Wily Bo Walker and E.D. Brayshaw
Album: Stone Cold Beautiful
Label: Mescal Canyon
Tracks: 6
Website: http://wilybo.com

Having been recommended some time ago by a friend to check out one of Wily Bo's incarnations, the voodoo jazz and swamp burlesque of Rattlin Bone, I really didn't know what to expect with 'Stone Cold Beautiful'. What we have, is six tracks is in the main what I call "lounge blues", 40 minutes of the kind of blues that makes you want to sit back and chill. Because of its length, is the CD an extended EP or an LP, and the definition of, is one of those topics you grapple with over a pint or two with mates. I'm still sat on the fence.

Recorded at his own studios and mastered at Abbey Road, Wily Bo describes his songs as having cinematic storylines and given the first four lines of the opening song 'Storm Warning':- "Night's so still as darkening skies, show thunder storms are coming, Racing clouds and raging winds, bring a warning of hail stones drumming", I'm not about to argue, especially with a gravelly voiced Glaswegian. With a vocal style and delivery of Tom Waits meets Bob Seger on a rain swept whisky induced night, Wily Bo has a voice that is meant to be singing the blues, bringing extra life to the lyrics by frequently lingering on every syllable in a monotone pitch. This comes especially to the fore in one of the two covers on the album, a cover of the Chicago Blues player Fenton Robinson's 'Loan Me a Dime', a blues standard that has been recorded by luminaries such as Boz Scaggs and the late Duane Allman. The other cover also plays homage to the 1970's in the guise of Loudon Wainwright 111's autobiographical 'Motel Blues', a story of a touring musician and what happens when the show is over. Wily Bo's vocal workings are complimented by the silky voice of Karena K; another of Wily Bo's long time musical associates, who tonally adds the right balance of light and shade to the whole album.

The album overflows with expansive guitar licks courtesy of the very talented E.D. Bradshaw who also plays every instrument on the album. From the deft Gary Moore touches on 'Somebody Loan Me a Dime' there are shades of Stevie Ray Vaughn, Buddy Guy, Joe Bonamassa and Eric Clapton elsewhere. The stonking guitar solo on the seven and a half minute melodic 'September Red' demonstrates the best of E.D.; soulful rendered chops of the highest order delivered with subtlety and panache. This is a track tailor made for night-time radio.

'Killers on the Run', the final and longest track on the CD at nearly ten minutes, is a powerhouse number growing from an acoustic guitar and Fender Rhodes beginning to a Hammond motif reminiscent of Benmont Tench ,and then a full on journey of rip roaring guitar and keyboard breaks. It's a song similar to classic Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers around the 'Damn the Torpedoes' era.

'Stone Cold Beautiful' spans many shades of blues but above all, it's an entertaining one and one where you might feel obliged to grab a tennis racket, play air guitar or pick up your instrument of choice and play along to. Me: I'll just pour myself the Bourbon or mescal thank you.

Chris Light