Genre: Blues
Rate: 320 kbps CBR / 44100
Time: 00:59:57
Size: 137,09 MB
Damon Fowler is one of the bright young blues musicians playing in the southeast at this time. Damon filled in for an ailing Johnny Lang as an opening act for Jeff Beck, and opened for Robin Trower, Greg Allman and other national acts and has always impressed the audience. If you get a chance to see his live show, I highly recommend that you check him out. He doesn't just play the blues, he feels it and it shows in most everything he does. He has the style and guitar chops to please the guitar freaks and the singing ability and personality to please the women in the audience.
This CD is his second and shows considerable growth from his first one. His previous CD was produced by Rick Derringer and was recorded when he was only 17. He is now just 22 and this CD shows a much wider range of styles and playing.
The CD contains eleven tracks plus one "secret" track at the end, all of which were written by Damon and Bobby Fowler. The styles range from slow blues, to tasteful jazz/blues similar in style to Robben Ford, to acoustic finger picked instrumentals which remind me of Leo Kottke. This is a diverse CD that ranges from screaming guitar leads to laid back acoustic instrumentals.
The CD opens with 'Your Gonna Do Me Wrong', which reminds me a lot of Robben Ford in style. It has that tasteful jazzy blues type of groove going for it. 'Didn't Seem To Miss Me' is a little funky blues tune. 'I Do What I Have To Do' is driven by a heavy sounding guitar lick which sort of stomps its way to the heavy guitar lead. The guitar switches from Fender strat to slide in the middle and then gets mellow before crashing into the heavy guitar again. 'Tall', the first instrumental on the CD is dives into blues/jazz territory. It's a very laid back tune with a pretty cool bass line that clocks in just over two and a half minutes. 'Jack' is one of my favorite songs and it could be a blues song or part of the new music heard on your average new rock station. It has soft verses and heavy chorus's and works real well in a live setting. 'Stirling' is another instrumental, which runs from jazzy blues to soulful blues to county double stops. This one is all over the place and keeps your interest. 'Red Headed Woman' is the shortest song on the CD at 2:21 and is a straight-ahead, just plain fun, rock-a-billy song that reminds me of something Brian Setzer could have done. Following the shortest song is the longest song, 'Pride', which clocks in at just over 12 minutes. This is a slow blues number that has soulful licks with tons of feeling to screaming guitar. This on always gets a big applause when played live. 'Sugar Lee' sounds like something from Robert Johnson with a vocal sound that's raw with a slide guitar backing. This is very stripped down, raw and basic blues. 'The Last One' is a short acoustic toe tapper and reminds me of Leo Kottke. Stick around for about 40 seconds after the last song and you get the 'secret song' on the CD. I'm not quite sure how to describe this one, except that it sounds totally different than anything else.
The range of styles and playing keep your interest. You certainly won't get bored with this CD. If you don't care for one song, wait till the next one. Everyone should find something they like of this CD. The production is excellent and the sound really represents Damon's live abilities. If you like a mix of Robben Ford, great guitar work, Leo Kottke, Brian Setzer and points in between, you should like this CD. (This review is copyright by Robert Murphy, and Blues On Stage)
Artists:
Damon Fowler - Guitar & Vocals
Aaron Fowler - Drums
Reece Smith - Bass
Rob Stoney - Keyboards
Tracklist:
01 - You're Gonna Do Me Wrong 04:55
02 - Didn't Seem To Miss Me 04:06
03 - I Do What I Have To Do 04:59
04 - Tall 02:32
05 - Jack 03:43
06 - River Cong 06:09
07 - Stirling 07:46
08 - Red-Headed Woman 02:22
09 - Pride 12:09
10 - Sugar Lee 04:31
11 - The Last One 06:45
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