Johnny
Rawls and The Rays
No Boundaries
TopCat 7052
Big Johnny
Rawls fan. I should admit that upfront. Nine tunes. Original compositions. Smooth music.
What more do you want sports fans?
Tell you what
I dig completely on the CD: the sax! The sax is working for me. Blues sax is the best when
it's done properly. And, Andy Roman on Sax is good stuff. Maybe it's just my sinus
medication kicking in, but I think great sax is an important part of a nutritionally
balanced blues breakfast. Okay, I think that is definitely the sinus medication talking.
Never mind that I have to sign a waiver to buy the sinus medicine now. So thanks to the
war on drugs I now have to get Tylenol Sinus from a licensed Pharmaceutical Agent. What
does that have to do with Johnny Rawls? Well, nothing really. Except it bums me out. And
that's where the blues comes in. The blues can make you forget you're bummed!
There are some
awesome songs here. "Fallen Bird" is an amazing song. Rawls proves why he is the
show stopping presence he has become right here on this tune. Check out "Never Found
a Smoking Gun" for evidence of a great blues artist at the top of his game. Johnny
spins an incredible tale with this song. Another fantastic tune is "Nothing Lasts
Forever". Again, some tremendous saxophone work compliments the rest of the band. The
rest of the band consists of The Rays of Kay Kay & The Rays, for which Johnny produced
their Texas Justice CD on his Deep South Soul label in 2001. The Rays quit performing in
2004, but Johnny persuaded bassist/songwriter Bob Trenchard to regroup with The Rays and
play on this project, which Johnny produced with Rays guitarist, Steve Lott. There's Dan
Ferguson on keyboards, Andy on sax and drumming duties were shared by J.T. Paz and Richie
Puga. Bassist, Bob Trenchard wrote the songs with Steve Lott co-writing on a couple. The
Rays will join Johnny at some fests and plan to tour with him to promote No Boundaries.
Another rock
solid album from Rawls and company. Get it now before the Government decides to regulate
it!
- Bill Fountain -
Southwest Blues CD Review - October 2005
Current Reviews - 2005 Reviews
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