Tuesday 19 July 2011

Record Review - Old Gray Mule


OLD GRAY MULE
40 Nickels For A Bag Of Chips
Stobie Sounds (Aust)

If guitar/drum combos are your thing, then listen up and listen good.  Straight outta Lockhart, Texas (allegedly the BBQ capital of the world) come Old Gray Mule, a couple of cats with the blues running thick through their veins and a penchant to electrify and get it on down, as low and dirty as it’s possible to be.

Now, you may be thinking combos like these are a dime a dozen, and that’s a fair call, but OGM are a different breed.  Where the likes of the White Stripes, the Black Keys and Australia’s own Mess Hall are wont to press more toward the rock ‘n’ roll side of things here, OGM keep it tight within the blues tradition, keeping to that blueprint that’s proven itself over and over again and will keep doing so until the end of time. 

Where OGM differ again though, and where they show they have something new to offer, is in the delivery, and it’s showcased to perfection on 40 Nickels For A Bag Of Chips, the duo’s second record.  All instrumental, this is a dance record, this is charged and ready to roll, this is subtle skill set to speed and the results will singe the eyebrows off your face and warm your winter blues.  Guitarist, C.R Humphrey teams up this time with Junior Kimbrough’s son, Kinney, on drums and I defy you not to put this on at your next party and have the place heaving to these finely crafted trancey blues grooves.  Word on the street is these cats are heading our way later this year too, so I suggest you educate yourself with 40 Nickels…, find their debut, Sound Like Somethin’ Fell Off The House, and get ready to dance.

Samuel J. Fell

(published in August issue of Rhythms Magazine, alternate version to run in Australian Guitar)

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