{"id":23389,"date":"2022-07-21T05:30:12","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T09:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=23389"},"modified":"2022-07-20T13:52:38","modified_gmt":"2022-07-20T17:52:38","slug":"album-review-kenny-neal-straight-from-the-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/21\/album-review-kenny-neal-straight-from-the-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Kenny Neal \u2013 Straight from the Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Kenny Neal\u2019s Louisiana roots have always informed his music. Right from the very start he made his origins a significant part of his musical approach. When his indie label debut Bio on the Bayou<\/i> was reissued on Alligator, it bore the title Big News from Baton Rouge!!<\/i> Later releases like 1992\u2019s Bayou Blood<\/i> and Hoodoo Man<\/i> (1994) offered further explorations of the Louisiana character of his brand of blues. But Neal\u2019s latest is among his most personal offerings, and the set most steeped in hometown character.<\/p>\n

Recorded in Neal\u2019s hometown of Baton Rouge, Straight from the Heart<\/i> combines the guitarist\u2019s many assets \u2013 strong and heartfelt lyrics, commanding yet understated guitar work, superb musicianship \u2013 with a musical character that can only come from the Bayou State.<\/p>\n

Leading off with \u201cBlues Keep Chasing Me,\u201d a song Neal wrote in honor of Lucky Peterson (his best friend and longtime musical comrade), Neal serves up a tasty menu of 11 songs that dig deep into the Louisiana textures that suffuse his music.<\/p>\n

Rockin\u2019 Dopsie Jr. adds his distinctive washboard to two cuts (\u201cLouise\u201d and \u201cBon Temps Rouler\u201d), and his band The Zydeco Twisters immerse Neal\u2019s blues in a soulful and tasty Cajun stew. Christone \u201cKingfish\u201d Ingram joins Neal on \u201cMount Up on the Wings of the King,\u201d a tribute to B.B. King co-written by the two guitarists. Tito Jackson shares lead vocals with Neal (plus Neal\u2019s daughter Syreeta) on \u201cTwo Timing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neal pays tribute to his other influences as well, bending the inspiring work of Albert King (\u201cI\u2019ll Play the Blues for You\u201d) and Junior Parker (\u201cSomeone Somewhere\u201d) to his own needs. In doing so, Neal deftly balances his own creative expression with honoring his inspirations. The arrangement for his reading of the Parker tune is based in part on the way that Neal\u2019s father played it in his own band many years ago.<\/p>\n

His new recording of the Albert King classic nails the vibe of the original \u2013 right down to the brass arrangement \u2013 while avoiding slavish imitation. Because Kenny Neal doesn\u2019t need to imitate anyone else\u2019s style. His own cool, assured fretwork is sonorous, soulful and slinky, making its musical points without flash; his approach always emphasizes substance over style (though he has plenty of the latter).<\/p>\n

Together, Neal\u2019s voice, guitar and assured blues harp work form the album\u2019s sonic center of gravity; ably supported by a core band of close associates and family (including bassist Darnell Neal), Straight from the Heart<\/i> feels organic and real. And the vibes from a neighboring state figure into the mix as well: there\u2019s a strong Memphis Horns character throughout. Notably, those memorable and well-placed horn arrangements are by Neal himself.<\/p>\n

Straight from the Heart<\/i> is Neal\u2019s first album since 2016\u2019s Grammy-nominated Let Life Flow<\/i>, and it underscores the fact that 35 years after his solo debut, Neal remains at the top of his game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kenny Neal\u2019s Louisiana roots have always informed his music. Right from the very start he made his origins a significant part of his musical approach. When his indie label debut […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23390,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,49,65],"tags":[4888],"class_list":["post-23389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-new-release","category-review","tag-kenny-neal","cat-9-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23389"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23391,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23389\/revisions\/23391"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}