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With a dazzlingly varied musical back story, Memphis-born, Nashville-based guitarist, singer and songwriter Ping Rose makes music in the blues tradition. But while Rose uses blues as a foundation, on Conjure Man<\/i>, it\u2019s leveraged as a jumping-off point for musical explorations that take him well outside the idiom.<\/p>\n
Rose debuted on record with 2020\u2019s Sketchbook<\/i>; that record was steeped in soul and pop textures. Tracks like \u201cDanger\u201d displayed a soulful vibe that struck a balance between a radio-ready approach and something with a bit more substance. But Sketchbook<\/i> didn\u2019t truly define Rose as an artist in a way that set him apart from myriad other singer-songwriters plying their trade.<\/p>\n
In contrast, Conjure Man<\/i> is a much more full-formed collection, more of a musical statement of purpose. Rose\u2019s diverse background \u2013 a stint as a cruise ship musician, time spent playing in rock bands \u2013 informs his approach to the blues without stripping it of its essence. A formally trained musician, Ping Rose has depth, sincerity and grit to balance the schooling. Right out of the gate on Conjure Man<\/i>, he serves up an instrumental: \u201cCloverhill Stomp\u201d traffics in Delta blues textures, adding a shuffling rock rhythm section to the mix. The result is blues-informed, classic and modern at the same time.<\/p>\n
The spotlight track on Conjure Man<\/i> is \u201cSalty,\u201d a slow blues released as a single ahead of the album. Rose employs a BB King-styled call-and-response to vocal and guitar, using the song\u2019s languid pace as a vehicle to spin a swaggering lyric. And Rose\u2019s spirited slide guitar work showcases both his technical mastery and emphasis upon delivering memorable musicality.<\/p>\n
Across the album\u2019s nine tracks, Rose takes the listener on a musical journey that hints at his influences, and those influences aren\u2019t just the usual blues suspects. Hints of Prince, Wes Montgomery (album closer \u201cThe Tail End\u201d) and Donny Hathaway makes themselves known. While there\u2019s nothing especially hip hop- about \u201cDon\u2019t Drink Me Dry,\u201d a hip hop sensibility informs the tune and its undeniably bluesy structure. \u201cCareful What You Wish For\u201d could pass for a lost Stevie Wonder album cut. \u201cDarkness\u201d suggests time spent with Sly Stone records. And like Wonder \u2013 one of his primary influences \u2013 on Conjure Man<\/i>, Rose plays nearly all of the instruments.<\/p>\n
Yet despite Rose\u2019s prowess on multiple instruments, it\u2019s on guitar where he shines most brightly. Adept at all manner of styles and textures, Rose makes a point of showcasing his scope and versatility. But he does that within the context of solid, memorable songcraft.<\/p>\n
At a shade over 40 minutes, Conjure Man<\/i> manages to cover a great deal of musical territory, though each and every track makes it clear that no matter how far he might wander genre-wise, blues is where Ping Rose is most at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With a dazzlingly varied musical back story, Memphis-born, Nashville-based guitarist, singer and songwriter Ping Rose makes music in the blues tradition. But while Rose uses blues as a foundation, on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28603,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,49,65],"tags":[5571],"class_list":["post-28795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-new-release","category-review","tag-ping-rose","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\/28795","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=28795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28796,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28795\/revisions\/28796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}