The Rev Jimmie
Bratcher Is Secretly Famous on New Blues-Rock CD Coming March 5 on Ain’t
Skeert Tunes
Latest Album
from Singer/Guitarist Was Produced by Multi-Grammy-Winner Jim
Gaines
KANSAS CITY, MO – The Rev Jimmie Bratcher announces a March 5
release date for Secretly Famous, the latest CD from the
blues-rock singer/guitarist, coming from Ain’t Skeert Tunes. Produced by
multi-Grammy-winner Jim Gaines and recorded at his Bessie Blue Studio in
Stantonville, Tennessee, Secretly Famous marks the second time the
two have collaborated on an album project; Gaines also produced Bratcher’s 2006
release, RED.
“Secretly Famous is my seventh album but I
really feel like it’s my first,” says Bratcher. “This album is different for me
because I went further back into my roots than on any of my other albums, back
to a time before I became “The Rev.” Back to the blues-rock root that I learned
playing that old guitar.”
“That old guitar” Bratcher refers to is a classic white 1964
Gibson SG Jr., which he played on the new CD. And there’s a story behind how he
got the guitar and how it set him on the path to become a musician as a
youngster growing up in Kansas City.
“In the driveway was a 1958 Desoto; in the house were a
12-year-old boy and his dad with a plan,” recalls Bratcher. “‘Will trade 1958
Desoto for electric guitar and amplifier,’ was how the ad read in the
Kansas City Star newspaper. One call came and I went home with a
beautiful white Gibson SG Jr. and a Gibson amplifier. That’s where it all
started and I still have both the guitar and amp to this day.”
On that day was not only a musician born, but also a
self-confessed “guitar freak,” who plays several different vintage guitars and
amps on Secretly Famous. “I never understood the attraction to
vintage guitars till one day it hit me,” says Bratcher. “There’s something very
special about playing a guitar that has had a lifetime of music played through
it. I consider playing guitar as a gift. Throughout my life I’ve received many
guitars as gifts. In fact most of the guitars that I own were given to me as
gifts. They are constant reminders to me that music is a gift to us all and
it’s my honor to play it for you. Oh yeah, the songs I played the SG on are the
solos of “I Can’t Shake That Thing” & “Starting All Over Again.”
And if you didn’t already know it, Jimmie Bratcher is a bona fide
preacher, who regularly spends his time when not performing at clubs and
festivals around the world, visiting souls who need a lifeline, including
frequent performances for prison inmates all over the country.
Backing The Rev Jimmie Bratcher on Secretly Famous
are Craig Kew on bass, known for his work with the group Proto Kaw, which
features guitarist Kerry Livgren from the legendary band Kansas; Lester Estelle
Jr. on drums, a Nashville-based skin-slammer who is currently touring with Big
and Rich and also co-owns Off the Wall Studios on Music Row; and keyboardist
Rick Steff, a mainstay at Jim Gaines’ recording sessions who’s based in Memphis
and also plays in the acclaimed band Lucero.
Secretly Famous features an even-dozen tracks
including 10 originals and two scintillating covers: The Rev’s boogie-in’ take
on John D. Loudermilk’s classic “Tobacco Road;” and a beautiful reading of the
Association’s ‘60s hit, “Never My Love,” that brings s new depth of feeling and
emotion to the song. Another track of note is “Check Your Blues at the Door,” an
original blues shuffle destined to become a fan favorite and blues lover’s
anthem.
“I wrote most of the songs on Secretly Famous
and had the honor of co-writing the opening track, ‘Jupiter & Mars,’ with my
son Jason,” says Bratcher. “The song was Jason’s idea and once I read the first
line – ‘Blinding light, flash of chrome, hot-head blonde in a tricked out Ford’
- I was hooked. There’s also something about my playing on this song that is
just wrong enough to be right and the groove drags you into the song so you
can’t help but feel it. All the songs I wrote on Secretly Famous
are for people like me. People that hurt, that love, that laugh, people that
need to forget about their troubles and enjoy life.”
For more information on the artist, visit www.therevjb.com.
