The Why and Wherefores
Blues
Alright
Singer/ guitarist/ various other string instruments-alist Emily Druce has created a stir on the UK blues scene, alongside her musical partner Steve Jones on guitar/ vocals and harmonica. The Whys And Wherefores is a new band the two of them have formed, bringing in a drummer, Marc Layton-Bennett, lap steel and regular guitarist John Barker, and sousaphonist Martin Wydell reflecting the northern brass band roots of the founders. Emily has a fine, swinging voice, whilst Steve sings the blues smoothly but with grit – and the blues is certainly one of the ingredients on offer on this excellent recording. Present too are rockabilly, honky-tonk country, southern soul (don’t be surprised if a big name picks up on ‘Rough Diamond’), Cab Calloway styled jazz, bluesrock on ‘I Thought I Loved Someone Else’, and even reggae with a version of Bob Marley’s ‘Lively Up Yourself’ where the sousaphone really comes into its own! A lovely set – not for the purists maybe but everyone else will enjoy this.
Norman Darwen
_________________________________
NetRhythms
Alright
It’s been four long years since a CD from Emily last graced my player: this was her very fine duo album with Steve Jones, Songs From The Silver Band Room, on which she displayed a new maturity of outlook and expression overlaying her already impressive grasp of the delta-blues idiom and country-blues and roots picking styles.
No criticism intended, but Emily’s writing and performing partnership with Steve would since appear to have outgrown its sonic space (if not her own modest ambitions), with the result that the duo has since last year been creatively augmented into a full-blown five-piece following the addition of Martin Wydell (sousaphone), Marc Layton-Bennett (drums) and John Barker (lap steel and guitar) to flesh out the grooves. This is an interesting development, producing a tasty and supremely confident sound that’s quite unique among roots combos and which enables both better nuances of shading and more stylistic versatility than might otherwise be possible with a more standardised roster of available sounds.
It’s indicative that during the course of the album’s 42 minutes or so, Emily puts her crack-tight band through their paces on anything from retro-rockabilly-shuffle (the title track, which kicks off a bit like Roman Holliday) and smoochy swing (The One I Left Behind) to Cooderesque blues (Black And White), heavy-duty funky garage (Rev Gal) and the “electric mud” vibe of I Thought I Loved Someone Else.
And the musicians prove their complete and exciting mastery of any of these styles and much else besides. The arrangements are cleanly defined, and the recording exceptional in deftly yet positively pointing up both Emily and Steve’s intense feel for the music’s roots and the more unusual aspects of the scoring. Rough Diamond is a special case in point, where Emily’s brilliantly characterised vocal is cocooned in an intriguing, gently sumptuous setting where a string section casts a spellbinding and sultry veil and the sousaphone lends a resonance and cast-iron firmness to the bass line.
Rollin’ & Tumblin’ has a vibrant, and suitably onomatopœic, Latin-style rhythm, while Illuminated brings a touch of melody-rich bossa-nova to the mix. Way Out West slouches in like a lost Little Feat number, with a particularly gritty soulfulness in Emily’s singing complemented by rough-house violin interjections. And I just love the way Emily wraps her voice round the jazzy dub swagger of Last Go Round: you could say she’s “lively-ing up herself” nicely in preparation for the disc’s chunky closer, its lone cover (the Bob Marley classic of almost that name). Maybe at times the pace of change, the switching between modes, can seem a mite relentless, especially early on the disc, but hey, you can always hit the pause button to give yourself a breather and let each mood settle in.
Oh, and I realise I’ve gone this far without commenting on the sheer excellence of the songwriting – Alright contains no fewer than eleven compellingly sparky and thoroughly idiomatic new songs from the increasingly masterly Druce-Jones writing team. No sir, this CD is vastly more than “alright”… if ever there was an understatement!
David Kidman