Stony Plain Records artist: Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters - Mercy Me - New Release Review

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Mercy Me, from Ronnie Earl & the Broadcasters and it's strong. Opening with Muddy Waters' classic shuffle, Blow Wind Blow in Earl style and it's great. With Diane Blue handling the lead vocals nicely, Dave Limina on B3, Paul Kochanski on bass and Forrest Padgett on drums and Peter Ward sharing the guitar work with Earl, this is a solid opener. Slow blues, Blues For Duke Robillard, is prime Earl. I know that this may sound repetitive, but although Earl is an excellent player across the spectrum, his flow and chops on slow blues instrumentals are really tops in todays market. His feel, phrasing and tone is excellent and this track is an excellent example. With a slight uptick, Anthony Geraci's A Prayer For Tomorrow, is another great jam showing Earl not only with strong lead phrasing but gripping trem bends and lush chords under the beautiful key work of Geraci. Very nice. Another great shuffle, Dave's Groove, has just the right feel with Earl playing just behind the beat adding nice tension. Mario Perrett lets it fly on tenor sax giving the track a fat horn push along with Limina's B3 work. Excellent! Percy Mayfield's Please Send Me Someone To Love features Blue again on lead vocal and powerful horn work by Perrett on tenor and Mark Earley on bari sax adding a real soulful feel. The warm B3 tone by Limina and Padgett's light drum rhythm lends an excellent slate for Earl's clean, complimentary guitar soloing. Clocking in at over 10 minutes, a terrific track. Wrapping the release is Higher and Higher, further reinforcing the R&B influences throughout the release. Blue gets a great groove going, backed by Tess Ferraiolo on backing vocals and with the warm, gospel feel of  Limina on B3 and piano, excellent sax work by Perrett and Earley really sets the stage for Earl's highlighted guitar accents. Very nice closer for a strong release. 

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Gandy Dancer Records artist: Peter Ward - Train To Key Biscayne - New Release Review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Train To Key Biscayne, from Peter Ward and it's energetic. Opening with The Luther Johnson Thing, Luther Guitar Junior Johnson is upfront on lead vocal with Peter Ward on guitar, Mudcat Ward on bass, Neil Gouvin on drums and Anthony Geraci on piano. A cool shuffle with slick guitar lead, nice harp and excellent vocal phrasing, a super opener. Laid back, almost country styled, title track, Train To Key Biscayne features Sugar Ray Norcia on lead vocal and Jiri Nedoma on piano. Ward's warm guitar soloing backed by the sax work of Aaron Gratzmiller gives it a cool retro feel. One of my favorite tracks on the release is Blues Elixir (Ronnie's Here) featuring Ward on lead vocal and really nice trademark guitar lead work by Ronnie Earl. Backed by Nedoma on piano and with solid harp work by Norcia, this is a really cool track. Johnny Nicholas is up front on lead vocal on Change (Ain't Never For The Good) and features excellent guitar work by Ward and a solid harp solo by Norcia. Geraci really gets the keys workin on this one and the drum reinforcement by Gouvin solidifies the natural swing. Very nice. Brisk swinger, As Long As I Have A Chance, again features Norcia on lead vocal and gives Ward and Geraci a great platform to showcase their soloing. Wrapping the release is Anthony's Son, a very clean guitar melody with Ward strumming chorded melody. Very nice closer for a very cool release.

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Gandy Dancer Records artist: Peter Ward - Blues On My Shoulders - New Release Review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Blues On My Shoulders, from Peter Ward and it's quite good. Opening with solid shuffle, She Took It All, Peter Ward on guitar and lead vocal sets a great pace with Mudcat Ward on bass, Neil Gouvin on drums and Sugar Ray Norcia on harp. Excellent opener. Surf rocker, Which Hazel, is a solid rocker along the lines of Chuck Berry with a strong surf twist. Clever lyrics and guitar riffs by Ward give this track a lot of gas. On title track, Blues On My Shoulders, Anthony Geraci adds nice piano and I particularly love the guitar work by Monster Mike Welch. Collaborate is all about lush chords and sassy sax and Ward's guitar work with Sax Gordon Beadle's sax work is just that. Excellent! Shuffle track, It's On Me is another outstanding entry on the release with a hot sax solo from Beadle and hot fingering from Ronnie Earl and Ward. Very nice. Southpaw is a hot number with a smoking B3 solo from Rusty Scott, solid bass work from George Dellomo, and hot guitar riffs by Ward.  One of my personal favorites on the release is jump track, Kansas City Blues featuring great vocals, a strong bass line by Joe Delia and really nice soloing by Ward. Wrapping the release is Drummin' Willie, about Willie Big Eyes Smith with Neil Gouvin on druma, Mudcat on bass and Sugar Ray Norcia on harp. This is a strong release with a lot of cool surprises. Check it out. 

