Out of the Motor City rides Blue Spirit Tribe and this debut, independent offering. BST's music defies description and is a little roadhouse blues, some rock, a little jazz and rhythm and blues and just enough funk to keep it interesting. The five-piece outfit, headed by vocalist/guitarist Keith Owens, takes listeners to another era with its sultry "Swingtown" and "Should've Been Me" sounds as if crooned and played by Robert Cray. Owens penned all but one number on this disc, Willie Dixon's "Got My Brand On You" which features a husky vocal by Kris Peterson. My favorite is probably "My Darling Serpentine" in which Owens, a former editorial writer and columnist at the Detroit Free Press, bitterly reflects on going on strike in 1995 and losing his job to someone he thought was his friend. "Serpentine" features a blistering guitar solo which reminds one of Jimi Hendrix. That should come as no surprise since Owens, at the tender age of 12, became interested in guitar after being introduced to Hendrix's music by a cousin.
This indy release is available through No Cover Productions, P.O. Box 187, Clawson, MI 48017-1040 or www.nocover.net
This review is copyright © 1999 by Mike Martindale, and Blues On Stage, all rights reserved.
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