Can Of Gas & A Match - The Bush League - New Release Review

I just received a copy of the newest release, Can Of Gas & A Match by The Bush League and it's killer. The recording opens with the title track, Can Of Gas & A Match which has a solid base like Brush With The Blues from Royce Folks on bass and Debbie Flood on drums. JohnJason "Sleepy Eyed Jay" Cecil carries the track with an incredible modern swamp blues voice and Shane "Chicago Slim" Parch plays simple over driven rhythm guitar and excellent raw guitar punctuation throughout this track...think modern blues meets RL Burnside. This is a great track. Devil Cryin' In The Churchyard has a lighter feel with Parch painting lightly on the guitar as Cecil has a more modern delivery on vocal. The rhythm section is particularly tight on this track. Another track that I really like is Don't Touch My Liquor. This is a driving swamp boogie with wide open distortion on guitar and swingin' vocals. Drumming by Flood is really notable and crisp. Parch lays some fat slide guitar down on this track and Folks keeps the drive solid with prominent bass leads. Running Through The River is really a wide open jam with great rhythmic drumming and over the top guitar work. Cecil really does a nice job on vocals the the driving manner of the track is really effective. '59 Chevy takes a turn toward funk with a bit of spoken lyrics. This will likely appeal to fans liking a more modern approach to the blues. Mexico opens with Parch on an opened tuned resonator picking up momentum as Flood joins playing flashy rudimentary drum riffs. The track actually puts me in mind of an old Kim Simmonds track, Let It Rock, which is a great song. This is a slide rocker with a bit of distortion adding to the fatness. Another really strong track. Penicillin follows a traditional 12 bar format with an uptempo beat. Cecil has a great voice for this style of music and Parch keeps the slide hot for an occasional strike. .38 Special Blues is a slow blues in the manner of Going Down Slow. This is a departure from the balance of the recording and a nice contrast in style. Cecil shows a different side of his vocal style and the band keeps it tight , not overplaying giving Cecil all of the room he needs. Parch lays out a really sweet slide solo on this track with no pretense... just guts. Really cool track. There is also some nice piano work on this track but I didn't notice the player's name...sorry. Death Of Robert is another swampy track which has a slight tail of the British influence in it. Vocals are again delivered in a more spoken manner as is seen in more modern approaches to the blues. Parch uses the open tuned slide to lay out some really fat music over the solid rhythm of this track. This is a pretty strong track to end the release and another one that may see a bit of public attention. There is a bonus track on the commercial CD (no on the download)... and old R Wilkins track called Prodigal Son. This is really a strong track done acoustically and a really super addition to the entire package. Clean guitar picking, and great vocals from Cecil. This is a really solid release and one that should carry The Bush League to the big leagues!

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