Coming in from the cold
The three CDs we're talking about here are his first, released between 2004 and 2007. He did three other albums since : two solo works, one released in 2013 and the second due in the summer of 2022, and one with the Son Henry Band in 2016.
Often hypnotic as a Hills Country boogie, rocking the Texas way or in a slower Chicago blues manner, Henry captivates.
● Glenn Highway Blues (2004) : raw as can be
It was recorded in Anchorage (Alaska). Of these three albums, this is probably the most greasy and rhythmic one. The opening track, "Glenn Highway Blues", which gives the album its title, immediately announces the Son Henry Band's rough and raw sound just like the following "Hummingbird" : saturated slide guitar or lap steel, pounding drumming (John Clark) and bass (Joel Lockman). And the lyrics prove that Henry is not a bad songwriter either.
"Second Glance", a slightly country-tinged blues ballad, features some strong guitar solo and a soulful voice. Right next comes the very rock'n'rolling "Memphis Train", the kind of track that makes you jump from the couch and dance like a little devil. "Heartache In My House" has a Southern blues-rock color a la Dickey Betts, with exciting slide guitar.
On "She's My Home" Henry also plays harmonica, while the band sounds more coarse and greasy than ever.
"Peach Street Blues" is an irresistible down-home shuffle brew made of raw Hills Country and Texas blues. Dance, dance, dance ! the slide guitar shouts. The almost 7" "Long Way Home" is in the same vintage vein, and the final jumping "Cold, Cold World" closes the album with the same crude sound.
A very exciting CD that will undoubtedly thrill the raw electric country blues amateurs, who will ask for more of this Alaskan mountains blues...
● Heartache And Trouble (2006) : looking towards Texas and Chicago
And happily, more is coming on the second record. The sound is globally cleaner, less saturated ― some will probably regret it ― and closer to the traditional Chicago blues style, especially because of the prominent space left to Otto 'Ottomatic Slim' Lenz on harmonica. The album is calmer, featuring more slow and mellow numbers than on the previous one. On vocals Henry's gets the nice help of Blue Lisa Monroe on a couple of tracks.
"Granite City Shuffle" and "Richer Than A Sheik" open the album in a definite Texas style, followed by the low tempo title song "Heartache And Trouble". Then surges the heavy shuffling "First Thing Smoking", where one finds back some of the spirit of the first album, this time with the harmonica dueling with the guitar.
"Teardrops On My Pillow", another heavy low tempo song, is followed by the much faster "Love My Baby", both with the same guitar-harmonica dueling. Another long soulful slow ― almost lazy ― blues, "Middle Man", comes next.
Blue Lisa Monroe brings her vocal on the final tracks : the mid-tempo "They Say Love" and "Going Back To Dallas", a much livelier number.
Altogether, this second album is missing some of the raw spirit that was excitingly driving the debut album.
● Long Way Home : Live at the 4th Avenue Theater (2006 or 2007) : back to his roots
After two studio albums, it was time to discover how the man sounds on stage. His third and live album, released in 2007, has the answer. Recorded in Anchorage at the 2005 "Blues for my Brother" benefit concert in support of the Brother Francis Homeless Shelter, a cause Henry never misses, it offers a new panorama of Henry's style : mixing the raw sound of the first album that made the band's reputation and the quieter atmosphere of the second, it also features a couple of extra musicians around the threesome core of the band (Henry, Lockman and Clark) : Stu Schulman on guitar and slide guitar, and Melissa Bledsoe Fisher on keyboards. Blue Lisa Monroe is here too, while Otto 'Ottomatic Slim' Lenz appears on one song only. Nine live tracks completed with five studio recordings. A new sound for quite a pleasing result, laid-back on some tracks, rockier on others, always grooving.
The show opens on "Let The Good Times Roll", a perfect standard start for a live event, and moves on to the pounding "Bad Boy" featuring great slide guitar from Henry and Schulman, and Melissa Bledsoe Fisher's piano, before delivering a high slide version of the first album's roots Delta styled "Long Way Home". Next, the slow soul "Bring It On Home To Me" is again lit by superb slide parts by both Henry and Schulman, a recurrent double-task throughout the whole album.
