Root Doctor- Been A Long Time Coming

Root Doctor
Been A Long Time Coming
Big O Records - 2406
2006
(56'19")

This CD immediatly starts by aiming right at the middle of the target with an almost jump blues shuffle in which, from the very first notes, Greg Nagy's guitar causes your jaw to drop. Not only because of the man's dexterity, but also because of his "controlled" imagination. Indeed, neither a uselessly loghorreic guitar hero nor a servile emulate with no personal input, Greg isn't the kind who delivers the same licks heard over and over a thousand times everywhere else. On the contrary, his touch maries authority to originality, with just the required amount of delicacy it takes to make the whole thing even more fluid. And when you just have closed your mouth, it's Freddie Cunningham's voice that nails you to your seat. His singing can compare to the greatest blues and soul vocalists together ! Hardly recovering from this mix of velvet and strength, you start to enjoy Freddie's vocal caress when Jim Alfredson knocks you down with a Hammond B3 solo as inspired as Nagy's one. Meanwhile, bassist James Williams and drummer Matt Hayes elaborate a rhythmic backup that turns the music into the alchemy of a perfectly tight band. As soon as the first song ends, you can only look forward to hear the following number. It arrives in the shape of a funky blues that could make the late Albert Collins himself rise from his grave, soon followed by a beautiful slow blues, then it's a great soul song you'd think good old Stax days are back. And it goes on for about an hour with a variety of sounds digging into blues and soul, including a real horn section featuring tenor, alto and barytone saxes, a trumpet, and three different trombones on three different songs, playing sharp shaped arrangements, the full monty ! There even is a country blues track warmly sung by Greg Nagy who plays Mississippi Blues solo. You should have figured it out by now, Root Doctor is a band that's going to be heard of a lot in the near future, and their first album is a real gem. So, if your usual retailer doesn't have it, make shame of him and run to the closest computer to order it as soon as possible from http://www.rootdoctorband.com !
René Malines