Backtrack Blues Band – A Day By The Bay
A Day By The Bay: Best Friend’s Grave, Make My Home In Florida, Help Me Just This Time, Dixie Grill, Natural Born Lover, Riche Man Blues, She Might Get Mad, Times Is Hard, You’ll Come Back Someday
Personnel: Sonny Charles: Lead Vocals, Harmonica; Kid Royal: Lead Vocals (songs 5, 7, 8), Lead Guitar; Little Johnny Walter: Rhythm Guitar, Back Up Vocals; Joe Bencomo: Drums; Stick Davis: Bass; Wayne Sharp: Hammond B3 Organ; Latonya Oliver: Background Vocals; Dana Merriwether: Backing Vocals
Backtrack Blues Band – A Day By The Bay was released on the Gulf Coast Records label. The release was recorded live at the Tampa Bay Blues Festival, April 10, 2022, in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Executive Producer is Charles W. Ross and the Audio engineering, mixing, and mastering was done by Jim "Pinky" Beeman. To read about other Backtrack Blues Band releases featured in Luxury Experience see the Music Scene section – Backtrack Blues Band – Way Back Home.
I believe that Blues music was created to be heard live, and with A Day By The Bay you have the quintessential recording of a band, Backtrack Blues Band, at their best. The nine-track recording, with eight originals tracks, is, as the band refers to the music, a blend of Chicago style Blues with a Texas influence.
The release opens with the track Best Friend’s Grave, and with a live recording you need to set the table with a hopping and catchy track to get the audience engaged, and Best Friend’s Grave does it all. They follow up with the track Make My Home In Florida, which leads with the hypnotic harmonica, a signature element of the Backtrack Blues Band, coupled with mesmerizing guitar licks, this is a track I visualized the audience swaying in time too.
The track Help Me Just This Time also leads with the harmonica wailing away which coaxes in the baseline, organ, and the guitar work of Kid Royal resulting in a powerful Blues ballad. Staying in the mood, is the track Dixie Grill, which is Blues down to its basic with fun lyrics, "…down home cooking is such a thrill…dripping grits with a lot of cheese…," and exceptional harmonies complementing a swinging Blues sound.
The one cover track, Natural Born Lover by Jimmy Reed, is freshened up in the hands, lips, and voices of the band. They ring in the sound true to the harmonica and guitar licks from Jimmy Reed while adding in a solid baseline, the Hamond B3 Organ, and couple the sound with their strong background vocals.
They hit hard with the track Rich Man Blues, a pounding Blues track where their signature elements of the harmonica, guitar and Hammond B3 Organ lead the way throughout, but the harmonica is so engaging that it seems to be its own background vocal.
They close out the live session with three down and dirty Blues tracks with She Might Get Mad, followed by Times Is Hard, a poignant Blues track strummed through the fingers of Kid Royal, and they close with the track You’ll Come Back Someday, where they let it all out and show the confidence of over 40-years of playing, writing, and performing together.
Websites where you can procure Backtrack Blues Band – A Day By The Bay: Amazon, Bear Family Records, All Music
Social Media:
Facebook –www.Facebook.com/BacktrackBluesBand
Facebook –www.Facebook.com/GulfCoastRecords
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