Back in the 1980s, that band was Charlie Karp and the Name Droppers, with Connecticut-based Karp being a seasoned guitarist, a prolific songwriter, and an Emmy-winning producer. Karp earned the right to namedrop as he left high school to work with Buddy Miles, then got to know Jimi Hendrix and Keith Richards and wrote songs for Joan Jett and Joe Perry. After Karp's death in 2019, the remaining Name Droppers stuck together: songwriter/guitarist Rafe Klein, Ron Rifkin on piano, Bobby “T” Torello on drums and Scott Spray on bass. Torello and Spray can drop impressive names as well, including the likes of Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, Michael Bolton, Grace Slick, Felix Cavalier, and the Rascals -- and many more.
Those names they've dropped are more than just names they've dropped. They represent a decades-long road of talent and experience the Name Droppers have traveled and are now manifesting in their music, showing off the quartet's high-octane blend of blues, R&B, soul, and good old-fashioned rock 'n' roll.
Cool Blue Shoes is the current Name Droppers' fifth album, tightly packed with their energetic style that drives seven smartly crafted original songs and three creative covers. The opener, a full-throttle version of Howlin' Wolf's classic "Killing Floor," fuels the fire to come with its ageless blues lament about his woman: "I should'a quit you long time ago / And I wouldn't have been down here on the killin' floor." "Cool Blue Shoes" by Torello and Klein steps out next, with Klein leading the bluesy vocals with a message designed to put a hole in your sole: "I've walked a mile and slept alone in these blue shoes / They've carried all my dreams, walked away my blues." Rifkin then vocalizes his own melodic charmer, "Be Alright," filled with optimism: "I gave you all I had from me to you / Never again will you and I be blue."
"Keep Pushin’" by Klein, with angry Rifkin vocals, is a furiously styled rocker about keeping on when the keeping on gets tough: "Most of my friends have died from the war / They never found what they were searching for / Sobriety ain’t always what it seems to be / Keep on pushin’ like my friends told me." Klein returns for the vocal on the stirring "That’s The Way My Love Is," dusting off the Foreigner track from Mick Jones: "There are the things I cannot say to you / That's the way my love is / But in my heart you'll always stay with me." Klein's tough and spirited "Hard Way" puts Torello out front with the whole band as a backup chorus for a man on the run: "I think she’s gone, she left him in the dirt / She said he lies and that her feelings were hurt / But he’s on the run don’t give a damn."
Klein, Torello and Rifkin swap vocals on their rocking version of Willie Dixon's mournful blues on "I Cry For You," and the lighthearted bluesy shuffle "Think Yiddish" from Klein and Torello gives Torello a vocal turn at some whimsical wordplay: "Well I went to the doctor, the doctor said / Too much pizza and American bread / Too many Budweisers give you a sleepy head / Think Yiddish, dress British that’s what he said." Rifkin's vocal soars on Klein's "Yes I Will," driven by the band's call and response and Klein 's razor-sharp guitar solo midway: "I’ll be the one you talk to, yes I will / I will ease your worried mind, yes I will." For the closer, Klein partners with Simone Brown on his torchy "Out of This Blue," a gorgeous duet wrapped in Rifkin's roiling B3 and caressed by Bill Holloman's sensuous sax: "I was such a lonely man with a heart torn in two / Out of this blue I found you." Their passionate pairing ends the album elegantly tangled up in blue.
The Name Droppers sport their brand new Cool Blue Shoes with considerable style and class, laced with true blues grit. Take a walk in those shoes now! Jim White
For more information:Betsie Brown, Blind Raccoon, betsie@blindraccoon.com
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