{"id":26027,"date":"2023-09-22T05:30:03","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T09:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=26027"},"modified":"2023-09-12T11:35:18","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T15:35:18","slug":"album-review-delta-wires-if-somebody-told-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/22\/album-review-delta-wires-if-somebody-told-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Delta Wires \u2013 If Somebody Told Me…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"When blues harpist Ernie Pinata was a student at Oakland\u2019s California College of Arts and Crafts, he assembled a band as a class project. Designed to showcase the development of the blues, the group remained together after the semester\u2019s end, going on to play with many of the artists whose work they celebrated. The band would go on to record seven albums; their 2000 debut Live in San Francisco<\/i> and 2018\u2019s Born in Oakland<\/i> are held in particularly high regard. Delta Wires was recognized in 2008 as International Blues Challenge finalists.<\/p>\n

The latest release from the Oakland blues octet, If Somebody Told Me\u2026<\/i> is a collection of ten tracks, a mix of original and classic material. The band is supremely tight as it works its way through a solid set. A group original, \u201cCan\u2019t Win for Losin\u2019\u201d opens the album with a (presumably) first-person lyric about the band\u2019s adventures. Pinata spars with the strong horn section, and then everyone steps out of the way for a powerhouse guitar solo courtesy of Richard Healy. That\u2019s followed by a soulful extended harp solo form the bandleader himself.<\/p>\n

The title track \u2013 another original cut \u2013 mines a smokier, much more understated vibe. The song\u2019s arrangement is reminiscent of Boz Scaggs\u2019 reading of Fenton Robinson\u2019s \u201cLoan Me a Dime\u201d: it starts out in simmering fashion, building in intensity and volume as it goes along.<\/p>\n

A pair of Sonny Boy Williamson songs from the core of the album. \u201cSloppy Drunk\u201d was first waxed by its original composer, Lucille Bogan, in 1931; Williamson\u2019s recording was released a decade later. Delta Wires makes the most of its instrumental firepower, adorning the song with a sprightly brass arrangement that offers responses to Pinata\u2019s vocal calls. Oddly, his voice on the track is redolent of The Clash\u2019s Joe Strummer circa \u201cRock the Casbah.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band slows the beat down to a crawl for the languorous blues of \u201cHand Outta My Pocket.\u201d The arrangement is a showcase for Pinata\u2019s wailing harp; toward the second half, the horns offer supple support as Pinata continues his superb work.<\/p>\n

Next, John Lee Hooker\u2019s \u201cDimples\u201d gets the Delta Wires treatment; rock-focused listeners will recognize the guitar figures from ZZ Top\u2019s Hooker homage, \u201cLa Grange.\u201d Here the horns hold back until the second half; at that point they let loose, engaging in hearty back-and-forth with lead guitarist Healy, then ceding the spotlight completely to him.<\/p>\n

Again making the most of the versatility that a three-man horn section can offer, If Somebody Told Me\u2026<\/i> concludes with a cover of Count Basie\u2019s 1958 number \u201cBlues in Hoss\u2019 Flat.\u201d The arrangement leans more toward jazz, but there\u2019s a solid blues foundation to the cut. The appealing instrumental underscores the fact that Pinata and his band can capture and communicate the essence of the many forms and styles of blues. And If Somebody Told Me\u2026<\/i> presents the group in the best possible light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When blues harpist Ernie Pinata was a student at Oakland\u2019s California College of Arts and Crafts, he assembled a band as a class project. Designed to showcase the development of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26028,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,49,65],"tags":[5236],"class_list":["post-26027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-new-release","category-review","tag-delta-wires","cat-9-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26027"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26029,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26027\/revisions\/26029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}