Issue No. 41
Pete Boulter- Editor
Indie Blues C.D. and Cassette Reviews
Lance & Donna -"Travelin' Blues"
Honey Pumpkin Music 1998
Recorded in Paris, mastered in East Iris, Nashville.
I Ain’t No Iceman (Cow Cow Davenport) – this is a swinging country blues with pleasant acoustic picking and laid-back vocals, a rather restrained Lance here.
Come On In My Kitchen (Robert Johnson) – an interesting version of this classic, Lance sings like Alexis Korner at times and there are definite Muddy Waters touches as he gets going with the slide. He departs from the regular pattern and lyrics when he feels like it and then comes back in with the refrain. The is very close to the live performance.
Can’t Get That Stuff No More (Tampa Red and Georgia Tom) - a Tony Rowlett favorite this. A bright start on the Dobro, vocals rather rough and ready – fine music this, I’d like to learn it myself.
Death Don’t Have No Mercy (trad.) - a folk blues finger –picked song with a gravelly Blind Willie Johnson type vocal.
Crossroads (Robert Johnson) - some suitable desperate singing over the tricky guitar accompaniment here – makes a change to hear an acoustic version again after the Shin Fujiwara approach at the Purple Lounge!
Love In Vain (Robert Johnson) - this is a lovely song, and whilst it gets a somewhat erratically delivered vocal, the slide kicks in to join it at all the key points and pulls it altogether. Better live in a bar this one.
Baby Please Don’t Go (Big Joe Williams) - now I confess to an alarming ignorance here, I’ve never heard the Big Joe Williams version, I’m used to the fairly straightforward Muddy Waters track. Here we have a kind of hybrid between the latter and John Lee Hooker’s ‘You Shot Me Down’. It’s certainly effective enough and has a very rare soft vocal from Lance.
Sittin’ On Top Of The World (Howlin’ Wolf) - straight in with voice and slide in unison on a slow version of this song - a song that has always infuriated me because of the extra bar or two.
Can’t Be Satisfied (Muddy Waters) - good, at last a song I do!
One Way Out (Willie Dixon) - another good opening this and a good song as well, it would be of course, it’s what Dixon did- actually he does of other things. This is one of the best tracks on the album I think.
Dust My Broom (Elmore James) - Blimey! The vocal here sounds flat out raspy yet I’ve spoken to Lance after he’s done three sets and his voice is crystal clear – how does he do it? I lose my voice just talking at the Purple Lounge. This is a different approach again he sings in unison with the Elmore guitar break here and generally it’s a more melodic approach.
So - a fairly unique take on the blues at times, but also enough regular stylings to anchor the listener. If I have one main comment to make, it is that whilst this is a representative sample of Lance and Donna’s repertoire it lacks the breadth and exuberance of one of their live performances.
