This is the second album (and second on Alligator) for 2019 BMA Winners Chicago veteran guitarist/vocalist Nick Moss and harmonicist Dennis Gruenling who joined forces last year for the widely acclaimed High Cost of Low Living. You could say they are riding a hot streak, thus the title of this new effort, Lucky Guy! We often throw around terms like “he’s a monster” when describing certain musicians, as this writer recalls seeing Nick Moss once where he played guitar in one hand and his bass in another, the instruments looking like mere toys in his hands. Given his large physical presence, “monster” seemed appropriate in more ways than one.
Specifically, Moss won his BMA for Best Traditional Male Artist. He grew up in the rough and tumble West and South Side clubs in Chicago, has been wielding various axes for over thirty years now, with Jimmy Dawkins’ band, with Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Pinetop Perkins, Jimmy Rogers and other Chicago greats; and leading his own bands into classic blues and, over the past decade, blues rock and jam band too.. And, he spends considerable time mentoring young blues artists, perhaps as a way of returning the favors he received when developing his own sound. For his Alligator debut he retreated to the classic Chicago blues sound that he grew up with and loves. He and the band bring that sound again, of course, but widen their scope, perhaps with coveted producer, Kid Andersen’s influence, to include jump blues, Louisiana swamp pop, New Orleans funk, and some rock n’ roll. Kid produced the debut as well.
Dennis Gruenling, one of the world’s widely acclaimed harmonicists, won the 2019 BMA for Best Instrumentalist -Harmonica. He has nine albums of his own but has proved to be a great foil for Moss with his big, fat harp tone, entertaining stage presence, and ability to write and sing as well. Their dynamic interplay runs the gamut from traditional to contemporary. All but one of the 14 songs are originals with 11 by Moss and two by Gruenling. Mostly it’s the Nick Moss Band – Taylor Streif (keys), Rodrigo Mantovani (bass0, Patrick Seals (drums) with contributions from Andersen on give songs (playing rhythm guitar and taking a stellar mandolin solo). Blazing guitarist “Monster” (there’s that word again) Welch takes a lead on “The Comet,” a nickname they bestowed on their close friend, the gifted vocalist Mike Ledbetter, who passed away way too soon last year.
The album begins in Chicago with the rousing “312 Blood,” the numbers of course for the city’s area code. They follow with the only cover, Johnny O’Neal’s “Ugly Woman,” giving Moss a chance to throw in a few humorous lines. That gives way to the swinging title track, with Gruenling blowing some of his best licks. The slow blues of “Sanctified, Holy and Hateful” is a showcase for both Moss’s emotive vocals and stinging guitar as he decries those pretentious southern preachers and others with similar socio-political outlooks. This tune is as down-home as blues gets.
Gruenling is a master at jump blues and that influence comes through directly in on his “Movin’ On My Way,” buoyed by its “hey, hey” chorus that has all band member singing and Andersen with the second lead guitar solo. “Tell Me There’s Nothing Wrong” and “Full Moon Ache” return to the more conventional Chicago groove. “Me And My Friends” straddles Chicago and West Coast blues but “Hot Zucchini” brings boiling NOLA funk, featuring some nice B2 work from Streif. “Simple Mind” is another standout track, done Chicago style with Moss, Gruenling, Streif (on piano) and Andersen (on mandolin) driving it.
Gruenling’s “Wait and See” evokes Slim Harpo while “As Good As It Gets” is another in Moss’s Chicago mode. “Cutting the Monkey’s Tail” is a West Coast instrumental excursion. “The Comet” begins in a slow blues Chicago groove with Moss’s lyrics honoring his lost friend before yielding to a tasteful Welch solo. The homage is appropriately just Moss and Welch trading licks around Moss’s words as the other band members lay out, creating the heartfelt vibe.
Be assured that while they expanded their styles from the previous album, this is all lively, pure blues and their live show will be monstrous, of course.
