was originally released in 1999.
The album opens with the title track, an uptempo lively affair, featuring harp and horns. It shows that Johns is a good singer, and that he has the support of a good band of musicians. For the most part, the band maintain an upbeat rocking tempo throughout the album, only occasionally slowing things down to get their breath back.
All of the tracks bar three are originals. The first of the covers is Denise Lasalle's "Dirty Old Man", which features some fine guitar (Bob Crane) and keyboards (Benny Brown). The others are A.C. Reed's "Can't Go On This Way" which sounds a bit more like it comes from the repertoire of Jimmy Reed, and the closer "Let The Good Times Roll" which does not really deviate from the better known versions very much, and so makes for a slightly weak ending.
"In Here Tonight" is an upbeat, lively entertaining album. Tenry Johns is a good singer and songwriter, and it sounds like the band would be a real hoot live. A good start to Johns' career as a front man.
www.tenryjohns.com
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