© Bluestronomical Publishing Inc. 2009

The Insomniacs
At Least I’m Not With You
Delta Groove DGPCD130

The Insomniacs are a young Portland, Oregon based band who has recently released their sophomore CD for Delta Groove Music. The band features Vyasa Dodson on vocals and guitar, Dean Mueller on bass, Alex Shakeri on keyboards and Dave Melyan on drums. The Insomniacs won the Muddy Award from Oregon’s prestigious Cascade Blues Association as the best new band in 2006 and were nominated for the Blues Foundation’s Best New Artist Debut award in 2008. The Insomniacs’ sound is best described as a West Coast blues sound as they count the Hollywood Fats Band and Junior Watson among their influences.

The lead off cut on the disc is the up-tempo shuffle “Lonesome” which was featured on the Hollywood Fats Band’s Rock This House album, and features Fat’s front man Big Al Blake on vocals and acoustic harp. The next tune is a jaunty Johnny “Guitar” Watson song “Broke and Hungry” and features Chicago based Joel Patterson on pedal steel guitar. Other highlights include the swampy “Maybe Sometime Later” with some great guitar work from Dodson as well as the instrumental swing number “Root Beer Float” which features both nifty guitar and piano work. The band covers Junior Wells’ classic “Hoodoo Man Blues” featuring fellow Delta Groove label mate Mitch Kashmar on harp. “She Can Talk” is another up-tempo swing number with an absolutely wild guitar solo from Dodson. The slow blues number “Description Blues” features some killer guitar tone from Dodson and credit should be given to Jeff Scott Fleenor (Producer) and G. Preston Boebel (Engineer) for one of the best sounding recordings I have heard in awhile.

If you are like me, a big fan of the West Coast style of blues, be sure and check out this young band. They have strong songwriting abilities, a capable vocalist, an outstanding guitarist in Dodson and the rhythm section provides solid support on a variety of grooves. Highly recommended.

- Barry Gober -


Southwest Blues CD Review - May 2009

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