RUDY – Honey Dripper
Practice your instrument and live enough so that you can acquire some soul, and you’re going to find yourself in a pretty lonesome place. Sure, when it comes to Western rock music, the blues sits at the heart of everything, but the vast majority of those who still practice the art want the rewards without any of the hurt. That’s simply not how this house is run.
In between the AI slop now making platforms like Bandcamp or Spotify virtually unusable when it comes to discovering new songs, and often involving blues-flavoured songs, and fifty-year-old accountants half-heartedly covering Stevie Ray Vaughan on a Friday night, there’s a mighty big gap. And, while the likes of Gary Clark Jr. and the Black Keys are playing arena stages, there ought to be someone challenging for those spots, and why couldn’t RUDY be just that?
There’s nothing spectacular about RUDY’s “Honey Dripper” other than the fact that it sounds spectacular. There’s no story about singing deals with the devil at the crossroads, and no political message. What you do get is incredible competence, soulfulness, and a bit of a brand of humour missing from modern blues. “Honey Dripper” isn’t so much about getting the girl through persuasion, but by forcing her to call your bluff. RUDY’s song can easily fit onto your “blues-rock” playlist, a collection that doesn’t easily find new, convincing bands and performers.
Odd Marshall – Outta Here
Great, mostly untrue stories about rock stars used to be spread by their managers, their fans and themselves. Most of these tales were pretty hard to believe to start with, but that didn’t stop them from becoming part of folklore.
They were supposed to be aliens, devil worshippers, people who could commune with the dead. They were supposed to be able to write angelic poetry, possess the power of fortune-telling, or control their audience’s reaction with their minds.
And, if we’re going to get anything out of modern music nowadays, we’d best start believing in these incredible powers once more. If we don’t, how are we going to trust Odd Marshall with songs about breaking free, finding ourselves, and getting back on track?
Odd Marshall’s “Outta Here” may be a song about breaking whatever chains are holding you. But the really unusual thing happens when you really zoom in closely on the playing here. This is a group of musicians that sounds both as a bar band and as the kind of musical royalty that possesses gifts beyond most people’s ability. And, if you should choose to focus on the latter, which I advise, you’re likely to find that escape route that Odd Marshall is preaching about.
