© Bluestronomical Publishing Inc. 2010

Joe Pitts
One More Day
Kijam #8450123602

Joe Pitts' latest studio release One More Day is the perfect anecdote for a Southern sunny day. The music is warm and inviting and played without pretense.

You can tell this was recorded virtually live with little overdubbing. The end result is something more organic and is presented in a laid back fashion.

Joe's guitar work bears the imprints of Gov't Mule and the Allman Brothers. Title track "One More Day" comes with a short slide solo and lead fills reflecting a Warren Hayne's personality. Opening track "Lowdown, Mean and Dirty" chews a healthy gristle of hard rock from early Gov’t Mule, and the tones remain sturdy in the mid-tempo rocker of "Midnight Blue”.

In a live setting some of these cuts can come to life with the amps dialed to 11. "Soul Satisfying" would be best cranked up with the windows opened and the magnolias in full bloom. The riff is catchy and just stays in your head.

Pitts' caressing of jazz lines in "Lie to Ya Mama" is sweet without degenerating into saccharine doodling. The trio format suits Joe best as evidenced in the ferocious rock nugget of "Voodoo Trane”.

Final cut "Hellhounds on Rose Hill" would be a good way to end it, but it's better to let the song play into hidden track "Down Along The Cove”. An obscure and forgotten number by Bob Dylan, Joe colors it with slide licks that sound so close to Duane Allman, you would think old Skydog was guesting on it.

This isn't a straight blues CD, but there are enough blues notes in the songs to make them palatable to buyers who might want to grasp the essence of what true Southern Rock once was. At least Pitts gives some hope that good music can still come from the Dixie line.

- Gary Weeks -


Southwest Blues CD Review - February 2010

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