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An International Blues Challenge semifinalist in 2024 and 2025, Sacramento-based harmonica player Kyle Rowland is a busy musician. His live unit Rowland & Tumblin\u2019 covers the waterfront style-wise, working funk, soul, r&b, rock and roll, gospel and more into their blues-based music. A student of Rick Estrin, Rowland began his musical journey at age ten. His debut album, High Rollin\u2019 with Kyle Rowland<\/i> was self-released in 2011.<\/p>\n
Since that time he has worked hard and often, applying his harp artistry to multiple projects. In 2014, he even played harmonica on a hard rock album, Simplicity<\/i> by fellow Sacramento artists Tesla. In 2022 he signed an endorsement deal with Hohner, and in 2025 Rowland signed with the Little Village Foundation<\/p>\n
The first product of that new association is Not Holding Back.<\/i> Produced by his mentor Estrin and Kid Andersen at the latter\u2019s Greaseland Studios in San Jose, the album is a 15-track collection made up primarily of Rowland originals, with some carefully-selected tunes from others rounding out the set.<\/p>\n
Not Holding Back<\/i> is very much a \u201cband\u201d album, giving ample time and focus to the superb players whose work adorns the set. Players include guitarists Anson Funderburgh. Bob Welsh, Johnny Burgin and Andersen; Little Village mainstay Jim Pugh is on hand for keyboards on most tracks; June Core is at the drum kit for most tunes.<\/p>\n
The simmering \u201cConvict No. 1\u201d opens the album. Against an arrangement featuring multiple guitars \u2013 one playing stinging, spare leads, the other chugging along with its signal processed through a wah-wah pedal \u2013 the tune conjures thoughts of Albert King\u2019s mid \u201870s work. The song is a showcase for Rowland\u2019s vocals; only in its final minute does the track feature a harmonica solo.<\/p>\n
Rowland holds command over the sound and feel of the record. On \u201cI\u2019ll Take You Back,\u201d his harmonica opens the proceedings before the focus turns yet again to his searing vocals. Lead guitar licks spar with his vocal phrasing, and the band is tight as a tick. Ronnie James Weber\u2019s bass work on the cut is hypnotic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re Still Friends\u201d is cut from the same cloth that gave the world \u201cI Heard it Through the Grapevine,\u201d and the song\u2019s use of combo organ is an interesting, left-field and effective choice. A reading of Fillmore Slim\u2019s \u201cYou Got the Nerve of a Brass Monkey\u201d has a distinctive Chuck Berry feel; Rowland\u2019s yelps mesh nicely with his sassy vocal. Pugh and Funderburgh truly deliver on the track, but as with everything on Not Holding Back<\/i>, it\u2019s a collective effort.<\/p>\n
The wonderfully distorted guitar on \u201cGamblin\u2019 Blues\u201d contrasts nicely with Rowland\u2019s clear and strong singing. \u201cE.G.O.\u201d leans into a Southern soul feel. The unhinged and spirited \u201cComplete This Order\u201d finds Rowland spitting out lyrics rapid-fire. \u201cThis Train\u201d barrels along, pulling the listener along. Packed with top-notch arrangements and performances, Not Holding Back<\/i> is a fun ride from start to finish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An International Blues Challenge semifinalist in 2024 and 2025, Sacramento-based harmonica player Kyle Rowland is a busy musician. His live unit Rowland & Tumblin\u2019 covers the waterfront style-wise, working funk, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,49,65],"tags":[5862],"class_list":["post-30833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-new-release","category-review","tag-kyle-rowland","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\/30833","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=30833"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30835,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30833\/revisions\/30835"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}