{"id":629,"date":"2011-10-24T04:56:43","date_gmt":"2011-10-24T09:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=629"},"modified":"2011-10-24T04:56:43","modified_gmt":"2011-10-24T09:56:43","slug":"album-review-tom-principato-a-part-of-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/10\/24\/album-review-tom-principato-a-part-of-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Tom Principato – A Part of Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s an old saying where pop music is concerned: \u201cDon’t bore us; get to the chorus.\u201d 1970s hitmakers The Raspberries<\/strong> were the very embodiment of this aesthetic: many of their songs would kick off, toss out a line and half of a lyric and head straight for the hook-laden chorus. For that style of music, nothing could be better. It’s what the people came for.<\/p>\n

When we’re speaking of the blues, however, an entirely different set of rules apply. And those rules — such as they are \u2013 vary widely depending on the particular sub-style of blues, and depend to some degree on what is being highlighted in the given song. Take, for example, an album by a blues guitarist: in such a case, many listeners come to hear the burning fretwork. The verses and choruses can sometimes get on the way; to some they’re little more than a necessary evil, something that has to be included.<\/p>\n

Occasionally \u2013 rarely, actually — an album and\/or artist comes along that transcends those so-called rules. The restrictions simply don’t apply. A Part of Me<\/em> by is just such an album, and its maker Tom Principato<\/strong> is just such a musician.<\/p>\n

I’ll admit it: I wasn’t familiar with the guitarist when A Part of Me<\/em> landed on my desk a few weeks ago. The disc went in the slush pile, where it would remain until I did one of my periodic smash-or-trash exercises to winnow down the stack of CDs for potential review. When I finally popped the disc into the player, though, I knew immediately that I had received something special.<\/p>\n

A Part of Me<\/em> is one varied collection. The disc opens with \u201cI Don’t Wanna Do It,\u201d a longish, lazy and loping country-tinged blues in which Principato’s voice is (initially) the primary focus. He may be from Virginia, but Principato’s voice sounds a lot like an American Eric Clapton<\/strong>. A lengthy guitar solo takes center stage for the song’s second half, quickly establishing (for the new listener) that Principato is a commanding, inventive player.<\/p>\n

Principato applies a throaty, jazzy feel to his guitar licks on \u201cSweet Angel.\u201d One of several tracks that features notable guest artists, the track serves up Hammond B3 courtesy of Chuck Leavell<\/strong>. On \u201cPart of Me,\u201d the guitarist sets up an slow gospel-blues arrangement evocative of Boz Scaggs<\/strong>‘ cover of Fenton Robinson<\/strong>‘s \u201cLoan Me a Dime.\u201d The Memphis Horns’ Wayne Jackson<\/strong> handles the understated yet integral horn charts.<\/p>\n

On \u201cDown the Road,\u201d Principato shuts up and plays his guitar. His tasty guitar licks say most of what needs to be said on this track; he’s ably assisted by legendary keyboardist Brian Auger<\/strong> (on organ and electric piano) and renowned session bassist Willie Weeks<\/strong>. The highly melodic instrumental dialogue is such that vocals would have simply gotten in the way.<\/p>\n

The modified Bo Diddley<\/strong> snare beat that kicks off \u201cDown in Lou’siana\u201d telegraphs the song’s feel long before the title is made evident. A swamp pop arrangement suits this mash note to the joys of the Pelican State. On the instrumental \u201cBack Again & Gone\u201d the guitarist sounds a bit like Eric Johnson<\/strong>; a master of tone, Principato coaxes a dizzying array of subtle sound shades out of his axes (onstage he plays a Strat and Tele).<\/p>\n

Speaking of onstage, I was lucky enough to catch Tom Principato on a recent live date here in Asheville. Tearing through much of A Part of Me <\/em>plus selections from his vast back catalog, Principato was supported by bassist Steve Wolf<\/strong>, drummer Joe Wells<\/strong> (I think) and percussionist Josh Howell<\/strong>. The latter adds a lot to the band’s live sound, allowing them to move far beyond the standard blooz power trio format. On the record, Gail Sanchez<\/strong>‘s congas do the same for the Santana<\/strong>-flavored \u201cStranger’s Eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Principato’s A Part of Me<\/em> is the ideal blues album to play for your rock-leaning friends who (wrongly) insist that all blues sounds the same. Finely textured and varied, this album is a highly enjoyable listen start to finish.<\/p>\n

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There’s an old saying where pop music is concerned: \u201cDon’t bore us; get to the chorus.\u201d 1970s hitmakers The Raspberries were the very embodiment of this aesthetic: many of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629","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=629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}