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Boston-Based Guitarist Peter Ward Sets October 20 Release Date for His New CD, "Blues on My Shoulders," on Gandy Dancer Records; Special Guests Include Ronnie Earl, Sugar Ray & the Bluetones and Sax Gordon Beadle

Boston-Based Guitarist Peter Ward Sets October 20 Release Date for His New CD, Blues on My Shoulders, on Gandy Dancer Records

Special Guests Include Ronnie Earl, Sugar Ray & the Bluetones and Sax Gordon Beadle

BOSTON, MA – Guitarist Peter Ward announces an October 20 release date for his new CD, Blues on My Shoulders, on Gandy Dancer Records. Besides Ward on guitar and vocals, special guests on the new disc include multiple Blues Music Award-winning guitar legend Ronnie Earl, Sax Gordon Beadle on sax and the members of Sugar Ray and the Bluetones: Sugar Ray Norcia (vocals and harmonica), “Monster” Mike Welch (guitar), Anthony Geraci (piano), Michael “Mudcat” Ward (Peter’s brother – bass) and Neil Gouvin (drums). 

“It pleases me to present Blues on My Shoulders, my first solo project,” Peter Ward says about the new album. “I wrote the words and music to 12 of the 13 songs. I grew up wearing out the vinyl records trying to understand how Robert Jr. Lockwood, Tiny Grimes, Louis Meyers and Jimmy Rogers made songs sound so good. It's what I wanted to do. I was lucky to sit in often with my friend (and former roommate) Ronnie Earl and play alongside many of my musical heroes. A highlight was touring with the Legendary Blues Band: Joe Willie ‘Pinetop’ Perkins, Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith, Calvin ‘Fuzz’ Jones and Jerry Portnoy, who had brilliantly backed Muddy Waters for years. The way they played blues was everything I believed in, then and now. Willie Smith was an inventive drummer — and a wily character. I pay tribute to him in the song, ‘Drummin' Willie.’ The track ‘Which Hazel’ is my homage to Chuck Berry. Sugar Ray Norcia honored me by singing the heck out of ‘Collaborate,’ a tribute to Lockwood and Lonnie Johnson. I appreciate that Ronnie Earl and Sax Gordon Beadle accepted my invitation to perform on two songs: ‘A Little More’ and ‘It's On Me.’ ‘Southpaw’ is my ode to lesser-known left-handed swing guitarist Dickie Thompson, who worked with organist and front man Wild Bill Davis. My instrumental, ‘Shiprock,’ reminds me of a hallowed part of Navajo country I visited with my wife Mai Cramer, who died of breast cancer in 2002 and previously hosted a popular blues program every weekend for 24 years on WGBH-FM. She was an avid supporter of the blues and its purveyors. I think she would have liked Blues on My Shoulders. I hope you do.”

As a teenager growing up in Lewiston, Maine, Peter and his brother Michael (“Mudcat”) listened intently to blues records and went to see Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Taj Mahal and Hubert Sumlin whenever they performed in the area. Peter played blues with Mudcat and did gigs also with his younger brother Jeff, who died in 1991. “Jeff was too young to drink, but club owners would let him in so he could play bass with New York City drummer Ola Dixon and me,” Ward recalls.

Ward later moved to Boston and played in various bands, frequently sitting in with Sugar Ray & the Bluetones, who then featured his brother and Ronnie Earl, and backed blues artists such as Jimmy Rogers, Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson and Lowell Fulson.

“In the Big Apple, I was thrilled when Otis Rush told me I played chords like an ‘old man,’ Ward remembers. “In 1978, each week I drove across I-90 to Rochester, N.Y. to play blues for three nights with guitarist-vocalist Joe Beard. Beloved there, Joe had once been a neighbor of Son House. In the 1980s, I loved everything about touring with the Legendary Blues Band — the traveling and camaraderie, but especially the way we played blues in an unhurried, improvisational way. We recorded a CD for Rounder Records that featured Duke Robillard, whose brilliant guitar I had first heard at a high school dance.

“I married Mai Cramer, who spun records for Boston station WGBH-FM every weekend from 1978 until 2002, when she died of breast cancer. Her fans and I stage a fundraiser in her honor each spring for charity at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, Mass. Headliners have included Jody Williams, Luther ‘Guitar Junior’ Johnson, Lurrie Bell, Ron Levy and Eddie Taylor, Jr. In 2010, I produced Goodbye Liza Jane: Hello Western Swing, a CD of western swing (a cousin to the blues) with Herb Remington, an original member of Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys. In recent years I've begun writing songs, as I culled the many snippets of melodies and phrases stuck in my mind. It's fun to turn thoughts into songs and then sing them while people dance. It's been a blast, and it's not over.”