As this writer begins this review, bluesman Robert Finley is appearing on CBS Saturday morning. That alone indicates that Finley’s star continues to rise. His new album, Black Bayou, his third, and its accompanying European tour will steepen this steadily rising trajectory. By now, you likely know his story – Army veteran, and carpenter who lost his eyesight at the age of 60 only to find a promising blues career as he now reaches age 70. In the words of the late Jimmy Johnson, every blues artist “needs a push” to break out.
For Finley, that came from Black Keys co-founder and producer Dan Auerbach who once again lured Finley into the studio for a collection of songs that truly set Finley apart from anyone else that carries the blues label. Finley is versatile enough to do straight-ahead blues, funk, soul, or gospel. Heck, he could likely front a punk band if asked. Yet, this time they didn’t even prepare the songs, rehearse them, or mull them over in multiple takes. Nothing was written down, a testament to Finley’s natural talent and a life spent singing in juke joints and churches. Auerbach recruited a small core band with drummers Patrick Carney (also of Black Keys) and Jeffrey Clemens, bassist Eric Deaton, guitarist Kenny Brown, and vocalists Christy Johnson and LaQuindrelyn McMahon, who are Finley’s daughters.
As the title suggests, the songs deal with life in Finley’s locale, northern Louisiana. On the opening soulfully grooved “Livin’ Out a Suitcase” Finley, in his gravelly, gutbucket voice basks in the joy he brings to audiences when performing. The funky, salacious “Sneakin’ Around” speaks to the age-old blues subject of hearsay about one’s transgressions. “Miss Kitty” is a pleading stomper with Finley at his swampy best as Auerbach and Brown’s swirl around him and Deaton, a Hill Country specialist, holds down a filthy bassline while Finley’s daughters fill the choruses on the high end. Finley reinforces his affection for his home turf in the soul-blues of “Waste Of Time” where anything relating to living in a city is just as the title says. He begins “Can’t Blame Me For Trying” with the story of a girl he’s known for a long time who has been a tattletale. He states his own case defiantly with the syncopated funk and blazing guitar lead adding extra punch to his words. Slide guitar introduces the buoyant standout “Gospel Blues,” (“in order to get to heaven you got to go through hell every time”).
In the soul ballad, “Nobody Wants to Be Lonely,” Finley exudes empathy, relating how he visits a friend in a nursing home, something that he makes a regular practice. His daughters shine in support. The rousing, radio-friendly (same song performed on CBS) “What Goes Around (Comes Around)” sums up his life philosophy of resilience and accepting the good with the bad in just a few well-chosen words. He takes optimism to a higher level, nodding to being at peace with the right woman in another ballad, “Lucky Day.” He duets with his daughter on the snappy “You Got It (And I Need It)” before closing with the album highlight, “Alligator Bait,” the harrowing tale about how his grandfather wronged him.
Just forget that Finley was once a semi-finalist on the TV show America’s Got Talent and his showy outfits. While he’s a story made for television, he’s as real as it gets whether you’re watching or listening to him sing. Auerbach and Finley stick closely to the format of Sharecropper’s Son – a mix of raw blues, gospel, soul, and funk. This one does feel a tad more personal and musically more on the swampy side, weighted that way by “Alligator Bait,” as memorable a story as you’ll hear, where Finley’s anger seeps through convincingly.
