Easy Bill & The Big Beat - "Midnight Creep"

Straight out of Denver, Easy Bill Towber is a first-class guitarist fronting a fine, tradition-minded band on Midnight Creep. Towber, who hosts a weekly R&B radio program, puts his blues knowledge to work on a dozen tunes, half of them self-penned. His guitar tone is marvolously grungy and biting, and he has an excellent band: Bass/drum duo R.D. Jones and Kyle Roberts keep the pot simmering, pianist Mark Richardson's grumbling fills and fleet solos never lag, and sax man Ken Plum impresses throughout. Harpist Gerry Hundt, late of NYC's Push Ponys, adds wailing tones that push many tunes over the top. These guys know when to cook and when to lie back, providing a textbook example of how to merge the modern with the moldy.

Towber's vocals are a weak link; they're short on range and power, though he gets over by sheer force of personality on the driving shuffle "Gonna Tell your Mother" (a first cousin of J.B. Lenoir's "Talk To Your Daughter") and his own horn driven romp "Starving For Your Love." The energetic "Whiskey Drinking Woman" nods to Sonny Boy Williamson, with perfect blowing by Hundt, and Richardon gets a showcase on Towber's sweetly swinging "Spending Time." Plum shines on the set closing loper "Side-Track," a midtempo instrumental that gives everyone a chance to cut loose. Chicago blues gadfly Nick Moss, who produced Midnight Creep, contributed the slow, spare "Awful Thoughts," which cools things down nicely towards disc's end. Also great is the dramatic stop-and-start cooker "One More Kiss."

Recorded live in the studio, the sound is gorgeous, though a couple of tracks struggle to get off the ground; the novelty tune "Swinging On A Vine" never gains altitude despite everyone's best effort. But the sweet outweighs the bitter, thanks to Towber's wonderfully melodic lead playing. Put this one on for a real Rocky Mountain high.

Jeff Calvin
Blues Revue
"The Blues Authority"
August/September 2004, Issue #89
www.BluesRevue.com