Release Date: 27 April, 2004
Audio CD
Tracks
- Old School
- Story of My Life
- I'm Gonna Leave You
- What She Don't Know
- I've Been Working
- Get Busy
- Let My Guitar Do the Talking
- It Ain't the Fall That Kills You
- Little Less Conversation
- Right Tool for the Job
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Rating 5.0
"THE STYLE OF BB"Guitar Shorty is fabulous. His music exudes a BB King style of Blues that rips you apart. This man never got his due. The BLUES is Guitar Shorty. I dare anyone to dispute that. If you buy one Blues Album this year make sure it is this one. (...)YOU'LL BE SORRY IF YOU DON'T.Fiery outingBorn David Kearney in 1939, Guitar Shorty got his name when he discovered that the "Guitar Shorty" advertised on a marquee sign, was in reality, himself. "Guitar" is known for his wild stage antics or gymnastics if you will, that he copped from the legendary "Guitar Slim". There were a lot of lean years for the man who was for a time, Jimi Hendrix's brother in-law. At one point, Guitar Shorty actually appeared and played on the Gong Show, winning the competition. His recording career took off in the nineties and it all leads up to this career defining album. "Watch Your Back" is the real deal, the hard stuff. "Guitar" slashes and burns his way through this album, his guitar laying waste to everything in his path. This is "take no prisoners" blues. It's also one of the best albums of 2004. Welcome to the big time, "Guitar Shorty". Long may you reign!
****1/4. Fine, gritty electric blues from a grizzled veteranBorn David William Kearney in 1939, Texan Guitar Shorty first recorded in 1957, yet this is only the 6th album for Jimi Hendrix's former brother-in-law (well, he married Hendrix's stepsister).
Kearney's career has had its shares of highs and lows (and sometimes the lows were very low, too), but since he was picked up by JSP in 1990 he has delivered a handful of albums which rank from good to great, and this is one of the best ones.
"Watch Your Back" is a supremely tough record...Shorty's fiery, fat-toned guitar playing is not unlike Stevie Ray Vaughan's, and he delivers these ten songs with utter conviction. There is nothing here as instantly memorable as the best work of Muddy Waters or Howlin' Wolf, sure, but that's pretty much a given, I suppose, and there are a lot of really good songs here even without an obvious replacement for "Hoochie Coochie Man".
Opening with one of the best ones, the gruff, muscular "Old School", "Watch Your Back" is excellently produced by Shorty's pianist Jesse Harms (formerly of REO Speedwagon). No frills, no gloss and glitter, just forty minutes of rowdy, smouldering blues, and Shorty rips into each blazing song, slow grind or up-tempo boogie, with equal enthusiasm.
Highlights include "I'm Gonna Leave You", an intense slow blues, the gritty swagger of "It Ain't The Fall That Kills You", the funky "What She Don't Know", a tough-as-nails rendition of "A Little Less Conversation", the driving "Let's Get Busy", and "Let My Guitar Do The Talking", a powerful mid-tempo number with a charging Bo Diddley beat.
Fans of so-called "modern electric blues" will definitely want a listen, and those new to David William Kearney can start here. |
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