Walter Joyce And The Jail Breakers kicked like a mule at Smoken’ Joe’s in Brighton last night. This cat Walter Joyce and his Jail Breakers wasted no time getting into a heavy duty, driving beat, driving groove that Joyce could sail his fiery harmonica lines over. By the second number, Joyce was electrifying on harp, zig zagging his incendiary harp notes low, high, clear, muddy, and wildly up tempo. The Jail Breakers are a crack backing band that also stood out from the beginning. Drummer John Wood beat his drums with a combination of blues styles and the methods from Led Zeppelin and The Who.
Snappy guitar riffs from Derek Toa came off of that boy’s fret board faster than a man running out a burning building during an interpretation of Junior Wells’ “Messin’ With The Kid.” Joyce soon came in from his rapid vocal delivery to spit out some sharp, incisive harp lines. On some Muddy Waters tunes, Joyce spread his harp melody far and wide over his band’s frenetic beat. That gave off a feeling of multiple movements within the music that held the air with its lively activity.
On a slower number, Toa hit some gentle notes, letting them ring out with soulful, emotional expression, setting the scene for Joyce, who in a lower vocal register, sang a gritty street ballad. He carried it through with meaning and depth in his words and in his hearty projection. Guitar boy Toa added more appealing artistic flourishes with his sweet melodic interjections.
Bass man Will Cafaro built an arc with his low end notes for The Band’s “The Weight” and drummer John Wood built the architecture to give Joyce a stairway need for his smooth coos, a voice that milked all of the rootise tenderness out of this memorable roots rock number.
Bopping blues number “Little By Little” grew a bulbous groove, and a lilting, sweet, high vocal, and combined with electric harp made it a tasty piece of music. A rich gravel in Joyce’s voice made him sound like a real deal blues front man, one with a sound that cannot be imitated, one that hearkened back to a more honest and primitive time in the blues.
Joyce and his Jail Breakers gave John Mayall’s “All Your Love” a punchy groove, razor sharp guitar work, and a quiet, plaintive, mellifluous vocal. Joyce’s greasy harp notes had edge in this particularly detailed rendition, one that hit the listener at the gut level with its eerie resonations.
“Grapevine” was one of the more commercially known tunes that Joyce and his Jail Breakers made their own last night. An extra dollop of groove from the rhythm section gave Joyce a perfect platform to slide his sweet, smooth vocal timbre over, delivering those timeless forlorn sorrowful lyrics. Joyce took a risk by adding to his set list Aloe Blacc’s “I Need A Dollar” from the HBO television series How To Make It In America. The Jail Breaker’s rendition captured the bumpy groove that probably made this song a Joyce favorite.
Joyce is one for experimentation. His down tempo cover of “Hootchie Cootchie Man” showed how cool Joyce can be as he unfurled his guttural lower register. Drummer John Wood punctuated all the twists and turns with adept ruggedness, hitting those skins with a wallop. Joyce had a lot of power in his screaming harp notes and the guitar, in Toa’s hands, sounded like it was singing out the notes like its life depended on it.
“Don’t Let Me Down” gave Joyce a chance to showcase the cleaner, clearer side of his vocal timbre. The richness in his voice, especially during the heart-wrenching chorus, poked up through all layers of this selection with a purposeful spike. And his harp eased through the fulsome melodic motion.
Joyce and his Jail Breakers played “Blues With A Feeling” with Joyce trading off between guttural vocal and whistling harmonica notes. Joyce wove a special twist to the song’s narrative. Toa’s guitar notes here rang out in their individual kicking, sublime beauty.
The boys finished their second set with Johnny Cash’s “Cocaine Blues.” This shuffling beat classic benefited from Wood’s precise pounding, Cafaro’s thumping low end, and Toa’s racing rockabilly guitar leads. It all made for huge fun as Joyce sang faster than nobody’s business.
Joyce and his Jail Breakers rocked it up in the third set. A raucous harp line aggressively yanked the band into “Chicken Slack” and that fierce melodic determination set the pace and tone for the final act. The four piece played “I’m Ready” with rock and roll aggression, “Moondance” and “The Wind Cries Mary” with hefty down tempo underpinnings, “Wammer Jammer” with wild abandon, and B.B. King’s “The Thrill Is Gone” with a fetching, snappy guitar line. The third set also found Joyce see sawing his harmonica from lilting and lovely to lower, more blues drenched timbres, sandwiching them all into an interesting, impressive concoction.
Joyce and his Jail Breakers officially closed out with Joyce’s sincere vocal melody of “My Girl.” Yet, after hearing pleas for one more song, Joyce played a solo harmonica piece titled “Golden Mel” that earned him huge applause.
Walter Joyce got to fill in for Geoff Bartley’s usual Sunday acoustic night on a recommendation from Smoken’ Joe’s general manager C. J. and she should probably get a bonus or a raise for such a find. It would be a crying shame if Joyce and his Jail Breakers do not get a return engagement at the popular Brighton blues venue. They fit the room like a glove.
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It was great to meet you last night, Bill. I’m glad you enjoyed the show, thank you for a great review. I’m a lucky man to be playing with these guys.