Andy J. Forest & Kenny Holladay - Hogshead Chees (1996)

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Andy J. Forest & Kenny Holladay - Hogshead Chees (1996)

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The blues cannot heip but be derivative and therein lies its attraction and challenge. i Today‘s modern blues performers and songwriters face the towering task of shaping andbending an ageold, classic form of music to their own proclivities. Sometimes that requires changing or manipulating the basics to get a “new and improved“ version and sometimes it requires just laying in the groove and letting the form determine content.Andy j. Forest chose to do the latter on this project and has produced a rootsy, traditional blues CD. At the suggestion of his record company, and after years of touring with a full-blown band, Andy heeded the call to come home, Iiterally and figuratively home to the real, down home acoustic blues, and home to New Orleans where he hired Crescent City‘s finest musicians to play and contribute to this outstanding collection of original and standard blues songs.Andy‘s formula is as follows: equal parts sweat and congeniality, a massive dose of songwriting talent, and everything liberally seasoned by his tasty virtuosity on harmonica. Lyrically, Andy‘s songs are poetic glimpes into his everyday experiences. If you‘ve ever been to Mardi Gras and experienced the ultimate “day-after-and-I-don‘t-know-where-l-am-orwhere-I‘ve-been blues‘ you know what he‘s singing about on “Hogshead Cheese.“ And you can‘t get much simpler than the sentiment expressed on “Capable“ — 1 ot things to show you and places to take ya, music so bw and love to make ya. ‘12 Bar Dive“ is a fine updated take on the blues form: contemporary road-weary lyrics riding a sparse John Lee Hooker groove. And, finally, Forest taps into his ancestry (his surname was originaly deForest) on ‘Je Joue“ (1 Play), blues sung in French, a/k/a Zydeco. Throughout, Forest‘s harp playing never lapses into the mundane but augments and weaves together the strands of music spun by the other musicians. Note the harmonica tour de force on “Harp-A-Tune-ity Knocks.“ And his vocals authentically capture the raw emotion and sly humor of the best blues masters.For support, Andy has surrounded himself with some of New Orleans‘ heaviest hitters. He first teamed up with Kenny Holladay in 1992 on his N.O.LA. CD and features him on this CD in a much larger capacity. Kenny contributes extraordinary steel guitar and dobro slide playing on nearly half the tunes. He also lends his gritty vocals to several tunes including the beautiful “As the Years Go Passing By,“ the spooky Robert Johnson tune, “Stones •“ in My Passway,“ and on his own songs “Champagne Taste and White Port Pay,“ and “The Fly.“ Willy DeVille popped in to lay down a guitar original and Delta-fied Andy‘s tune “A :Woman Like You.“ Eddie Bo, a New Orleans original in his own right, contributed some rollicking piano on “Hogshead Cheese“ and “Capable“ while Herman Ernest and Tuba Fats second-lined the rhythm on drums and tuba, respectively.This CD combines the best of the old and new. The original tunes stand proud, musically and lyrically, next to the wellselected standards. The Sound is warm and down home, the musical performaces stellar, and the end result joy to your ears.

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Andy J. Forest & Kenny Holladay - Hogshead Chees (1996)

Close