Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters
"Hope Radio"
(Stony Plain Records)
Reviews
Stony Plain Records announces a November 6th release date for Hope Radio, the new CD from the celebrated guitarist Ronnie Earl and The Broadcasters. Recorded and filmed live (with a separate DVD forthcoming) in the studio before an audience at Wellspring Sound in Acton, Mass in April of this year, Hope Radio features 11 songs that showcase Ronnie Earl at his amazing best, backed by long-time members of The Broadcasters: Dave Limina – keyboards, Jim Mouradian – bass, and Lorne Entress - drums. Guests include Michael “Mudcat” Ward on bass and piano and Nick Adams on second guitar.
A two-time W.C. Handy Blues Award winner as “Guitar Player of the Year,” Ronnie Earl has been hailed by musicians and critics alike as one of the premier blues guitarists of his generation and played alongside side such greats as Carlos Santana, Muddy Waters, Big Joe Turner, Otis Rush, Earl King and Duke Robillard (who he replaced as guitarist in the legendary Roomful of Blues after Robillard left that band).
Hope Radio is Ronnie’s fourth CD for Stony Plain, following his two solo albums: I Feel Like Goin’ On (2003) and Now My Soul (2004); and his acclaimed 2005 teaming with Duke Robillard, The Duke Meets The Earl.
The all-instrumental Hope Radio drips with soul, spirituality and what Earl calls “the healing approach” to guitar playing on its many highlights. The opening track, “Eddie’s Gospel Groove,” with his blistering guitar tone and accompanying Hammond B3 organ, recalls the intensity of Santana. The jamming “Bobby’s Bop” delivers jazz grooves that bring to mind his early collaboration with organ legend Jimmy McGriff. On the slow, after-hours feel of “Blues for the West Side,” Earl salutes many of Chicago’s “West Side” school of guitarists, such as Buddy Guy and Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson. A new song, “Katrina Blues,” which features a rare solo acoustic guitar performance by Ronnie, drips with emotion and thoughts of those who suffered (and continue to suffer) in New Orleans, one of his favorite cities to play. “Wolf Dance” is a beautiful, staccato-noted nod to one of his mentors, the great Hubert Sumlin of Howlin’ Wolf’s band. On “Blues for the Homeless” Earl sends out his love and spiritual healing thoughts to those less fortunate, and dedicates “Beautiful Child” to “all the sick and suffering alcoholics and addicts in the world today.” And on “Blues for Otis Rush,” he pays tribute to another dear friend and major influence.
Born in Queen’s, New York, Ronnie Earl began playing guitar after entering college and landed his first gig in the house band of a Cambridge, Massachusetts club. In 1979, he replaced Duke Robillard in Roomful of Blues, spending the next eight years touring and recording with them. In addition to his Stony Plain recordings, he’s released many acclaimed albums for Black Top Records, Bullseye Blues, Verve and Telarc. In 2008, Ronnie Earl and The Broadcasters will celebrate 20 years as a
band. Courtesy of Mark Pucci Media
Ronnie Earl is one of the most soulful blues guitar players out there. Though he's played with vocalists (Sugar Ray Norcia being my favorite), he specializes in instrumental recordings. Earl has the chops and the ideas to make a full album of blues instrumentals that'll hold your attention from the start. Hope Radio is a live recording put together at Wellspring Sound in Acton, Massachusetts.
RONNIE EARL CONTINUES TO BUILD REPUTATION AS ONE OF THE WORLD'S PREMIER GUITARISTS
With "Hope Radio," his fourth CD for Stony Plain, Ronnie Earl consolidates his reputation as one of the world's premier guitar players. The CD was made available worldwide on November 13.
The album was recorded in front of a studio audience - and was filmed for a forthcoming DVD. Earl is accompanied by the members of his long-running band, The Broadcasters: Dave Limina on keys, bassist Jim Mouradian and Lorne Entress on drums. The new CD - with a total of 11 power-packed instrumentals - includes guest appearances from Micheal "Mudcat" Ward on bass and piano, and Nick Adams on second guitar.
The CD drips with soul, spirituality and what Ronnie calls "the healing approach" to guitar playing. Key tracks: The opener, "Eddie's Gospel Groove," "Blues for the West Side," and "Katrina Blues," a rare solo acoustic performance.
Previous Ronnie Earl CDs on the label include "I Feel Like Goin' On" (2003), "Now My Soul" (2004) and his collaboration with Duke Robillard, "The Duke Meets the Earl" (2005).
Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters "Hope Radio" (***). Being that I'm partial to singers an all instrumental showcase for a guitarist doesn't get me excited. Then again we are talking about Ronnie Earl here and the cat's just as soulful on his axe as Al Green is on the mic. "Hope Radio" was recorded "live in the studio" by Earl and the Broadcasters (keyboardist Dave Limina, bassist Jim Mouradian and drummer Lorne Entress) featuring mostly originals.
So you have a song called "Katrina Blues" that has no spoken words but all feeling. In a sense, if you'll grant me the license to be pretentious here, an instrumental is similar to a painting relying on form and feeling without the narrator (singer). Granted when I hear this slow, acoustic piece I don't think about the hurricane but I do feel the Blues. Same goes for "Blues For The Homeless". Another title, "Blues For Otis Rush", had me trying to hear if Earl was doing Otis Rush licks. I suppose he does but this searing slow Blues is just 10 minutes of guitar mastery whatever the inspiration. Besides anyone who's attended a Rush show as of late knows his penchant for going into extended solos on nearly every number.
