I challenge you to find any album, let alone a Blues album, that includes covers of not only Willie Dixon, but also Sun Ra and Glen Danzig songs. Yet this is what Jason Ricci and New Blood’s Done With the Devil pulls off remarkably well. Add in some hard-driving Texas Swing, a gen-u-wine love song, some deep-grooved Funk and a song even Donald Fagen would love and you get Ricci’s most ambitious, personal and successful effort to date. Jason Ricci was nominated this year for a Blues Music Award (formerly the Handy Awards) for harmonica, and though his dazzling harp work is all over this album, this is clearly a full-band effort.
Last year, New Blood guitarist Shawn Starski was named one of the “Top Ten Hottest New Guitarists” by Guitar Player magazine. Starski shares songwriting credit with Ricci on most of the (non-cover) tracks and Shawn’s strong vocals are featured on one of the album’s standout tracks, “How it Come to Be,” a dobro-flavored acoustic toe-tapper. But there’s never a shortage of passion and energy at a JRNB concert. With local guitar hero Kelly Richey opening Saturday’s show at Silverton’s Play by Play café, it is a concert sure to dazzle the musical palates of any lover of virtuoso instrumental performances, tantalize the musically curious and ruffle the feathers of Blues traditionalists. $15.
Get venue details and find nearby bars and restaurants here.
