OFFICIAL:
http://chrismurphymusic.com/
Written
by Daniel Boyer, posted by blog admin
The
Cajun cooked instrumentals and blues trappings of California-based Chris Murphy
and the Blind Blake Blues Band come storming to life on their debut full-length
Water Under the Bridge. At the heart of the hurricane stands Murphy;
violinist, fiddler, songwriter and bandleader.
The man practically eats, sleeps and breathes a style/class that you
just don’t find with modern music. There’s
nothing retro about the 14 songs on offer here, on the contrary this is a
grooving record with an authentically old soul on which you’ll hear bluegrass,
blues, jazz, rock, folk, country, r & b and soul. Each of these musical ideals are distinctly
felt and it’s all wrapped up with a big band mindset that ruled the 30s to the
early 60s, especially.
Not
only does Murphy play the role of multi-instrumentalist and lead vocalist but
he’s also the sole composer of every tune contained on Water under the
Bridge. Additionally, alongside
co-producer/mixer Joshua Cutsinger, Chris also grabs another production credit
(he’s collaborated and produced with everyone from Steve Hodges and Larry
Taylor of Tom Waits’ Band to punk legends Mike Watt and John Doe of punk
legends The Minutemen and X, respectively.
Obviously, Murphy recognizes the talent and merit in many different
types of music and he’s not afraid to include this wide breadth in his very own
recordings.
Each
tune on Water Under the Bridge has a
unique tasting flavor and literally walls upon walls of down-home
instrumentation with the strings remaining a focal point. In many ways this release brings the Phil
Spector “Wall of Sound” to energetic rural music that is literally a guidebook
of every classic American music genre known to man. Raucous ragtime jazz piano, countrified acoustics,
a rockabilly rhythm set-up, fireball fiddle and swinging violins color tracks
like opener “Moveable Feast,” the deliberately ethnic-kissed neoclassical
guitars of “My Spanish Lover,” 1940s jazz club swagger of “Dog Ear Blues” and
the title track all feel quite congruent with Murphy’s vision of these disparate
styles of music. This is just one turns Water Under the Bridge takes
though.
Then
you’ve got the more midpaced, from the gut blues numbers that allow for some
hard-edged yet clean riffing, a choice featured performance from the upright
bass, cool collected tempos and Chris’ stellar work on the violins, fiddles and
acoustics. The stellar “Joan Crawford Dances
the Charleston,” the smoldering downbeat of “Riverboat Blues,” the crunchy and
rowdy prowler “Tomcat Blues” which illustrates some serious Hank Williams Sr.
chops from the sizzling rockabilly/country musical split
right down to the ornery lyrics and the hardliner grooves of “Tarbox Blues” and
“Middleweight Champion” are all choice cuts utilizing the aforementioned
rockabilly blues handbook. You also get
some Bill Monroe minded, blue-collar bluegrass that positively goes for broke
during the high-speed chase of “Table for Two,” “The Lemon Rag” as well as the
above-named title track’s hybridization of several styles (bluegrass being a
major theme) and “Benzedrine Shuffle’s” sloth-ier realization of the
sound. The album caps off with a
hypnotic soundtrack piece of barebones beat-keeping (a floor tom or someone
stomping) and sunburnt violin called “Cheer up Mickey” that would be at home in
a Clint Eastwood western’s film score.
Chris
Murphy and his merry men can do it all in terms of chops, ability and
performance. They make this stuff look
easy on Water Under the Bridge and
each track is one that you’re going to want to revisit over and over again to
continue to catch of all the little nuances the band throw into their playing,
production and arranging. These cats
have a mastery of old school jamming capabilities and they make every inch of
every style their own on Water Under the
Bridge.
