RAY FULLER AND THE BLUESROCKERS
LONG BLACK TRAIN
AZURETONE RECORDS
BURN ME UP–DEVIL’S DEN–VOODOO MAMA–HIP SHAKIN MAMA–COLD DAY IN HELL–LONG BLACK TRAIN–LOUISIANA WOMAN–LET’S GET DIRTY–SOMETHIN’ SHAKIN’–NEW TATTOO–WHISKEY DRINKING WOMAN–PIPELINE BLUES–EVIL ON YOUR MIND–YOU’VE GOT THE BLUES
Ray Fuller And The Bluesrockers have been around in some capacity since 1978. He’s sho’ nuff got a sweet gig for now, as one of the regular Saturday headliners at Buddy Guy’s Legends club, and his live album from that venue in 2014 is well-worth checking out. His latest release for Azuretone Records is titled “Long Black Train,” and these fourteen original cuts bound all over the musical map. Ray is a monster slide guitar player and vocalist, and these cuts have elements of Texas, Chicago, the Delta and the swamp all the way thru. Backing Ray is Myke Rock on bass, Darrell Jumper on drums, and Doc Malone on harp.
If you are a fan of tough, gritty, hard-nosed blues-rock, “Long Black Train” is for you. He jumps outta the chute with a slab of Texas “endless boogie,” “your love Burns Me Up.” A slow-blues dealing with a no-good lover gets told it’ll be a “Cold Day In Hell before I take you back.” The title cut is a fierce rocker about that legendary “Long Black Train that got my baby and gone,” while Ray busts out some mean, Delta-fried slide over the walkin’ beat of those “Pipeline Blues, 30 feet down, digging in a lonesome cave!”
We had two favorites, too. A swampy groove rides over the story of “The Devil’s Den,” and that infamous deal that went down at the “table covered in a rattlesnake hide.” And, the set closes with a man who’s had nothing but a raw deal, and finds that, “when you hit rock bottom, you got nothing to lose, and that’s when You Got The Blues!” The harp-guitar work on this one flat-out rocks!
Ray Fuller And The Bluesrockers don’t hold anything back, on record or on stage. Get yourself a ticket on that “Long Black Train” for one sweet blues road trip! Until next time….Sheryl and Don Crow.
donandsherylsbluesblog 