JT Coldfire - Crazy Sun (2011)

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JT Coldfire - Crazy Sun (2011)

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J.T. Coldfire is a Texas bluesman, based in Austin. J.T. is a long haul player, logging in nine hours for a three show night without any repeats. He opens ‘Crazy Sun’ with some Delta blues channeled through “Pistol Lead”, walks “White Collar Street Life” uptown, keeping company with some slow cooked blues riffs, keeps “No Time For Sleepin’” wide awake with caffeinated rhythms and riffs so sharp they could cut through the strongest cup of joe and high steps “Hangin’ Tree” into the next life to find some peace. J.T. Coldfire struts and slides, rapid riffs and laid back licks with a lifetimes worth of blues textures jammed into his songs.

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JT Coldfire - Crazy Sun (2011)

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JT Coldfire Bio

Guitarist JT Coldfire is garnering praise and earning new fans every night and everywhere he performs. Born in 1980, Corpus Christi, Texas is where he was raised and where he caught the blues bug at a young age.

His more than 15 year career started with a stint in NYC where he honed his chops and nurtured his talent with some of the blues and jazz greats of the time. He then returned to South Texas to make The Live music Capital of the World his home.

Since then he has released 3 solo albums. But JT's sound and performances are anything but cold. Critics have named him as one of the hottest new artists in blues today.Whether sharing the stage with such greats as Jimmie Vaughan and David Allen Coe or with his own band in the USA or Europe, he plays guitar with unbridled passion and sings from the depth of his soul.

Music lovers from Texas to Tokyo agree, JT Coldfire is the Blues!

Review by Blues Blast Magazine (November 23, 2011)

The Texas tradition of hard-charging guitar powered blues is at home, placed in the hands of Austin, Texas’ JT Coldfire. His guitar skills draw from Stevie Ray Vaughn, Freddie King and Albert Collins among others. The usual Texas blues subjects are visited: guns, criminal activity, longing for love…you know the drill. JT and crew bring a freshness to well-charted waters. An authoritative voice, songwriting and the production skills he adds to the stew bring it all home. His aggressive guitar attack is the centerpiece of this disc. It’s the classic rockin’ blues power trio with the occasional assistance of harmonica and piano. Lee Sheffield on bass and Dimon Dixon on drums provide the backbone for JT’s axe adventures.

“Hangin’ Tree” represents the classic “tension and release” device in a tune that sees our hero looking for a tree to end his suffering. A drumstick driven slow shuffle builds into an energy charged rave-up as harmonica joins in the fray. JT comes off as a more laidback SRV on the Texas-boogie of “Johnny’s Gone”, which I think is about a man wrongly accused of a crime. The title tune and “No Time For Sleepin’” are extended guitar workouts, the ladder a Texas shuffle that just burns it up. The device of a pun in the title is employed on the hard-charging “Lee Malone” (Leave Me Alone) about a woman that keeps bugging him.

Just as impressive are the four acoustic forays, my favorites being the country blues “Pistol Lead” and “She’s Crazy”, a late night guitar-piano-drum groove. Mournful dobro sets the scene on “Mr. Jones” were the listener is given a warning on who to mess with. A revival meeting is conjured up in the dobro-infused “Lower That Ladder”. The acoustic guitar playing throughout reveals the same hard attack and/or deft touch shown on the electric bits.

“Bad Day” is an obvious and well-done homage to Bob Dylan in the use of cadence, phrasing and lyrical wordplay. Banzai LARocca weaves his blues harp throughout the mesmerizing tune. Marty Robbins’ Tex-Mex story-songs are given their due in “Sweet Little Isa”.
Electric blues, acoustic country blues and the fringes of blues-rock are given their due here. It does ones’ heart good to see musicians on a mission to keep a regional form alive, all-the-while breathing fresh air into it.

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JT Coldfire - Crazy Sun (2011)

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JT Coldfire - Crazy Sun (2011)

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