ELVIN BISHOP'S BIG FUN TRIO
SET FOR FEBRUARY 10 RELEASE
Deceptively loose but always tight…the raspy chuckle in Bishop’s
singing and the sharp sting of his guitar are forceful and fresh, enduring and
fun. --Fresh Air, NPR
I love these guys; Bob and Willy are great musicians. With a trio
there’s no place to hide – you’ve got to be pourin’ everything you got
right out front, totally goin’ for it all the time. If you’ve got some real
good musicians who are willing and able to do that, you’ve got something that
will move people. And it’s fun! --Elvin Bishop
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Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer and
blues master Elvin Bishop
– along with his friends, guitarist/pianist Bob Welsh and percussionist/vocalist
Willy Jordan – unleashes his latest musical mixture, Elvin Bishop's Big Fun Trio
(AL 4973) on Friday, February 10, 2017.
Bishop told The San Jose Mercury News,
“Every time I pick up the guitar, something new comes out of it. I guess you’d
call me a late bloomer. When you get to be my age, you’re not expecting to be progressing
or coming up with any new ideas, but for some reason, I’m lucky enough that
that’s what’s happening to me.”
Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun
Trio is among his very best musical ideas ever. The music is rootsy,
spirited and soulful, performed by serious musicians hell-bent on having a good
time. Elvin Bishop’s Big
Fun Trio features Bishop’s down-home delivery, deep blues
picking and slide guitar playfully meshing with Welsh’s piano and guitar licks
and Jordan’s soul singing and propulsive cajón playing. The album’s laid-back,
front-porch vibe mixes four rollicking Bishop originals with three co-writes
and five raucous, well-chosen covers of songs by Lightnin' Hopkins, Fats
Domino, Sunnyland Slim, Ted Taylor and Bobby Womack. And because one can never
have too much fun, Bishop’s pals Kim Wilson, Charlie Musselwhite and Rick
Estrin stop by the sessions, each adding his distinctive harmonica talent (and
in Musselwhite’s case, vocals too) to a song. Listening to the proceedings,
it’s easy to see why the Chicago
Sun-Times enthusiastically declared, “It’s impossible not to like
Bishop. He’s always singing something lowbrow and uplifting.”
When it comes to the formation of
The Big Fun Trio, it’s best to let Elvin tell the story himself:
Me and a couple of fellas got to jamming in my studio one day and we lucked up on The Big Fun Trio. I knew Willy Jordan from when he played percussion on some of my albums, and I liked his singing and rhythm feel. This time he brought a cajón, a South American percussion instrument. It's a square box you sit on to play it, and he got some amazing sounds out of it---bass drum, snare, anything---and he's a real strong singer. Bob Welsh is a member of my regular band, an amazing talent. He plays great guitar or piano and can get a tremendous "bass" sound on his guitar.
Me and a couple of fellas got to jamming in my studio one day and we lucked up on The Big Fun Trio. I knew Willy Jordan from when he played percussion on some of my albums, and I liked his singing and rhythm feel. This time he brought a cajón, a South American percussion instrument. It's a square box you sit on to play it, and he got some amazing sounds out of it---bass drum, snare, anything---and he's a real strong singer. Bob Welsh is a member of my regular band, an amazing talent. He plays great guitar or piano and can get a tremendous "bass" sound on his guitar.
In a trio, there's no place to
hide. You need to be totally into it all the time and you got to have the right
guys. The combination of the three of us clicked big time. We went out and
played a couple of gigs, and it was really cool to see how the people reacted
to the goin’-for-it feel of the music.
We decided we better make a CD,
so here 'tis. We enjoyed the hell out of playing this music, and we hope you do
the same listening to it.
According to San Francisco Bay
native Jordan, who has 27 years of experience playing drums with artists
including John Lee Hooker, Joe Louis Walker and Angela Strehli, making this
album was “crazy different. It’s rootsy but also new. We all stayed simple to
stay strong.” Welsh, originally from Covington, Louisiana, has performed and
toured with Bishop, Rusty Zinn, Charlie Musselwhite, Billy Boy Arnold, James
Cotton and others. Welsh says he too was blown away by the sessions. “Recording
this music was fun and fresh and new to us. I had to practice more, learn some
new things. The result is fearless.”
Bishop's previous release, 2014's
Grammy-nominated Can’t
Even Do Wrong Right,
turned the music-loving world on its head. Reviews poured in from NPR’s Fresh Air, Rolling Stone, Living Blues, No Depression
and many others. He appeared on TBS-Television’s CONAN and performed twice on A Prairie Home Companion (the
second time, in 2015, with The Big Fun Trio). He toured across the country,
bringing his smile-inducing blues music to eager fans around the world. He was
inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and soon after into the Blues
Hall Of Fame. He won the Living
Blues Award for Best Blues Album Of 2014 and three 2014 Blues Music
Awards: Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year (for the title track) and The Elvin
Bishop Band took the award for Band Of The Year.
Now, with Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio,
Bishop confidently debuts his new -- yet satisfyingly familiar -- sound, ready
to share the group’s happy-go-lucky vibe with listeners near and far. The
trio’s instrumental, vocal and songwriting talents guarantee a boisterous good
time.