Boogie time with "Help Me" : Melissa Bledsoe Fisher's organ is relayed by Texas style guitar leads. The bottlenecks start to melt ! Then comes the nasty "Hip Shake" with the definitely excellent Blue Lisa Monroe on vocals over burning guitars, one of the highlights of the show, very reminiscent of the John Lee Hooker style. Blue Lisa goes on singing the heavy energetic rhythm'n'blues "You Were Wrong". The guitar strings are hot, close to snapping. SRV is not far. Still the band continues with an infernal version of "Messing With The Kid" with great piano, harmonica and incandescent guitars before closing the live part with a powerful version of B.B. King's "Beautician Blues" enlightened by Bledsoe Fisher keyboard. Pffff, catch your breath, it's not finished, the studio tracks are next !
Difficult after such an explosion of energy to fall back into the quieter atmosphere of a recording studio. Don't worry, it starts with the laid-back but grooving "Walking Shoes" led by keyboard riffs and slide, followed by the fast swinging "Black Cat Blues". Next is "Luke's Black Cloud Blues", a kind of melodic copy cat (he he he !) of the previous track but in a different hypnotic tempo and different lyrics.
Then comes "Right Hand Road", a classic mild Texas rocker, before the final and surprisingly jazzy "I Can't Decide", a cool number which allows Henry to prove he's also at ease in the jazz guitar style.
A wonderful album indeed.
● The mysterious Karl "Son" Henry Mann
Several things are unclear about Son Henry : after checking the available information from different sources about his career, I couldn't figure out for sure if he had resided and/or worked for some time in Texas, nor if this was before moving to Alaska or… after leaving Scotland.
In his blog he wrote last February : "We packed up everything and left Texas to move north to Upstate NY. The weather is better, the overall situation is more relaxed and it's a good place for a roots musician to be based these days, strategically placed between Boston and Chicago and all points in between. I've got a great new band started which you'll be reading about in the coming months."
And to be accurate, I don't think he was Alaskan by birth either. He certainly lived and made his debut there but it seems that he was born and spent his youth in the state of New York. When ? No indication either. The man is shy about his private life it seems. I wouldn't blame him for that. Even the exact release dates of these first albums are unclear depending on the info channel you check…
Anyway, these details are not so important as far as his music is concerned. What is certain is that he his a great bluesman, a great slide/lap steel guitar player and an attractive singer. What else do we need to know ? Just enjoy these three albums. Up to you to decide which one you prefer… ■
The very scenic Glenn Highway in Alaska : http://www.glennhighway.org/
Live videos (uneven quality but that's all there is...)
● Son Henry Band at Aberdeen Moorings, 2013 : https://youtu.be/P0VvkOBhENk or https://youtu.be/CNJeg4aDX_I
● At the Arbroath Bell Rock Blues Festival, 2011 : https://youtu.be/fLVLsKTkBUQ
● Son Henry with the T. Rogers Blues Band, Gastroblues Fest., Paks (Hungary), 2009 :
→ "Can't Be Satisfied" : https://youtu.be/9k1ScRHy49o
→ "Richer Than A Sheik" : https://youtu.be/dz0NFIyH3Wk
→ "Let Me Lay My Head Down" : https://youtu.be/AubqvvApJ0E
● Unidentified songs, 2009-2010 :
→ https://youtu.be/9fve-TFBsTE
→ https://youtu.be/tcEgkD8En3Y
→ https://youtu.be/83wbii0tAq0
→ https://youtu.be/v_Qx_igigOo
● Son Henry Band with Tim Aves (harp) and Paul Lester (drums) :
→ "Let me lay my head down", South-of-England tour, 2009 : https://youtu.be/ApFDwpI6sZw
→ "Write me a few of your lines", live on SAINT FM in the heart of the Essex Delta (!), 2009 : https://youtu.be/uwlSlvaiAAI
● Solo & acoustic, 2008 :
→ "Walking Blues" : https://youtu.be/5lfTF6zEgzE
→ "Sackcloth and Ashes" : https://youtu.be/CbbWxR5FUJU
● "Love in Vain", the Stirling Tollbooth, Scotland, 2006 : https://youtu.be/vkt895kZT8g
● "Voodoo Chile", lap steel version, 2006 : https://youtu.be/BRnQJYS-emU
● "She's My Home", 2006 : https://youtu.be/vzARtCKVZQk
● For fun : Henry's son Chris (5 years old !) playing the congas, Anchorage (Alaska), 2005 : https://youtu.be/RdrhIuGcMzc
___________________________________________
"Second Glance", a slightly country-tinged blues ballad, features some strong guitar solo and a soulful voice. Right next comes the very rock'n'rolling "Memphis Train", the kind of track that makes you jump from the couch and dance like a little devil. "Heartache In My House" has a Southern blues-rock color a la Dickey Betts, with exciting slide guitar.
