Little G Weevil - If I May

LITTLE G WEEVIL - IF I MAY LABEL: SELF RELEASE DATE: JULY 28, 2023 Eastern Europe has a legion of blues and roots music fans and one of their favorite artists carrying the torch of traditional blues is Hungarian bluesman Little G Weevil. The singer/songwriter/guitarist made many a long pilgrimage to America to study and immerse himself in the artform at its source in Atlanta, St. Louis, and Memphis

where he worked as a dishwasher in a club on Beale Street just to be close to the action. Little G won the International Blues Challenge in 2013 as a solo act, toured internationally and has recorded eight albums before the pandemic shutdown. Finding a harder working musician than Little G would be difficult.

He returns in summer of 2023 with the new studio album, If I May, a collection of ten original compositions that run the gamut of blues, jazz, swing, and ragtime styles. His devotion to authenticity is matched with his penchant for creative lyricism that presents timely topics and modern jargon over timeless musical forms. Joining Little G in this pursuit for the sessions at Sounday Studio in Budapest, Hungary are the nimble quartet of drummer Tom Kiss, piano man Mr. Jambalaya, Csaba Pengo on upright bass, and K.C. Brown on harmonica, with producer/engineer Gabor Vastag tossing in backup vocals for good measure.

The opening track, “Yoga Girl (Hold Me Close),” flies out of the gate like a Luther Allison Chicago Blues rocker. His reflection on current events, “Spy Balloon Blues,” features Mr.
Jambalaya playing the part of Professor Longhair as Kiss rolls out a loose swinging New Orleans parade beat. Little G seeks redemption on the rumbling blues “One Last Time,” pleading his case on his gritty lead guitar. He updates the old “You Done Me Wrong” song vignette into “Scam Me, Scam Me Not,” as he warns off a wily woman trying to steal his heart. The dose of straight-ahead blues “Doctor Hay,” finds him railing against the advice to curb his wild life and get healthy.

He gives a voice to those who would rise up against their oppressors on the throbbing Safari blues “Tribal Affairs,” an evocative mixture of a Hill Country meets Mali and Delta trance aesthetics. The rambling Basin Street rhumba, “Gold Mine,” bemoans the plight of African workers, who toil for the white man’s treasure, and he lambastes modern education in the age of the internet on the two-beat stomper, “Tingalingaling (Everybody’s Qualified),” with tongue firmly in cheek. The rebuke continues from Little G in the rolling slow blues “We Don’t Learn Much,” expressing his fears for our world. Before all swirls into the abyss Little G ends the set by taking a cue from Chess Records legend Willie Dixon and delivering a multi-step plan in “I Know Many Ways To Prove My Love,” while the band plays a percolating blues that cooks up a convincing love potion. With sincerity and devotion Little G Weevil gives us another reason to believe in the blues. Rick J Bowen 

TRACK LIST

1.Yoga Girl (Hold Me Close) 2:24                                    6.Tribal Affairs 4:47

2.Spy Balloon Blues 3:35                                                7.Gold Mine 4:09

3.One Last Time 5:31                                                      8.Tingalingaling (Everybody's Qualified) 3:01

4.Scam Me, Scam Me Not 3:50                                        9.We Don't Learn Much 3:58

5.Doctor Hay 3:53                                                           10.I Know Many Ways To Prove My Love 4:47

 

WEBLINKS

OS: www.gweevil.com                                                         TW: www.twitter.com/littlegweevil

FB: www.facebook.com/littlegweevil                                   IG: www.instagram.com/littlegweevil/

For more information: Betsie Brown, Blind Raccoon, betsie@blindraccoon.com