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Blues Underground Network |
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Blues Duo "Canned
Heat"
"Canned Heat (Sterno) is a fuel
made from denatured and jellied alcohol. It is
designed to be burned directly from its can." Due to it's alcohol
content, it was also unfortunately used as an intoxicant, "after
straining through a piece of bread". Canned Heat is also the name of
the "blues-rock/boogie rock band that formed in Los Angeles,
California, USA, in 1965", and the name of the new Debut
Album from Blues Duo. Both Canned Heat, the band and Canned Heat the Album
title "took the name from Tommy Johnson's 1928 "Canned Heat Blues", a
song about an alcoholic who had desperately turned to drinking Sterno,
generically called "canned heat
".
Blues Duo consists of Tracy
K and Jamie Steinhoff, with Tracy K being a very well known
Canadian Recording Artist and Musician, whom has numerous awards and accolades including
the 2007 Ontario Independent Music Award for "BEST BLUES", 2007
International Songwriting Competition Finalist in BLUES, 2007
International Songwriting Competition Finalist in PERFORMANCE, 2007
Toronto Blues Society Talent Search First Runner Up, 2006
WinnipegBlues.com HARMONICA PLAYER of the Year and 2006 WinnipegBlues.com
FEMALE VOCALIST of the Year, and Jamie Steinhoff whom has remained,
on the one hand, virtually unknown, yet on the other hand, is an extremely
talented Artist who's "dedication to folk & blues from the 1920s
to 40s is revealed in his swampy Delta slide and Piedmont fingerstyle
guitar work and gritty soulful vocals ". Other
performers with Tracy K and Jamie on "Canned Heat" were Stuart Green
(Snare on "Chauffeur Blues", "Cowboy Blues", and
"Lovin' Sam"), David Angell (Bass on "Chauffeur Blues"), and Emily Kohne (Background
Vocals on "Heaven's Joy"). In addition to Vocals, Tracy K
plays Harmonica, as well as, Acoustic Guitar on "Heaven's Joy" and
even plays Kazoo on Track 5 ("Everybody Loves My Baby"). Jamie
Steinhoff also does Vocals and plays Guitar, Dobro, and
Banjo.
"Canned Heat" consists of 10 Tracks
evenly distributed between Originals and Covers. Of the 5 Originals, Tracy
K is credited with writing "Tailor Made", "Cowboy Blues", and "Heaven's
Joy" and Jamie Steinhoff gets credit for "Ditty Wah So" and "Stolen Apple
Jelly". Rounding out "Canned Heat" is a good selection of Covers including
the title Track, Tommy Johnson's "Canned Heat", which by now
needs no introduction, Lester Melrose's "Chauffeur Blues", a song
that "was originally called Me and My Chauffeur Blues and performed by
Memphis Minnie and covered by many other
artists", and Robert "Barbecue Bob" Hicks' "Atlanta Moan", a song
dedicated to a city he moved to in 1924. Robert Hicks, "nickname came
from the fact that he was a cook in a barbecue restaurant. One of the two
extant photographs of Bob show him playing his guitar while wearing a full
length white apron and cook's hat". The remaining 2 Covers
are Spencer Williams/Jack Palmer's "Everybody Loves
My Baby", and Jack Yellen/Milt Ager's "Lovin'
Sam".
"Everybody Loves My Baby", also
known as "Everybody Loves My Baby, but My Baby Don't Love Nobody but Me",
is a popular and jazz standard song composed by Spencer Williams in 1924.
Lyrics were written by Jack Palmer. The opening phrases of the song's
lyrics are featured in a fine early Langston Hughes poem, "The Cat and the
Saxophone, 2am" (1926), about a couple's interactions at a jazz club in
the 1920's
."
Lovin' Sam is a song by Sippie Wallace
whom "ranks among the classic female American blues singers. Her songs
"Lovin' Sam," "I'm a Mighty Tight Woman," and "Up the Country" numbered
among the most popular blues in the United States during the
1920s."
"Canned Heat" comes across as Back Porch Blues in it's truest form. The songs are kept simple both musically and vocally. They also come across with a honest realism, especially the ones that only have Tracy K and Jamie Steinhoff performing, which number 6 of the Album's 10 Tracks. From the selection of the songs chosen for "Canned Heat", which at least among the Covers, one gets the great feel for the blues music coming out of the era of the early 20's and the Originals done on this Album help to keep that cohesive thread going. As for my Favorites on "Canned Heat", it is hard to pick just a couple, but certainly I love it when the old Kazoo is brought out as it was on "Everybody Loves My Baby" and "Chauffeur Blues" also caught my attention, right away, with it's opening which could of easily been from the song "Good Morning Little School Girl". I must say, I really love the Blues when it is offered in it's simplest form, after all that is where it originated from. "Canned Heat" does a very fine job of taking us back to the simpler times of the Blues, and masterfully so. I truly hope that Tracy K and Jamie Steinhoff continue as Blues Duo and in doing so, offer us much more of the same in the future, from these immensely talented Artists. For old time Blues and Beyond, done right, I give "Canned Heat" my highest rating of 5*****. Review by John Vermilyea (Blues Underground Network)
Additional Info
Tracklist
1. Canned Heat
2. Chauffeur Blues 3. Atlanta Moan 4. Ditty Wah So 5. Everybody Loves My Baby 6. Tailor Made 7. Cowboy Blues 8. Stolen Apple Jelly 9. Lovin' Sam 10.Heaven's Joy
Listen To Samples Here...
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