Tweed Funk - First Name Lucky - New Release Review

I just received the newest release (March 31, 2014), First Name Lucky, from Tweed Funk and it's a funky blues party! Opening with Blues In My Soul, a funky blues track that's kind of a mix of Booker T and Albert King. Smokey leads the way on vocals and Jon Lovas on sax and Kevin Klemme keep the horns hot. Time To Burn moves more to a rock/R&B sound and JD Optekar hits some cool guitar riffs on this one. Jon Lovas steps up on sax playing an outstanding solo as well. A song almost thought of synonymously with BB King is up next, Let The Good Times Roll and Tweed Funk keeps a lot of authenticity while having a nice jam at it. Hoodoo Power is a powerful track with Eric Madunic laying down some great bass and Klemme keeping a tight leash on the trumpet. Funky guitar work from Optekar highlights this track. Divided is a very smooth soul ballad with clear guitar accompaniment. Vocals by Smokey are really nicely highlighted on this track and backing by Chrissy Dzioba and Sara Moilanen add warmth. Lovas again seps forward with a smooth sax solo as another highlight of this very airworthy track. Sugarfoot is a killer dance traack sounding like it's right off of a James Brown record. Nick Lang on drums and Madunic keep the bottom real and highlights by Klemme on trumpet add to the dynamics. Lovas and Klemme both take cool solos on this track and it's a real mover. Excellent! Deed Is Done has a lot of swing and horn oomph. Smokey steps up the vocals on this track and both horn players are right behind him. This track really moves! Peppermint Harris' I Got Loaded has a New Orleans flair and keeps that authentic street feel. Nice job! Optekar steps up with a nice electric guitar solo but Lang has that rim shot technigue that puts you right back in the street. Sippin Misery has a really laid back blues sound and is likely my favorite track on the release. This is a track that you could feel Billie Holiday singing and Smokey does an excellent job. Horn work on this track from Klemme is excellent. Not a generic trumpet fan but this playing is not (geneic) ... it's hot!! Eddie Floyd's track, Knock On Wood is always a crowd pleaser and a classic R&B track. Madunic steps up on lead vocals on this track and does a real nice job. Horns of course play a large part on this track but it's mostly played straight up. Wrapping the release is Get It On. Brian "Looper" Lucas adds real super harp work on this track but to my ear it's Madunic who leads this track with great bass work. This is the second Tweed Funk release that I have reviewed and this release shows much more maturity and finesse. Looking forward to getting it into my car for a few full listens!

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