An Old Rock on a Roll is a perfectly paced mix of boogie woogie, jump blues, rock and roll, and just about anything spring boarding off the 12-bar standard beginning with “Searching For My Baby,” whose up-tempo and rockin’ guitar create a swing dance rhythm. The chorus is catchy, the piano virtuosic, and the result is a danceable ditty with a Chuck Berry type guitar that sounds so authentic you’d think the song predates Berry’s time.
The jump blues “Fantasy Meets Reality” follows, dripping in 1940s nostalgia with lyrics any blue collar blues fan could get behind. The verse sets up a call-and-response between the lamenting melody and punchy horn riff, while “Heaven Send Me An Angel” slows things down. The “Blues Boss” earns his name as he sings about drinking, pining after an imagined woman, and the general human condition—but somehow he still makes you want to sway your hips to his tune in enjoyable solidarity. A “rock out” section closes the song with Wayne insisting to an anonymous fellow bar-goer that he “ain’t drunk” until “Devil Woman” takes off with bright guitar licks and a chorus that expands vocally and lyrically—“Her lips are sharp as a razorblade” he croons over the growling, but punchy instrumentation.
The title track follows with a slight tweak of genre. With its clean and understated piano, “An Old Rock On A Roll” is less ragtime or boogie inspired than its predecessors. Leaning more on the hammering guitar and percussion, a sultry sax nods to big band jazz before returning to a bluesy rock. The song, and the album that shares its name, both prove that Wayne can deftly bridge the gap between musical traditions—and the decades that separate them—with an impossibly fresh approach to the roots.
“Don’t Pretend” especially evokes the roots with soulful key passages and lyrics about unrequited love and misery. Its chugging chords, elaborate piano passages, vitriolic lyrics, and crunchy guitar pour smooth and bite hard unlike “Run Little Joe,” which sounds like “Fantasy Meets Reality” with more vocals and brass and “Howlin,” which sounds like a more sultry combination of the two.
After eight tracks that sound like they were meant for drinking whiskey, or at least for whiskey-drinkers (this is the blues, after all), it makes sense there’d be a song named after one. Unfortunately, “Wild Turkey 101 Proof” is a blues ballad for bourbon that ends up sounding like a PSA for alcoholism. Although the song is musically rich, it sounds uncannily similar to School House Rock’s song about conjunctions, which is a hard connection to shake. But “Bring Back the Love” brings back emotionally charged vocals, fresh piano, and thick brass, and “Way Overdue” paves the way for the big band piece that follows, aptly titled “Rocking Boogie Party.” Featuring a strong rhythm and punctuated vocals, the song is short, sweet, and swingin’. Wayne rounds out the album with the solid instrumental, “Give Thanks,” which mixes a gospel vibe with a rock and roll organ, and cements the fact that, while maybe not the CEO of the genre, Wayne is definitely the Boss of Blues.
Key Tracks- Searching for My Baby, Heaven Send Me An Angel, An Old Rock on a Roll
Sarah Madges - MuzikReviews.com Contributor
July 14, 2011