Blueprints

by Mister Charlie Frazier

Blues have enjoyed a wonderful summer here in the Champlain Valley. Thanks to Annie at Club metronome for her Summer Blues series of Koko Taylor, Marva Wright and Charlie Musselwhite, and kudos to Dennis at Club toast for presenting Sue Foley and Ian Moore. And those lucky enough to be at Nectar's for the Jeff Healey Band jam with Blues for Breakfast will be talking about that smokin' night for months! Give yourselves a hand for turning out to support the blues and all local music. Now, on to some CD's.

You Can't Do Me by Christine Adler is a slickly produced and varied EP. Backed up by her new bandmates the Unknown Blues Band, the disc has one cover song and four originals written by Christine and her duet partner, local guitar legend Kip Meaker. The grooves run the gamut from the smooth and silky "You Don't Know Me to the horn-driven funk of the title track and "Loser's Move." The horn section of Dave Grippo, Chris Peterman and Joe Somerville really stand out on three of the five tracks. Hey guys, want to be on the upcoming Blues for Breakfast CD?

Christine has sung around the Burlington area for years with the Porcupines, Christine and the Dream, and now the Unknown Blues band. Chuck "Piano Whitey" Eller handled all the impeccable recording, engineering, mastering and production at his Charlotte recording studio with the super cool horn arrangements by Paul "Little Pee Wee" Asbell, who also contributes several nice guitar solos. Oops! Am I giving away some secret identities?

My only two minor complaints are the length and the graphics. This album is too short and one needn't be Freud to decipher the image of a woman's lips poised above a microphone. I think if a band of guys printed that picture on their album cover there would be cries of sexism. This album does show that Christina Adler is a woman confident in her writing and singing abilities.

Another quasi-blues album that came across my desk was from Joe Cunningham. Another Joe on the Street took a couple of listens, but this guy is fun! Just imagine Dennis Miller and Frank Zappa collaborating with G. Love and Special Sauce. Backed up by most of the disciples and recorded at Granville's Noteworthy Studio, this eleven song disc kicks into high gear immediately with "All She Wrote." "I'm Gonna Miss It" should be the theme song of anyone who's ever starved to play music or chased a dream anywhere. "Prozac" with the Prose Sack Singers is a pill-popper, NET surfers album. Joe Cunningham is hilarious.

The grooves run from rock to country to tropical to blues to pseudo-rap, all pushed by the great bass work of Stacy Starkweather and the fine backup arrangements of Cat Carr. No subject is taboo. "Can I Touch You There" has a playful sexual tone, serving as the antithesis to the Tubes "Don't Touch Me There." "Never Knew What Hit Him" isn't about love but "... the way it's best to have your neck break" when hit by a runaway truck. Even a subject this morbid has me laughing and tapping my toes. For some musical laughs check out the Joe Cunningham CD called Another Joe on the Street. 

Next month we'll talk to Bloozotomy's Jim Branca. Any blues related band schedules, news, gossip, comings and goings, etc... is welcomed at Box 271, Burlington, Vermont 05402.