Now "Wolf Dance" is easier to comprehend being Earl incorporates Hubert Sumlin's famous "Smokestack Lightning" riff, but perhaps it's closer to "Trying To Forget You", a track from Wolf's penultimate album "The Back Door Wolf". Whichever, I still couldn't help wishing the Wolf would start moaning. And there you have it for me. A treat for guitar aficionados and darn delicious background music for those who aren't.
Courtesy of Blues Critic http://bluescritic.com/november2007cdreviews.htm
Folks familiar with FAME may or may not be aware of my career-spanning shyness when it comes to reviewing blues records. Somehow, no matter how authentic, rooted, gritty, or whatever the blues parlance may be, by three or four songs it all sounds the same to me. Of course, as there is with everything attached to this embattled domain, there have been exceptions. 'Hope Radio' is one of them.
Two-time W.C. Handy "Guitarist of the Year", Ronnie Earl's influences are the usual, oft-listed legends (Muddy Waters, Big Joe Turner, Otis Rush…) but he sure channels Stevie Ray Vaughn like no one's business. And maybe there are a handful of purists and experts out there who will argue that Earl possesses or does not possess SRV's touch and technique, but I will tell you that he sure has his sound and, most of all, his soul. They may also nit-pick that The Broadcasters—Dave Limina (piano, Hammond B3), Jim Mouradian (bass), Lorne Entress (drums), and guest Michael 'Mudcat' Ward (bass, piano)—may not be as visceral as Double Trouble, but these boys know deep how to hold a groove and swing.
Recorded and filmed earlier this year live at Wellspring Sound in Acton, Massachusetts, 'Hope Radio' blows the doors open with the Santana sounding Eddie's Gospel Groove, slips effortlessly into Bobby's Bop (wherein B3ist Limina conjures Jimmy McGriff), then builds fiercely into the scorching, SRV fueled Blues For The West Side and I Am With You. From there, RE & the B'casters keep their lamps trimmed (Blues for the Homeless) and burning (Wolf Dance and Blues for Otis Rush). A rare solo acoustic turn Katrina Blues bears testimony to the emotional resiliency not only the player, but of the people of the Crescent City. "Hope Radio" unlike 97% of the radio frequencies jamming our airspace, deserves to be—no, strike that—absolutely needs to be heard by everyone, blues aficionado or not.
His last few albums have included guest vocalists and other instrumental guests but here we have the unadorned Ronnie – just his guitar with his regular trio: Dave Limina, Jimmy Mouradian and Lorne Entress on organ/piano, bass and drums, in an intimate, live-in-the-studio setting, showing how and why he has maintained his status as one of blues’ most popular guitarists. His limpid, fluid solos are not constrained by three-minute limits here and you’ll be amazed at his inventiveness all over again. This also gives him the room to display some Buddy Guy-like dynamics with his solos ranging from the almost inaudible to full flight in the course of his journey. Earl has used this setting in the past for excursions into jazz but the forms here are almost all blues. You’ll recognize some of the themes from earlier albums but the improvising makes this a most welcome addition to his discography. The set list is imaginatively broken up at the halfway point by an acoustic guitar solo. Seventy-eight minutes of blues guitar heaven.
RONNIE EARL - Impeccably schooled in the 'T-Bone Walker Institute of Rhythm' and imbued with the passion and soul of such West Side masters as Magic Sam, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, and Earl Hooker, Ronnie Earl caresses the strings with utmost sensitivity one moment, alternately following it by a cluster of hard-edged riffs. The calm is shattered, but the impact is riveting. No guitarist in recent memory has plied his instrument with such unerring instinct in channeling his inner emotional state, as has Earl. Self-taught, he absorbed many lessons from a cavalcade of guitar honchos,
They ranged from T-Bone Walker, B.B. King, Gatemouth Brown, Albert King, as well as such Jazz legends as Wes Montgomery, Grant Green and Herb Ellis. New York-born Ronnie Earl Horvath took up guitar in 1975 at the age of 22, after being mesmerized by a Muddy Waters concert in his adopted hometown of Boston. Soon he would back Otis Rush and Big Walter Horton, and in 1980 he inherited from Duke Robillard the stringed mantle in Roomful of Blues.
In 1983, Ronnie started a side-group The Broadcasters, which released 2 albums: Smokin' and They Call Me Mr. Earl. The vocalists adorning The Broadcasters included Kim Wilson, Darrell Nulisch, and Sugar Ray Norcia. During Ronnie Earl's Roomful of Blues tenure, there were several albums featuring classic R&B legends, such as Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson, Big Joe Turner, and Earl King. Ronnie left Roomful on a very high note with 1987’s Live at Lupo's. Deciding to devote all his energies to his solo career, 1988 would see the completion of Soul Searchin' which would re-unite Earl and Duke. Of special note, it greeted many of Ronnie’s most enduring compositions, After All, It's My Soul, Ships Passing In the Night, and You're The One. By this time The Broadcasters were culled down to a 3-piece unit: Bruce Katz, Per Hanson, and Rod Carey. The instrumental albums that emerged (Language of the Soul, Still River, Blues Guitar Virtuoso, Blues and Ballads, Color of Love) would take the Blues world by storm. In 1996, Downbeat Magazine chose 'Grateful Heart-Blues and Ballads' as Blues Album of the Year and Ronnie Earl was awarded the WC Handy Award for Best Blues Guitarist. 1997’s 'Color of Love' on Verve, produced by legendary producer Tom Dowd. His recent signing to Stony Plain Records, Ronnie Earl has re-emerged like a phoenix. I Feel Like Goin’ On and Now My Soul compare with the very best of his
work.
