{"id":29516,"date":"2025-06-26T05:30:36","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T09:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=29516"},"modified":"2025-06-02T11:42:37","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T15:42:37","slug":"album-review-tim-gartland-right-amount-of-funky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/26\/album-review-tim-gartland-right-amount-of-funky\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Tim Gartland \u2013 Right Amount of Funky"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Nashville-based singer and harmonica player Tim Gartland has lived a lifetime in the blues. After witnessing Muddy Waters live onstage, the then-teenage Gartland knew the path he would follow. Subsequently earning his stripes in the Chicago blues scene, Gartland played with Carey Bell, Bo Diddley and Pinetop Perkins. Relocating to Boston, he earned a spot as a finalist in that city\u2019s International Blues Challenge and hit the festival circuit. During his Boston years, Gartland released his 2011 debut album Looking Into the Sun<\/i>, and a followup, 2014\u2019s Million Stars<\/i>.<\/p>\n

By 2015 Gartland had moved again, this time to Nashville. That move brought with it membership in the Nashville Songwriters\u2019 Association, and publication of his book, The Talking Harmonica: Harmonica As a Second Language<\/i>. A collaborative blues effort, 2016\u2019s The Willie Project<\/i> was released in 2016. Meanwhile \u2013 and in rapid succession \u2013 he released three more solo albums: 2017\u2019s If You Want A Good Woman<\/i>, Satisfied<\/i> (2019) and Truth<\/i> in 2022. Gartland keeps up his steady stream of new records with his sixth full-length, Right Amount of Funky<\/i>.<\/p>\n

On the new record, Gartland is joined by a core lineup of musicians including electric guitarist Robert Frahm, bassist Mike Joyce, keyboardist Jody Nardone and Jack Bruno on drums. Additional vocals are supplied by Andy Peake, Dennis Drummond and Jolie Grace Wareham. Gartland takes front and center stage on lead vocals, chromatic harmonica and diatonic harmonica. Gartland composed six of Right Amount of Funky<\/i>\u2019s eight tracks on his own; two others, \u201cA Better Life\u201d and \u201cWalk Away\u201d are co-writes with songwriter and noted music publicist Karen Leipziger.<\/p>\n

\u201cWaste a Worry\u201d is a minor-key yet uptempo number that showcases Gartland\u2019s down-home, unassuming vocals; his harp work figures preeminently in the song as well. The title track delivers on the advertised funkiness, in an understated, good-timing manner. Gartland lets loose with a soulful harmonica solo that puts his melodic virtues on prominent display. Framm takes a solo that fits the song\u2019s aesthetic.<\/p>\n

\u201cA Better Life\u201d opens with a catchy acoustic guitar figure courtesy of Drummond; from there the tune shifts into a loping, New Orleans-flavored character with some gospel-tinged backing vocal work. A sassy country blues flavor informs \u201cWalk Away.\u201d The soul-stirring \u201cIf This Ain\u2019t Heaven\u201d is a funky blues reminiscent of Mac Rebennack aka Dr. John the Night Tripper. \u201cAlone Times\u201d adds a bit of reggae flavor to the mix. \u201cAbout to Cry\u201d folds in some country textures, applying them to a weeper of a tune. The album closes on an upbeat note, however: \u201cStop Working Me\u201d is classic cutting blues with a sinister edge leavened by Gartland\u2019s warm and friendly vocal character.<\/p>\n

Fans of Gartland\u2019s style will welcome this solid addition to his growing body of work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nashville-based singer and harmonica player Tim Gartland has lived a lifetime in the blues. After witnessing Muddy Waters live onstage, the then-teenage Gartland knew the path he would follow. Subsequently […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29517,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,49,65],"tags":[5702],"class_list":["post-29516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-new-release","category-review","tag-tim-gartland","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\/29516","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=29516"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29518,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29516\/revisions\/29518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}