Dayum Nick. It's been too long. I'll be up there from Fort Myers, Florida. July. I'll be looking for ya. Family reunion. Armitage is walking distance from home.
Visit the Nick Moss Band online for more incredible music. Here is Blues Music Magazine's album review of their Blues Music Award winning album on Alligator Records: NICK MOSS BAND FEATURING DENNIS GRUENLING Lucky Guy Alligator Records Chicago bluesman Nick Moss is justifiably renowned as one of the best existing purveyors of Chicago blues. After years as a journeyman bassist and guitarist with such legends as Jimmy Rogers and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, for over two decades Moss has led his own band, first the Flip Tops, then the Nick Moss Band, and now the same with harmonica ace Gruenling. After the departure of second guitarist and scintillating singer Michael Ledbetter from the band, Moss recruited Gruenling. The band has been on a blazing upward trajectory since. Their 2018 album, The High Cost Of Low Living, garnered innumerable accolades and awards. For Lucky Guy, returning pianist Taylor Streiff and drummer Patrick Seals are joined in the rhythm section by bassist Rodrigo Mantovani, formerly of the Igor Prado band. Co-production is by Moss and the ubiquitous Kid Andersen, who lends a hand on second guitar and even mandolin on one track. The full hour of zesty tunes is comprised of 11 composed by Moss, two by Gruenling, and a single cover. That cover, “Ugly Woman,” follows the set opener, “312 Blood,” a boisterous Chicago blues shuffle replete with accomplished sequential solos by Streiff, Gruenling, and Moss. For those striving for political correctness by avoiding misogyny, “Ugly Woman” affords an actually humorous and affectionate rather than offensive approach; it’s a love song! Bass and drums dig a deep groove, and Streiff delivers a stirring tinkly piano solo over Moss’ gruff and gritty vocal. The title tune follows, with Moss’ vocal in a more crooning style, his guitar acumen in full gallop, and Gruenling wailing expertly on harp. Gruenling segues to chromatic harp on the ensuing track, a slow blues confirming the band’s versatility, and then he gets to sing and wail some more on his own composition, “Movin’ On My Way”; the switch will give you the itch to twitch on the dance floor. “Tell Me There’s Nothing Wrong” keeps the groove intact; it’s credited to Moss as composer, but is certainly a rendition of Leroy Carr’s classic “How Long How Long Blues” with altered lyrics. No mind; we’re immediately into a rocker and then a mid-tempo shuffle without diminished quality, and then “Hot Zucchini,” an instrumental wherein Gruenling takes a breather while Moss weaves adept solos around Streiff’s swirling organ patterns. “Simple Minded” sports some dubious lyrics but is abetted by Andersen on mandolin. “Wait and See,” Gruenling’s second original of the set, finds him flying high again on harp and with a killer Moss solo. Is this “As Good As It Gets”? That’s the title of the next track, and the answer is “Yes,” let me onto the dance floor again. After “Cutting The Monkey’s Tail,” a terse, jazzy, meandering instrumental, we are treated to the final track, “The Comet,” is a eulogy for Ledbetter with its center of attention the dazzling appearance by guest guitarist “Monster” Mike Welch. This superb back porch country blues closer is a fitting capstone to another outstanding Moss album sure to collect the high praise that it deserves. - Dan Stevens
Great and original stuff !!
Dayum Nick. It's been too long. I'll be up there from Fort Myers, Florida. July. I'll be looking for ya. Family reunion. Armitage is walking distance from home.
How's Kate n baby?.
Visit the Nick Moss Band online for more incredible music. Here is Blues Music Magazine's album review of their Blues Music Award winning album on Alligator Records: NICK MOSS BAND FEATURING DENNIS GRUENLING
Lucky Guy
Alligator Records
Chicago bluesman Nick Moss is justifiably renowned as one of the best existing purveyors of Chicago blues. After years as a journeyman bassist and guitarist with such legends as Jimmy Rogers and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, for over two decades Moss has led his own band, first the Flip Tops, then the Nick Moss Band, and now the same with harmonica ace Gruenling. After the departure of second guitarist and scintillating singer Michael Ledbetter from the band, Moss recruited Gruenling. The band has been on a blazing upward trajectory since. Their 2018 album, The High Cost Of Low Living, garnered innumerable accolades and awards.
For Lucky Guy, returning pianist Taylor Streiff and drummer Patrick Seals are joined in the rhythm section by bassist Rodrigo Mantovani, formerly of the Igor Prado band. Co-production is by Moss and the ubiquitous Kid Andersen, who lends a hand on second guitar and even mandolin on one track. The full hour of zesty tunes is comprised of 11 composed by Moss, two by Gruenling, and a single cover.
That cover, “Ugly Woman,” follows the set opener, “312 Blood,” a boisterous Chicago blues shuffle replete with accomplished sequential solos by Streiff, Gruenling, and Moss. For those striving for political correctness by avoiding misogyny, “Ugly Woman” affords an actually humorous and affectionate rather than offensive approach; it’s a love song! Bass and drums dig a deep groove, and Streiff delivers a stirring tinkly piano solo over Moss’ gruff and gritty vocal.
The title tune follows, with Moss’ vocal in a more crooning style, his guitar acumen in full gallop, and Gruenling wailing expertly on harp. Gruenling segues to chromatic harp on the ensuing track, a slow blues confirming the band’s versatility, and then he gets to sing and wail some more on his own composition, “Movin’ On My Way”; the switch will give you the itch to twitch on the dance floor.
“Tell Me There’s Nothing Wrong” keeps the groove intact; it’s credited to Moss as composer, but is certainly a rendition of Leroy Carr’s classic “How Long How Long Blues” with altered lyrics. No mind; we’re immediately into a rocker and then a mid-tempo shuffle without diminished quality, and then “Hot Zucchini,” an instrumental wherein Gruenling takes a breather while Moss weaves adept solos around Streiff’s swirling organ patterns. “Simple Minded” sports some dubious lyrics but is abetted by Andersen on mandolin. “Wait and See,” Gruenling’s second original of the set, finds him flying high again on harp and with a killer Moss solo.
Is this “As Good As It Gets”? That’s the title of the next track, and the answer is “Yes,” let me onto the dance floor again. After “Cutting The Monkey’s Tail,” a terse, jazzy, meandering instrumental, we are treated to the final track, “The Comet,” is a eulogy for Ledbetter with its center of attention the dazzling appearance by guest guitarist “Monster” Mike Welch. This superb back porch country blues closer is a fitting capstone to another outstanding Moss album sure to collect the high praise that it deserves.
- Dan Stevens
very good, you should write the name of the songs