I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Rise Up, from Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters and it's smokin! Opening with a simple, acoustic guitar cover of traditional I Shall Not Be Moved, gives you no clues that Earl is about to open a can of Whoop on us. Shuffle, Higher Love, with a solid intro by Earl and Dave Kimina on B3 gives the stage over to super blues vocalist, Diane Blue and she fits like a glove. Settling down into a super groove laid out by Kimina on B3, Forrest Padgett on drums, Paul Kochanski on bass and Peter Ward on guitar, Earl really steps up with some of his beautiful blues phrasing. Fenton Robinson's R&B track, You Don't Know What Love Is is a super platform for Blue and Earl. Blue's vocals are perfectly suited for this style of music and her feel and sense of timing are super. Blues For Lucky Peterson is the first of a number of slow blues tracks where Earl really stretches it out. Busting out at over 10 minutes, you get enough powerful, guitar emotion on this one track to warrant the cost of admission, and there's more to come. Excellent! One of my favorite tracks on the release is Lil Green's, In The Dark which not only brings out the best in Blues' soulful vocal style, but also plays nicely to Earls own guitar strength. Very nice. Soulful gospel track, Lord Protect My Child, is really strong with powerful vocals by Blue that sometimes remind me of the Queen of Soul and excellent B3 work by Limina, reinforcing that gospel flavor. Very nice. Talking To Mr. Bromberg is another excellent slow blues giving Earl an excellent opportunity to show that extraordinary guitar phrasing that he is known for. The tension is thick. Blues For J is an excellent shuffle that gives Limina a nice bit of time center stage. Wrapping the release is Navajo Blues, the last of the slow blues instrumentals on the release. Earl continues to put out terrific releases with deep blue guitar emotion. Excellent.
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