Gil Correia Band score big on debut CD Tattoos & Blues

Gil Correia Band’s debut CD Tattoos And Blues is loaded with the particular brand of punchy, driving blues-rock Correia and his boys are known for. It doesn’t hurt that Correia’s hard scrabble life gives him a bit of tough guy confidence while filling these numbers with soulful verisimilitude. His rough Massachusetts accent fits right in with that real down and dirty tone he and his boys shoot for on this CD. His vocals make you feel you’re listening to a man who has been there and done that and has survived it with grace.

The CD opens with “The Rattlesnake Hop,” a thumping two step with Correia’s crunchy chords marching forward with lock step prowess. Bass player Scott Cormier and drummer Dave Baker keep the heaviness intact and movable. Listen to the bounce in Cormier’s bass and the fullness of Baker’s beat and you’ll find another dimension to appreciate in this trio.

“Taking It Back,” another Correia concoction, swaggers forward with Gregg MacKenzie’s sizzling harmonica line darting in and out of whatever open spaces it can find. This gives the song a freewheeling quality, creating a high octane atmosphere for Correia to unleash a stinging guitar solo. The emotive projection in Correia’s voice and guitar along with the twisty grooves make you thinking of cruising down the highway listening to your favorite classic rock radio station. MacKenzie’s harp simultaneously makes you picture a frenzied blues band ripping it up at the end of a traditional number at a cool vibe blues jam. And it is definitely cool how these boys straddle both worlds without losing authenticity in either.

“Your Love Is A Prison” is a blues drenched, take your time, stomp, with the guitar, bass, and vocals showing due respect for the hefty drumbeat escorting it with muscular authority. Correia expresses whatever kind of hell he went through with a tortured soul guitar grind. He also sings it like a man doing time in solitary, a desperate plea to escape into the light of day. Pain, misery, woe, strength and survival all come out in the tones he digs into. Correia uses his Celestial Effects Pedals(made by the company in Hudson, Massachusetts) to his advantage. His notes have a purity to them even as they engorge with heavy emotion and burst with purpose.

There is noteworthy groove happening all the way through “Prison.“ Cormier plays a smooth bass line that bumps up righteously below and beside Correia’s phrase. Baker controls the path their on while augmenting colors, tones, and feeling with just the right amount of pound, putting in as many smacks he can. Busy without sounding busy is the best way to describe Baker’s special talent.

The trio play “Blue Gil Shuffle” with a self-assured grace that makes those tones ring out with passion. Listen closely to Correia’s guitar, and you hear that familiar and sizable amount of tone quality and texture in his phrasing. He is a man with much to get off his chest, and he translates it all through his axe. His artistic rendering makes for a flavorful melody and his rhythm section follows suit, providing plenty of tasteful nuances in their bopping underpinnings.

“It’s A Swing Thang” features Correia peeling off his riffs within a Texas swing context. This Lone Star size piece of the action moves around the beat with cheerful abandon. The phrase Correia pays out is chockablock with the strenuous exertion of that fun time, old-fashioned music from the 1940s. The rhythm section gets punchier and speedier here, and you can picture couples swinging to their wide, irresistible groove.

Although the song is decades old, The groove in K. C. Douglas‘s classic “Mercury Blues” feels fresh and knobby in this rendition. Correia plays this one with grinding authority in his phrasing. He hits each note with a certain accent to make it ring with a tone that could pass for a musical cousin of what he likely heard in the sound of the original recording. His voice glides through the Douglas chorus with a dose of cool, and he presses out a train of sharp notes during the break that indicate he has been listening to blues for a long, long time.

Correia’s opening licks on the Lightning Hopkins tune “Too Many Drivers” will make you say, ‘Hot damn!’ He makes it cry the blues before getting down to business meshing with his rhythm boys. Correia’s tense notes tap dance around the bulk of rhythm being laid down below. He plays with restraint on this one and that gives the piece an inner tension that fills it with gusto. Harmonica lines from MacKenzie come into play with a swoop of finesse that pour extra gravy over the meat and potatoes.

Hey, if you think this is a good CD the first time you hear it, wait until those repeated listenings that reveal a little more depth each time. Correia is a deep player and a thoughtful writer. He has more to offer than maybe he even knows himself.

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