Smokin' Joe Kubek & Bnois King - Roadhouse Research (2003)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 347 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 136 Mb | Scans included
Modern Electric Texas Blues, Blues Rock | Label: Blind Pig | # BPCD 5080 | 00:47:16
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 347 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 136 Mb | Scans included
Modern Electric Texas Blues, Blues Rock | Label: Blind Pig | # BPCD 5080 | 00:47:16
If the 10 years these Texas guitarists have spent as a team exploring the world bar by bar has been "research," what they've learned is how to please a crowd. The formula's simple: no-frills songs about women and working for a livin', set to meat-and-potatoes arrangements that leave plenty of room for their guitars to roam. Kubek's six-string snarls the loudest, hitting Albert Collins-style sustains and grinding out beefy chords. King skirts around the fringes with his sweet-toned, jazz-informed fills or works at groove-level, anchoring things with his basic, chopping, R&B-style chording. King's vocals are really his trump card. They're smooth and slinky when he's romancing in "Make It Right" or gravelly as Kubek's fluid guitar when he's a driven man in numbers like "Runnin' Blind." The album ends with the kind of guitar grand finale that sets a crowd on fire just after last call. The tune, "Standing in My Door," lets both six-stringers sting.