BLUES JUNCTION Productions
7343 El Camino Real
Suite 327
Atascadero, CA 93422-4697
info
On August 28th, M.C. Records released the first solo album from Rick Holmstrom in five years, Cruel Sunrise. It is a contemporary blues album, if it is even a blues album at all. Let’s set aside the never ending, often semantically based discussion as to what is and isn’t blues and slap this label on the record: “Damn Good Music.”
Holmstrom shades these tracks with traces of several musical idioms. He has, by now, conditioned his fans to be on their toes ever since the 2002 genre bending album, Hydraulic Groove. On that outing the guitarist, vocalist and songwriter strapped the blues to a bumper car and had it careening off techno grooves, samples and hip hop.
If the aging and curmudgeonly world of blues survived that artistic experimentation, Cruel Sunrise should be a walk in the park. Holmstrom is a man of immense talent and has enough blues street “cred” to have earned the right to ask his fans to step outside their comfort zone a little and take some unexpected twists and turns in search of blues nirvana. He does that again here, but in a way that may be more accessible to folks both inside and outside of that mythical place we call the blues community.
Holmstrom has played with William Clarke and recorded two fine albums with Johnny Dyer before becoming a member of Rod Piazza’s Mighty Flyers. All the while he was releasing a series of albums for Black Top, Tone Cool and this, his second outing with MC Records.
On Cruel Sunrise, Holmstrom is joined by what may be the most versatile rhythm section on the scene, Jeff Turmes and Stephen Hodges. Like Holmstrom, Turmes and Hodges are veteran Los Angeles based musicians whose recording and touring history is staggering. When not serving as the backup band for Mavis Staples, the three play under the banner of the Rick Holstrom Trio. On Cruel Sunrise, Jeff Turmes plays both electric and acoustic bass as well as slide guitar and tenor sax. Stephen Hodges is as much of a percussionist as he is a straight drummer. His creativity is in full effect on this record.
The trio is joined on two tracks by the boss, Mavis Staples. The star on this record however is the troubadour with the tremolo bar, Rick Holmstrom. He imbibes the album with chunky rhythms, creative guitar lines and cryptic lyrics. If you are interested in stepping away from traditional twelve bar shuffles for fifty minutes, you just might enjoy the aural experience that is, Cruel Sunrise. The twelve song offering of all original material has some dark themes but there is always an undercurrent of defiance, hope and redemption. That sounds like blues to me.
- David Mac
Copyright 2022 BLUES JUNCTION Productions. All rights reserved.
BLUES JUNCTION Productions
7343 El Camino Real
Suite 327
Atascadero, CA 93422-4697
info