Long Gone Records artist: Cathy Ponton King - The Crux - New Release Review

I just received the new release, The Crux, by Cathy Ponton King. King has assembled a who's who of contemporary blues artists including Jimmy Thackery, Ronnie Earl, Butch Warren and Ron Holloway. The release features 10 new blues ballads covering the spectrum from the zydeco influenced I Want You To Be Happy to the jazz infused Little House In The Country. Opening with Sugarface, a horn filled track with cool guitar riffs from Thackery and nice key work from Bill Starks King sets the groundwork for the release. I'm Just A Woman has a bit of country blended into the blues again featuring Thackery on guitars. The riffs on this track are right out of Thackery's bag of country tricks. Cerulean Blues is a pure ballad featuring the beautiful guitar phrasing of Ronnie Earl. Blues Companion, again featuring Earl, is a standard 12 bar blues track. Tattoo On My Heart, a country folk style ballad, features some really nice acoustic guitar work from Jason Byrd. Holloway has a nice sax run on this track as well. Sweet Change To My Heart really has some exceptional guitar riffs by Earl. This is my favorite track on the release. With it's Bossa Nova beat, Little House In The Country touches on the light jazz fare and could easily make airplay. Earl and Starks each play some really sweet riffs on this track making it quite memorable. Bridges That You Burned has some really nice guitar work by Dave Hovey and Mike Lessin. Finishing up with funky track, I'm Suffering, CPK leads the band through another jazzy track featuring Thackery on guitar. Other musicians on the release include Chris Battistone on trumpet, John Jensen on trombone, Bruce Swaim on sax, Antoine Sanfuentes on drums, Jim Roberson on bass, John Priviti on bass, Tom Corradino on accordian, Butch Warren on Bass and Jeff King on Vocals. This is a smooth blues/jazz CD for a mainstream listener. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”