"Peach Street Blues" is an irresistible down-home shuffle brew made of raw Hills Country and Texas blues. Dance, dance, dance ! the slide guitar shouts. The almost 7" "Long Way Home" is in the same vintage vein, and the final jumping "Cold, Cold World" closes the album with the same crude sound.
A very exciting CD that will undoubtedly thrill the raw electric country blues amateurs, who will ask for more of this Alaskan mountains blues...
● Heartache And Trouble (2006) : looking towards Texas and Chicago
"Granite City Shuffle" and "Richer Than A Sheik" open the album in a definite Texas style, followed by the low tempo title song "Heartache And Trouble". Then surges the heavy shuffling "First Thing Smoking", where one finds back some of the spirit of the first album, this time with the harmonica dueling with the guitar.
Blue Lisa Monroe brings her vocal on the final tracks : the mid-tempo "They Say Love" and "Going Back To Dallas", a much livelier number.
Altogether, this second album is missing some of the raw spirit that was excitingly driving the debut album.
● Long Way Home : Live at the 4th Avenue Theater (2006 or 2007) : back to his roots
 |
| Melissa Bledsoe Fisher |
Then comes "Right Hand Road", a classic mild Texas rocker, before the final and surprisingly jazzy "I Can't Decide", a cool number which allows Henry to prove he's also at ease in the jazz guitar style.
A wonderful album indeed.
● The mysterious Karl "Son" Henry Mann
Several things are unclear about Son Henry : after checking the available information from different sources about his career, I couldn't figure out for sure if he had resided and/or worked for some time in Texas, nor if this was before moving to Alaska or… after leaving Scotland.
In his blog he wrote last February : "We packed up everything and left Texas to move north to Upstate NY. The weather is better, the overall situation is more relaxed and it's a good place for a roots musician to be based these days, strategically placed between Boston and Chicago and all points in between. I've got a great new band started which you'll be reading about in the coming months."
And to be accurate, I don't think he was Alaskan by birth either. He certainly lived and made his debut there but it seems that he was born and spent his youth in the state of New York. When ? No indication either. The man is shy about his private life it seems. I wouldn't blame him for that. Even the exact release dates of these first albums are unclear depending on the info channel you check…
The very scenic Glenn Highway in Alaska : http://www.glennhighway.org/
Live videos (uneven quality but that's all there is...)
● At the Arbroath Bell Rock Blues Festival, 2011 : https://youtu.be/fLVLsKTkBUQ
● Son Henry with the T. Rogers Blues Band, Gastroblues Fest., Paks (Hungary), 2009 :
→ "Can't Be Satisfied" : https://youtu.be/9k1ScRHy49o
→ "Richer Than A Sheik" : https://youtu.be/dz0NFIyH3Wk
→ "Let Me Lay My Head Down" : https://youtu.be/AubqvvApJ0E
→ https://youtu.be/9fve-TFBsTE
→ https://youtu.be/tcEgkD8En3Y
→ https://youtu.be/83wbii0tAq0
→ https://youtu.be/v_Qx_igigOo
● Son Henry Band with Tim Aves (harp) and Paul Lester (drums) :
→ "Let me lay my head down", South-of-England tour, 2009 : https://youtu.be/ApFDwpI6sZw
→ "Write me a few of your lines", live on SAINT FM in the heart of the Essex Delta (!), 2009 : https://youtu.be/uwlSlvaiAAI
→ "Walking Blues" : https://youtu.be/5lfTF6zEgzE
→ "Sackcloth and Ashes" : https://youtu.be/CbbWxR5FUJU
● "Love in Vain", the Stirling Tollbooth, Scotland, 2006 : https://youtu.be/vkt895kZT8g
● "Voodoo Chile", lap steel version, 2006 : https://youtu.be/BRnQJYS-emU
● For fun : Henry's son Chris (5 years old !) playing the congas, Anchorage (Alaska), 2005 : https://youtu.be/RdrhIuGcMzc
___________________________________________
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