Reddick’s last album, Villanelle, earned him the “Blues Album of the Year” by the Toronto Blue Society, as well as nominations for a JUNO Award and a Canadian Independent Music Award. His latest, Sugar Bird, should see more of the same.
When you think about the blues, Canada certainly isn’t the first place you think of. In fact, it probably doesn’t even cross your mind. Still, Paul Reddick is making the world know that Canada knows something about the blues.
When you think of the blues, you probably think of deep bluesy voices and the big sound of weeping guitars. This is not what you get with Sugar Bird, except for the last track, “Block of Wood”. While it is the blues, the sound is often more relaxing and hopeful. It’s fairly mellow, often with a country/folksy twang, and is even jazzy at times.
What really makes Sugar Bird shine though are the things you aren’t accustomed to hearing - the use of banjo on the more country sounding tracks, the addition of accordion on a few tunes, and even strings others. The production and the contributions from the other musicians on this album make the single name that appears on the cover seem unfair, none more important than Colin Linden. Linden produced the album, plays on every track and has a writing credit on all of them.
The more you listen to Sugar Bird, the more you’ll think that this album came out of Louisiana rather than Toronto. With songs that seem reminiscent of time spent on the bayou or in New Orleans, this album doesn’t leave you feeling blue; it takes you on a journey somewhere else. For me personally, it makes me feel like grabbing my pole and going fishing. But most important is that it’s not where you are at the time, and isn’t that something that everyone needs more often than not?
Kevin Kozel-MuzikReviews.com Staff
June 29, 2009
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