The Cate Brothers - Play By The Rules - 2004

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The Cate Brothers - Play By The Rules - 2004

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Product Description:: I guess you can teach an old blue-eyed soul dog new tricks. The Cate Brothers, who rocketed to fame in 1979 with the rocker "Union Man" and later teamed with Levon Helm in The Band, have been content the past decade touring from their digs in Arkansas and turning out solid if not noteworthy albums every so often. Play by the Rules dislodges the band from that rut. Behind keyboardist Ernie Cates' sweet, sincere vocals, brother Earl's crisp guitar and stellar songwriting and song selections, Play by the Rules is clearly one of the best blue-eyed soul albums released in several years and contends with any soul album of any color of eyes. Teaming with blues rocker Jimmy Thackery was the linchpin of the new album. Thackery, who relocated a few years ago to Arkansas, produced and plays guitar on the CD. His desire to have more of an uptempo feel helped boost the Cate Brothers to a higher level. The highlight, though, is the slow, emotional "This Side of Heaven," which was written by Ernie and Earl after the deaths of Earl's wife, Angela, and longtime bandmate William "Porky" Hill.

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The Cate Brothers - Play By The Rules - 2004

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Biography:: Arkansas-based Earl and Ernie Cate were prolific songwriters and singers who blended the blues with elements of rock & roll, country and rockabilly. Pianist/vocalist Ernie and guitarist/vocalist Earl signed to Asylum Records in 1975; their self-titled debut, issued shortly after, included appearances by Donald "Duck" Dunn, Steve Cropper, former Band drummer Levon Helm, and former Eagle and Poco member Timothy B. Schmidt. They followed up their debut in 1976 with In One Eye and Out the Other, trailed in 1977 by The Cate Brothers Band. Spurred by the success of the single "Union Man," 1979's Fire on the Tracks reached number 24 on the album rock charts in 1976.
Despite a dearth of recordings through the 1980s, the band remained a popular touring act in Tennessee, Arkansas and other strongholds of country rock and blues around the South. In the early '80s, Earl and Ernie joined Helm and others to form a reconstructed version of the Band, which by that point had lost guitarist Robbie Robertson; aside from touring with Helm, they also collaborated with blues singer Maria Muldaur. The Cate Brothers continued recording into the 1990s; in 1995, they issued Radioland, a unique hybrid of pop-oriented blues-rock, Stax-era soul-blues and country-rock on which they were joined by former John Mayall blues guitar phenom Coco Montoya. A new album, Play by the Rules, was released in 2004. ~ Richard Skelly, All Music Guide

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The Cate Brothers - Play By The Rules - 2004

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Review: Arkansas natives and brothers Ernie and Earl Cate specialize in a kind of roots-oriented blue-eyed soul that features Ernie's flexible voice (which in the higher register sounds a little like Curtis Mayfield) and Earl's solid, subtle lead guitar work. Play by the Rules doesn't break any new ground for the duo, but in an age of flash, shock, and glitz, the album's steady, easy professionalism is most welcome, a bit like having an old friend stop by for an evening of conversation. Highlights include a cover of John Hiatt's "Child of the Wild Blue Yonder," which makes good use of Dave Renko's sax playing, a version of Robbie Robertson's "The Shape I'm In" (the Cate Brothers were briefly members of a reconstituted Band in the early '80s, after Robertson had left the group), and the heartbreaking ballad "This Side of Heaven," written after the deaths of Earl's wife, Angela, and longtime sideman William "Porky" Hill. Nothing here has the impact of the brothers' 1979 hit "Union Man," but the album's no-frills blue-collar feel is comfortable in its sincerity and weary hopefulness.

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The Cate Brothers - Play By The Rules - 2004

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