Sugar Ray and the Bluetones Collaboration with Little Charlie Baty, "Too Far From the Bar", Is this Year's Winning Ticket!

 If you live in a battleground state, like I do, you are probably fed up with the political ads running ad nauseum on every device you own.  The fact that it is still only September has most people wanting to head to their favorite bar hoping to take refuge in a stiff drink and, if your lucky, some live music.  Anything for a distraction.  

Unfortunately, that is not an option thanks to the pandemic.  But there is an alternative for those who find themselves "Too Far From the Bar" with the election year blues and it comes courtesy of Sugar Ray Norcia and his Bluetones, featuring the late Little Charlie Baty.

On paper this project looks like a no brainer.  Take one of the best blues vocalist and  harp players and his group of stalwart musicians and combine them with a legendary blues guitarist. As an added bonus, bring in an equally legendary and talented blues guitarist/producer as your ringleader and you should have, in theory, a good result.  But expectations can be misleading and some of the best laid plans often go awry.  Thankfully that is not the case in this instance.  Messrs Norcia and Baty along with the immensely talented Bluetones, pianist Anthony Geraci, bassist Mudcat Ward and drummer Neil Gouvin, all contribute on what in my mind is the best blues release so far this year.

 The festivities kick off with an irresistible cover of an old 5 Royales single on the King label entitled "Don't Give No More than You Can Take".  A cautionary tale with its Golden Rule message, it could have been ripped right out of today's political headlines but actually dates back to 1960.  From the opening notes of Little Charlie's period guitar to Ray's throaty vocal, what immediately comes to mind is tone.  Like an early T-birds record, Little Charlie and Sugar Ray have perfectly captured the feel and tone of the great 1950s R n B labels like Chess, Cobra, Duke, Excello and King without losing the freshness that made the originals sound so exciting.  It takes an artist like Norcia, who is a master at phrasing,  two of the best guitarists in the business and an all pro rhythm section like the Bluetones to convincingly pull off such a feat.  

It would have been fun to be a fly on the wall when Norcia, Baty and Robillard sat down to select what material they wanted to record for this project. Like all of Norcia's work, the album benefits from well chosen material be they covers, like Little Walter's "Can't Hold Out Much Longer" or an original, like the album's rollicking title track, the Norcia penned original, "Too Far From the Bar", the result is the same.  "It all good!" It wouldn't be a Sugar Ray record without a little sweetness and Ray delivers with another original "Too Little Too Late".  For the harp aficionados out there is the original instrumental Reel Burner that lives up to its name with Ray's scorching harp playing which is reprised to close out this delightful set.  I would be remiss if I did not mention Ray's jaw dropping, neck-breaking fast rendition of the old Jerry McClain classic "My Next Door Neighbor" featuring Little Charlie's exquisite guitar solo.  The track order and pacing  is well thought out as the action is slowed considerably with the next two tracks featuring beautiful piano work by Anthony Geraci and Rays legendary phrasing.  This is by no means an exhaustive recounting of the music on this disc and I leave it for the listener to discover in its entirety.  It can be purchased in CD or MP3 form at

https://orcd.co/toofarfromthebar

Produced by and playing guitar on four tracks is Roomful of Blues founder and original guitarist, Duke Robillard.  After leaving Roomful in the mid 1970s Robillard has compiled a resume that is the envy of most musicians.  Whether it was as a member of the Fabulous Thunderbirds or the  honor of touring with Bob Dylan, Robillard's guitar playing has always been in demand.  In addition Robillard has maintained his prolific solo discography and somehow found the time to launch a side project reuniting many of the originals members of Roomful of Blues called the Founders.  As if all that were not enough,  lately Duke has developed quite a reputation as a producer of other artists.  Most notably, the Robillard produced This Time for Real by Billy Price and Otis Clay earned the Blues Music Award for Soul/Blues album of the year in 2016.

In a tragic coincidence, like Otis Clay who  passed  away suddenly in 2016, Little Charlie Baty died unexpectedly from a heart attack this past March.  While 66 years is way too young to shuffle off this mortal coil, Little Charlie can be proud of the fact that he went out at the top of his game as evidenced by this fine work.