Guitar Master
Ronnie Earl Set to Release New CD, The Luckiest Man, on November 17 from
Stony Plain
Records
Stony Plain Records proudly announces the
November 17 release of the latest CD from multi Blues Music Award-winning
guitarist Ronnie Earl and his band, the Broadcasters, The Luckiest Man.
Ronnie Earl calls the album, “A traditional blues album of remembrance, love,
and unwavering resolve to live with faith and gratitude.” The new disc was
recorded at Woolly Mammoth Studios, Waltham, Mass.; Keep the Edge Studio,
Quincy, Mass.; and in Groton, Mass.
On The Luckiest Man, Ronnie and the
Broadcasters, both current as well as some of the earliest members, contribute
to the new album, which follows the sudden loss of Jim Mouradian, the band’s
beloved bass player following a show in January. Mouradian was also a respected
guitar luthier, family man and a gentleman. This musical journey through loss
and healing can be felt in the hauntingly beautiful “Death Don’t Have No Mercy,”
and in Ronnie’s tender tribute to his brother on “Jim’s Song.” Life moves ever
onward in the pulse and beat of “Heartbreak,” and faith takes hold in
“Never Gonna Break My Faith.” For the song, “Long Lost Conversation,”
Ronnie is reunited with some of the earliest Broadcasters and current members
of Sugar Ray and the Bluetones, who were on his first albums in 1983, all of
whom contributed to this truly being a family band project: Sugar Ray Norcia –
vocals, harp; Anthony Geraci – piano; Mike Welch – guitar; Neil Gouvin – drums;
Michael "Mudcat" Ward – double bass & Fender bass.
The title of the album, The Luckiest Man, is a
phrase and response spoken by Jim Mouradian who always lived with gratitude in
his heart and who never wasted a moment of his life: “I’m the luckiest man
you know — and I don’t even know who you know.”
Besides the original songs on The Luckiest Man,
Ronnie Earl puts his own, indelible stamp on interpretations of “Ain’t That
Loving You,” “So Many Roads” and “You Don’t Know What Love Is.”
In addition to Ronnie Earl on guitar, the Broadcasters
include Dave Limina – piano and Hammond B3; Diane Blue – vocals; Forrest
Padgett – drums; and Paul Kochanski – bass. Guest musicians on the new disc
also include Nicholas Tabarias – guitar; Mark Earley – baritone sax;
Mario Perrett – tenor sax; and Peter Ward – guitar.
They say that you can’t keep a good man down and that inner
resolve is both heard and felt within each song on The Luckiest Man,
Ronnie Earl’s twenty-fifth album and his eleventh on Stony Plain Records. Since
1983, Ronnie Earl has released a series of traditional blues albums, often
interlaced with jazz, gospel and soul offerings; however he has always returned
home to his “mother music” which is traditional blues. Ronnie Earl continues to
be one of the most emotive blues guitarists today, whose musical voicings deal
with loss and healing, gratitude and love, compassion and passion. Indeed, it
is those emotional touchstones within his music, which is so beautifully
reflected in the swirl of colors expressed in artist Tom Noll’s painting of
Ronnie on the cover.
The Luckiest Man confirms Ronnie Earl's status as one of the most soulful
blues/soul/jazz guitarists working today. He is a three-time Blues Music
Award winner as “Guitar Player of the Year,” a DownBeat magazine
winner for “Blues Album of the Year,” an Associate Professor of Guitar at
Berklee College of Music and has taught at the National Guitar summer workshop
in Connecticut.
The Luckiest Man Track Listing
1.
Ain’t
That Loving You
5:38
Don D. Robey, Manitou Music (Canada)
2.
Southside
Stomp 4:13
Ronnie Earl, Mr. Earl Publishing, BMI
3.
Death
Don’t Have No Mercy 6:00
Gary Davis, Chandos Music Company
4.
Jim’s
Song 3:00
Ronnie Earl, Mr. Earl Publishing, BMI
5.
Heartbreak
(It’s Hurtin’ Me) 6:43
Jon Thomas & Carlee Hoyless, Songs of Universal Inc.
6.
Howlin’
Blues 4:11
Traditional arranged and adapted by Ronnie Earl, Mr. Earl Publishing,
BMI
7.
Never
Gonna Break My
Faith 5:25
Andrea Remanda, Eliot John Kennedy & Bryan Adams, Remandamusic & Badams
Music Limited
8.
Long
Lost Conversation 10:15
R. Norcia, Norcia Publishing, BMI
9.
Sweet
Miss Vee 4:16
Ronnie Earl, Mr. Earl Publishing, BMI
10.
Blues
for Magic Sam 5:24
Ronnie Earl, Mr. Earl Publishing, BMI
11.
So
Many Roads 10:52
Paul Marshall, Arc Music Corporation
12.
You
Don’t Know What Love
Is
4:04
Fenton Robinson, Eyeball Music
