ROB STONE

Back Around Here

Earwig 4961

By Steve Pasek

While performers of the "classic era" of Chicago blues have, for the most part, moved on to the blues jam in the sky, a serious school of young revivalists have maintained the tradition and inherited the Chicago audience that has always been strong for harmonica/guitar based blues. Harp player Rob Stone has not only revived but revitalized the music, with original takes on an idiom that in recent years has too often suffered from an emphasis on imitation over innovation.

Back Around Here features original material penned by Stone collaborating with Chris James and Patrick Rynn, a duo that has been running in some of the same circles as Stone for years, and whose careers have followed the same trajectory, including some helpful mentoring by Earwig honcho Michael Frank.

This CD is solidly anchored by three of the best veteran drummers in town, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Sam Lay, and Willie "The Touch" Hayes, which provides the platform for an overall feel that hews closely to the legacy of the two harmonica Walters.  Lyrically, however, the songs have the depth, humor, and poignancy of another harp player not always remembered as a Chicago performer, Rice Miller (Sonny Boy #2). For example, the title track takes a swingin' shuffle rhythm and loads it up with:

"If you tell me to go / I'm going to hear you loud and clear / And you'll never, never, never / See me back around here"

It's obvious from the next verse, however, that this is perhaps an empty threat:

"Now I said pretty please / I'm down on bended knee / Can't believe I've sunk this low / This is as far as I'll go"

That's the kind of lyrical irony that made Sonny Boy famous, and it's backed by impeccable drumming by Hayes and a ripping guitar by James.  It's a danceable sing-along with punchy sax that sounds fresh but familiar.  Varying rhythms and tempos make this a CD that doesn't require use of the skip button, and on harmonica Stone slips pretty easily from wail to heavy tone throughout.

"Chicago All Night", for example, takes the underutilized blues rhumba as its template, and fills it with a tribute to a variety of late-night Chicago hangouts, including the latest of late-nights, breakfast on Maxwell Street -- and it features some nifty compact soloing from sax man Rodney Brown.

Stone's a husky vocalist, and he phrases naturally both on vocals and harp, without copping mannerisms that feel grafted onto the song.  Indeed, the instrumental rave-up "Dragon Killers" is reminiscent of Big Walter's heavy tone without copying his phrasing, and it's that Zen approach to playing that makes this a fun and endearing outing.  These songs have the authenticity that comes from an intuitive understanding of blues, rather than the academic understanding that is the unfortunate approach of a lot of purists today.

A piano boogie featuring David Maxwell, "You Can't Turn Back the Clock", follows "Dragon Killers", and seems to be both the philosophy behind the fresh approach on this record, as well as providing a sure-thing encore finale number.  Back Around Here closes very strongly, with those two songs, plus the Delta juke stylings of "No Strings Attached" which highlights the tight combo attack.

All three of these tracks feature Sam Lay, a pivotal and historically significant drummer, whose loping style easily drives a young band like these guys. (Lay started so young that it's easy to forget he played with Howlin' Wolf.  The drummer also was instrumental in the sound of the last bunch of Young Turks to take over the classic blues sound a generation ago, the Butterfield/Bloomfield upstarts.)

There are several solid covers here, including a stellar take on Magic Sam's "Give Me Time", but what gives this effort recurring pleasure are the originals, which pack a punch lyrically and have a robust, swinging feel without resorting to caricatured retreads of songs we've heard before.  This is a respectful tribute to a classic sound that doesn't pander or compromise. Back Around Here is a strong statement that there's still room for originality in classic blues styles, and both the musicians and Earwig should be commended for showing how it's done.

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