THE CASH BOX KINGS

Holding Court

Blind Pig Records

By Al Finley

The Cash Box Kings return to Blind Pig Records with Holding Court and I hope the third time is a charm.  As before, on their previous two albums for the label (Holler and Stomp, Black Toppin’) , The Cash Box Kings have created a warm-sounding record of old school blues at Hi-Style Studios in Chicago that will remind you why you fell in love with the blues in the first place.  I only wish all blues recordings sounded this good and were this much fun!  It will make you want to get up and dance and I mean that literally. 

While The Cash Box Kings have yet to become the household names that I think they deserve to be, I can't count the number of times I have been in clubs, and not just blues clubs, that I have heard The Cash Box Kings’ previous CDs being played by sound men; sooner or later patrons begin looking for a dance floor even if they have to make one themselves.  That is certainly true about the new disc too; I find it hard to sit still long enough to even type this review. 

The Cash Box Kings sound may harken back to blues forms from half a century ago, but the lyrics let you know that it is 2015.  “Gotta Move Out to the Suburbs” decries some of the ramifications of the gentrification of our nation's cities -- Chicago in particular.  And “Download Blues” hits particularly close to home for musicians as singer Oscar Wilson pleads that "MP3s is killing me" and that "people think music ought to be free; and it might as well be; because they sure aren't paying me."  Both songs were penned by the dynamic duo who lead The Cash Box Kings: harmonica player/singer Joe Nosek and lead singer/front man Oscar Wilson.  Their original songs are so good that you can't distinguish them from covers on this album from the likes of John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Rogers, Big Smokey Smothers and Willie Love. 

 Lead guitarist Joel Paterson is the only other musician to grace every cut of Holding Court and his tasty licks could be a textbook or entire college course on how to play the blues with style and restraint.  Joel's solos always serve the song and not his ego.  The same could said for all of the other stellar musicians on Holding Court too.  Drummer Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith, guitarist Billy Flynn, standup bassist Beau Sample and piano professor Barrelhouse Chuck are all names that should be well known by Chicago Blues Guide readers and with good reason!  They all come together on Holding Court to create a record you should pick up; not only will you enjoy dancing to the music, but you’ll help the Cash Box Kings beat the download blues!

Al Finley hosts the radio show “Both Kinds” on WNUR 89.3 FM Sunday afternoons. Yes, he plays country AND western, along with a variety of roots music.