BIG TOWN PLAYBOYS - WESTERN WORLD CD
By Dave Clarke Juke Blues Magazine

Just when you thought it was safe to relax, here come the Big Town Playboys roaring back with a dynamite new album, a different line-up and a new lead vocalist we all love! Yup, it's none other than Big Joe Louis of The Blues Kings fame, barking and howling out great songs from the reportoires of bluesmen like Harmonica Slim, Elmore James, Peewee Crayton, Eddie Boyd and Andre Williams. Nobody comes near the Playboys when they're on top form and they're rampant on this infectious mess of big-time R&B and dynamic barrel-chested blues and boogie. Bassist Ian Jennings and drummer Mark Morgan lay down a backbeat that's hard to resist, pianist Wes Weston boogies like crazy and the horn section cooks!

A band that plays blues this big needs a big voice to front it and they've got the right man in Big Joe Louis. His fans won't be surprised to hear him handle the swaggering West Coast blues of Percy Mayfield and Jimmy Nelson with as much confidence as on the more downhome style of Harmonica Slim's "Do What You Wanna Do" or the Crescent shuck and jive of Lloyd Price's "Where You At". Of course you can't keep him away from a guitar for too long so he slips on the slide for a few hotlicks on Elmore's "Can't Stop Lovin'" while the band get manic with that rhumboogie beat. It's all glorious stuff.

We know that new releases by The Big Town Playboys or Big Joe Louis and The Blues Kings are always hotly anticipated by you Red Lickers so this has got to be the CD of the year for you.

A trip to Bradford for a Whit weekend festival (June), Dave Clarke found the (new) Big Town Playboys on the outdoor stage.The new line up has Big Joe Louis fronting a new band in a Joe Turner bag. They rocked and shouted the blues through 'Letter From Home,' 'Marked Deck,' 'T-Model Boogie.' etc, and did a short downhome set in the middle. Standout of the night was Wes Weston who played good piano on the R&B numbers and stunning harp in the downhome trio, a Red Little Walter to Big Joes' Johnny Shines - styled powerhouse singing. Some of the best downhome I've heard anywhere - then back to the R&B for Willie Egans' 'Wow - Wow' and Johnny Rogers' 'Calling Baby': tenor and baritone sax, some killer vintage styled guitar and Big Joe shoutin' the blues. It's a tough little outfit which you shouldn't miss if you get a chance to see them. Congrats to Ian Jennings who has shaped this combo, after the departure of Mike Sanchez, into a new style a little closer to a blues band for to be reckoned with.

Dave Clarke Juke Blues Magazine

** Click here for Booking Information **