Duke Robillard and Ronnie Earl
The Duke Meets the Earl
Stony Plain 1303
Duke Robillard founded Roomful of Blues back in the late '60s and in the
late '70s a kid named Ronnie Earl Horvath used to come around and sit in. Ronnie would
eventually replace Duke in Roomful when Duke decided to go out on his own. Ronnie would
eventually go out on his own as well, change his name to just Ronnie Earl as a tribute to
one of his guitar heroes, Earl Hooker, and as they say, the rest is history.
These two almost legendary musicians have come full circle with this new
CD. They are back doing what they love best, jamming the Blues.
When the CD opens with a nice instrumental shuffle, you know things are going to get good.
Duke and Ronnie both seem very relaxed throughout the session and very respectful of each
other's playing. They give each other a lot of space - there is no head cutting going on
here and no egos getting in the way.
Duke handles the vocals on three of the eight cuts with special guest Mighty Sam McClain
doing the vocals on the last cut written by Ronnie called "A Soul That's Been
Abused". Hammond B-3 monster, Jimmy McGriff, also guests on two cuts. The rest of the
band consists of members of both Duke and Ronnie's most recent bands, like Rod Carey and
Jesse Williams on bass, Matt McCabe on piano, Mark Teixeira on drums (no, not the Texas
Ranger) and Dave Limina, also on Hammond B-3.
Duke and Ronnie both contribute original tunes and also cover some T-Bone Walker,
Houston's Big Walter Price, Eddie Taylor, Magic Sam and BB King.
All the playing is first class. Both Duke and Ronnie have had their
musical journeys into the jazzier side but this CD is definitely all Blues. They pay
homage on the covers, but do it in their own style. These aren't just your run of the mill
covers; these are darn good interpretations of a few of the early masters.
This CD is simply two masters at work. Most of the eight tracks are long but you don't
really notice it because all the playing is to the point and full of intensity.
This CD will likely be on a lot of Best of 2005 lists. Mine will be one
of them.
- Sonnyboymark -
Southwest Blues CD Review - July 2005
Current Reviews - 2005 Reviews - available at our store
