KENNY NEAL

Let Life Flow

Blind Pig BPCD 5122

By Tim Holek

After being away from the recording and touring scene due to a battle with hepatitis C, Kenny Neal has returned. He is renewed and refreshed, and he sounds as good as ever. On Let Life Flow, he has a grateful attitude and outlook, which are both obvious and sincere. Playing music at a very young age was normal and natural for Neal, who was born in New Orleans and raised in Baton Rouge. His musical education initially came from his father, blues singer and harmonica player Raful Neal, but he quickly came under the tutelage of Lazy Lester, Buddy Guy, and Slim Harpo. Throughout his career, he has shared the stage and worked with a who’s who of the blues. His solo career started 20 years ago when he began cutting a series of acclaimed releases for Alligator Records.     

            On Let Life Flow, his first CD in three years, multi-instrumentalist Kenny Neal performs guitar, bass, harmonica, and vocals. He wrote five of the 11 songs on the CD. Fourteen other musicians complement Neal’s musical nuances, including his son Kenny, Jr. and two of his regular band members Frederick Neal (keyboards) and Darnell Neal (bass). 

             The title track of his Blind Pig debut contains a B.B. King sounding guitar, set to a ’60s soul groove that’s completed with the presence of horns. Here, the commanding vocals are most distinctly the Kenny Neal we’ve known from the past. The song’s message is a simple one, but it practically takes a lifetime of living to figure it out and to come to terms with it. It reveals although life is unpredictable, it’s all part of a remarkable journey and experience. Recently, Neal has weathered more personal tragedies than his health problems. He lost four loved ones (his father, sister, brother Ronnie, and a former drummer) within 11 months. He sings about that on the touching Fly Away. Blues, Leave Me Alone is even more personal and relevant. Here, 50-year-old Neal begs the blues to leave him alone while the horns blast out with ’70s-style Stevie Wonder funk. The song is a typical Neal groove that’s a musical gumbo from the bayou.

            You’ve Got To Hurt Before You Heal, previously recorded by Bobby Bland, is a ballad performed in the same style that resurrected the career of Joe Cocker in the late ’80s/early ’90s. We can relate to the song’s touching lyrics because we’ve all experienced them. In structure and vocal delivery, Starlight Diamond sounds as if it were written and performed by Jimmy Reed, which is ironic given that it was written and previously recorded by Kenny’s father Raful. The song praises the protagonist’s partner. This theme is repeated on Ivory Joe Hunter’s classic Since I Met You Baby. It’s a gentle and mellow rendition, which contains the classic partnering of Neal and Lucky Peterson (keyboards). We first experienced that collaboration over 20 years ago on Neal’s Big News From Baton Rouge!! Two other songs feature Peterson and Neal. The combination of these two flamboyant artists performing together is pure bliss. Another Man’s Cologne is another throw back because it sounds like the Kenny Neal from his days with Alligator Records. 

            This CD contains some songs that are characteristic of Kenny Neal. For example, Louisiana Stew celebrates everything that is Louisiana. There is no doubt Neal has matured from experiencing life’s hardships. This is revealed in the lyrics on this album.  An older and wiser Kenny Neal has been recently quoted as saying, “I understand life.” One listen to this album affirms that statement a hundred times.

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