Release: JW Jones - Live 28 SeptemberARTIST: JW-Jones
FILE UNDER: (Jones, JW) / Blues
LABEL: Solid Blues Records
RELEASE DATE: September 28, 2018
CATALOG NUMBER: SBR0004
UPC NUMBER: 627987031089
FORMAT: CD [11 Tracks]
JW-Jones - Live: Raw, real, and from the heart.
The improv magic you hear on JW-Jones’10th album, Live, is the spark that has awakened new sonic frontiers for the veteran
Maple Blues Award-winning Ottawa bluesman.“I cranked up my overdrive in concert one night for fun, and it opened up this new world of ideas for me," admits the JUNOnominated Jones, whose searing axemanship has been praised by Blues Revue Magazine as “a fluid amalgam of T-Bone
Walker’s big, bright chords; Johnny ’Guitar’ Watson’s slashing leads and Clarence ’Gatemouth’ Brown’s jazzy sting.”“I felt a new sense of freedom.” That sense of freedom resonates through Live, an exciting collection of 11 previouslyunreleased songs lovingly recorded over two nights at a sold-out Gatineau, QC theatre by producer Zach Allen, fresh off his Best
Contemporary Blues Album Grammy Award victory for the Taj Mahal/Keb’ Mo collaboration TajMo.
“This album is a big departure for me,” Jones explains. “Especially on songs like 'I Don’t Believe A Word You Say’ and‘Moanin’ at Midnight:' both of those songs clock in at over six minutes and I’m playing that overdriven guitar in a way I’ve literally
never played on record before.”As he continues to evolve as one of Canada’s most versatile bluesmen, with one foot in the terra firma of the traditional blues
espoused by the likes of Howlin’ Wolf sideman Hubert Sumlin and harmonica legend Charlie Musselwhite (who both guested on
Jones' memorable Midnight Memphis Sun, recorded at the historic Sun Studio) and blues contemporaries Robert Cray, for whom
the JW-Jones band has occasionally opened, he continues to challenge and raise his standards through his recordings and the
130 dates on average yearly that he clocks in on the road.
With the last JW-Jones studio project, the Colin Linden-produced High Temperature, capturing the coveted Memphis Blues
Foundation’s International Blues Challenge honours for Best Self-Released CD, the frequent resident of Billboard's Top 10 Blues
charts and Canadian roots radio favourite continues to accelerate his career momentum to new heights, whether it’s as a
personally-requested sit-in with the likes of blues legend Buddy Guy, opening for blues rock icons Johnny Winter and George
Thorogood or entertaining thrilled audiences in 23 countries and four continents.“Audiences get excited because it’s all so organic,” notes Jones, who stretches out on Live with his Goldtop Gibson Les Paul.
“The blues is such a universal language, and the fact that we never play the same solo twice just adds to that vibrant energy,
which I think we really capture on this album.”Live also embraces Jones’ continuing appreciation of modern days blues music, best illustrated by the album’s opening
number, a rendition of Robert Cray’s “A Memo (Nothin’ But Love.)”
“The first time I heard that tune, written by Robert's bass player, Richard Cousins, I fell in love with it,” says Jones. “It’s a
really great contemporary blues song because it doesn't sound traditional and it’s got a great chorus and harmonies. Robert saw
a video of our version and gave us the thumbs-up.” It also represents progress, reflecting Jones’ growing modern tastes.
TRACK LISTING.
1. A MEMO (NOTHIN’ BUT LOVE) (5:04)
2. NEED YOU SO BAD (4:05)
3. I DON’T BELIEVE A WORD YOU SAY (5:59)
4. MOANIN’ AT MIDNIGHT (9:37)
5. TONIGHT I’LL BE STAYING HERE WITH YOU (3:42)
6. EARLY EVERY MORNING (4:20)
7. YOU’RE GONNA NEED ME (4:41)
8. CATCH THAT TEARDROP (4:46)
9. THAT’S ALRIGHT (5:25)
10. WAY DOWN INSIDE (3:08)
11. I MIGHT NOT COME HOME AT ALL / MEDLEY (5:25
Sarah French Publicity
sarah@sarahfrenchpublicity.com
