Blue Groove artists: Hans Theessink & Terry Evans - True & Blue - New Release review

I just received the newest release, True & Blue, from Hans Theessink  & Terry Evans and it handles the roots of blues with modern sophistication. Opening with Demons, an easy paced country blues, Theessink leads the way on vocal with light harmonies by Evans. Traditional, Mother Earth, has a more soulful delta feel with excellent acoustic guitar work. Both Theessink and Evans work the lead vocals as well as harmonies. Very smooth guitar solos on this track make it one of my favorites. Fast paced Glory of Love is a great finger picked number with smoothly blended vocals. Gotta Keep Movin' features nice acoustic slide work and Evans on lead vocals. Very nice! Vicksburg Is My Home, a slow 12 bar number, again features Evans on lead vocals. This is a very traditional style track and very effective. Ledbelly's Bourgeois Blues, done a long time ago again by Ry Cooder is another of my favorites. A great strut feel and aggressive slide work coupled by Theessink on harp make this track a standout! Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You is a story telling track with a lesson. Low key vocals and the contrast of finger picked guitar with harp and slide make this track a crowd favorite. Aggressive slide work opens Robert Johnson's Cross Road Blues featuring Evans on lead vocals. Solid almost rowdy vocals and diligent slide work are hot! Chuck Berry's Maybellene keeps it's original pace by delivered with a country acoustic flair. Theessink and Evans really get the crowd tuned up on this track with extensive guitar work. Very nice! Theessink opens Delta Time with a harp solo and his solid vocal work. Evans on rhythm guitar and backing vocal rounds out the track. Evans takes the lead on J.B. Lenoir's, Talk To Your Daughter and it has a nice boogie feel. Stinging guitar solos on this track and warm vocal blending give it a different feel altogether from other covers that I've heard. Quiet ballad, Shelter From The Storm featuring Theessink on lead vocal has an almost spiritual feel. Boogie track, I Need Money, opens with a rockin guitar rhythm and Theessink on harp. Evans and Theessink trade lead vocal parts as well as slick guitar riffs. back to a country blues for the closer, Tears Are Rolling has a great pace with hot finger picking and Evans trading lead vocals with Theessink. This performance was recorded live in Vienna and the crowd obviously loved it.

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Delta Time - Hans Theessink and Terry Evans featuring Ry Cooder - New Release Review

I just received the newest release, Delta Time, by Hans Theessink & Terry Evans and it's terrific! This very earthy and warm recording begins with Delta Time, a bouncy blues track written by Theessink with deep thick vocals, acoustic and slide guitar. Blues Stay Away From Me has a real roots (country) feel and beautiful vocal harmonies with Ry Cooder bringing in some distinctive riffs. A great duet on It Hurts Me Too brings freshness to a well traveled track. The instrumentation has been applied like paint on a canvas just a light dab here and there as required. How Come People Act Like That, another cover track, is handled in a fresh light and again the duo with their rich vocals and Ry Cooder adding his flair on guitar makes for a very cool track. The Birds and The Bees, a classic pop track, has been included memorializing Evans contribution to the original track some 50 years ago. Build Myself A Home, a Thessink original, has a distinct gospel feel and is beautifully executed with Piedmont style playing and great vocal harmonies. JB Lenoir's Down In Mississippi is included on this cd and I never really get enough of this track. It was originally well written and is here well executed and embellished. Shelter From The Storm, another Theessink original, is another track that has solid roots and rich vocals. The song is very well written and Cooder again contributes beautifully melodic guitar riffs to compliment the track. I Need Money, another Theessink original has the spring of a Jimmy reed track and the gang does a great job on execution. Evans and Theessink sing and play in tandem for a great bluesy sound. Traditional track Heaven's Airplane has a lot of the characteristics of country, blues and gospel. Pouring Water On A Drowning Man is a terrific track with strong R&B sound. This track is handled with great care and warmth. The vocals are smooth and the guitar is perfect. Jimmy Reed's Honest I Do is up next and again handled with reverence. The vocal harmonies are very cool and refreshing. Theessink original Mississippi wraps the recording. This is a really great track and gives the entire band a chance to stretch out a little. You may be able to tell it's hard for me to articulate how good this recording is. It's really good! I also don't want to pass without mentioning vocal contributions by Arnold McCuller and Willie Greene Jr.
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Down In Mississippi - Terry Evans

His musical journey began in Vicksburg, Mississippi, in the heart of the Delta, where he was born. He was in the church choir as a young person and used to sing tenor, baritone and bass. He jokes that he wasn't allowed to sing the "rough stuff" like rock and roll in those days and that he was only allowed to sing gospel. He'd have to "slip away" to sing secular songs. Terry secretly listened to people like Elmore James, Little Walter, Albert King and B.B. King, to name a few. It was then that he decided he wanted be a soul singer.

In the sixties, Terry worked with an acappella group called The Knights, touring throughout the South in clubs and juke joints. From there Terry was lured to the west coast where he first picked up the guitar, started writing music and soon became a prolific songwriter. Pops Staples as well as the late, great Louis Jordan (among others) have recorded his songs.

Long before Terry made his first recording fronting his own band, music fans were probably well acquainted with his amazing voice. For years, the soulful singer was one of Los Angeles' foremost session vocalists, receiving a gold record for his work on John Fogarty's "Eye of the Zombie" and recording with Ry Cooder, Joan Armatrading, John Lee Hooker, Boz Scaggs, Maria Muldaur, Pops Staples, and many other well respected artists.

He teamed up with singer Bobby King in the early seventies; they toured as a duo, appearing at many prestigious clubs and festivals. In 1976 when Ry Cooder was looking for background singers, Bobby King recommended Terry. Their distinctive voices became a feature of several of Ry's critically acclaimed albums, including "Chicken Skin Music," "Get Rhythm," "Show Time," and "Slide Area." Bobby and Terry were still touring as a duo during this time. Terry sang lead vocal on "Down in Mississippi" on the "Crossroads" movie soundtrack album, with Ry singing the title song. In the actual film, Terry sings the title song. Terry toured with Ry Cooder throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan and credits Ry for being a great inspiration to him in his musical efforts since being in California.

In addition to his work with other artists, Terry recorded two albums with Bobby King, as well as eight of his own. He is now touring with his own band, and is recording a new CD for 2008.

Ry Cooder has said that he always thought that his long time singer, Terry Evans, made a better "front man." To see him perform is to understand why. Terry is one of the most dynamic soul and blues singers performing today, writing and singing about all aspects of human emotion, and creating a connection with his audience in the process
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