One Step Ahead of the Blues
Johnny Chimes
The album kicks off w/ the rocking, uptempo “Lovesake”—a look at the joys and perils of finding love in the 21st century. Nice backing vocals from Al & Katie Cass.
“Back on the Road," is about the musician’s reality of leaving home & family for ‘a dollar & a song’. Tip of the hat to Moses for the cool harmonies and to guitarist Louka
The album kicks off w/ the rocking, uptempo “Lovesake”—a look at the joys and perils of finding love in the 21st century. Nice backing vocals from Al & Katie Cass.
“Back on the Road," is about the musician’s reality of leaving home & family for ‘a dollar & a song’. Tip of the hat to Moses for the cool harmonies and to guitarist Louka Patenaude for the tasty country pickin’.
“Blues Got It In For Me” was written during a break in recording. The lyrics practically wrote themselves. Listen to Mel play his blues guitar—this is the real stuff!
“For Better or Worse” is, of course, about a wedding—featuring a vocal duet w/ Katie, along w/ some Tex/Mex accordion.
The ballad, “Love’s a Lot Like That," tells the story of a man blind-sided by his lover’s sudden leaving. Some heartfelt violin from Paul Zmudzinski and harmonica from Jay Stephenson.
“Why’d Ya Do Me This Way” is a Latin-fueled dance number about a man who discovers that his lover is ‘one of the cheating kind’. Moses’ percussion chops are on the front-burner for this tune along w/ Al’s “call-and-response” sax riffing.
The ‘finger-pointing’ song, “Wasteland Blues," takes a hard look at what’s driving the world to the brink of extinction. Funky horn section work here from Al, with some New Orleans ‘stank’ on it. A cautionary tale.
“Dead-End Love Affair” tells the fast-moving story of a couple whose romance is now “on the outs." Again, close harmonies from Katie and Al. Mel Ford adds the searing blues guitar parts to fill-in the emotional details.
And finally, “Our Separate Ways” is a story of ‘what might have been’—did a couple really give their new love a chance to survive time being apart? Some ‘slip-note’ country piano playing on the album-closing ballad.
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01 Lovesake 4:520:00/4:52
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02 Back on the Road 3:300:00/3:30
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0:00/3:35
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0:00/3:26
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0:00/5:24
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0:00/5:05
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0:00/5:44
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0:00/5:38
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09 Our Separate Ways 4:240:00/4:24