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 Believe
me when I say, Mississippi artist Johnny Rawls is one of the finest
Soulful Blues singers around these days! So how do I know this?
First, I caught his live show at the Silver Dollar Room in Toronto
late last year and more recently by giving his new release “No
Boundaries” a spin. Johnny’s appearance at the Dollar had the
large crowd groovin’ to his powerful vocals and stingin’ guitar
solos as he delivered charted Soul hits, but this album presents a
different dance floor.
On
“No Boundaries”, Steve Lott, who also co-produced the record
with Johnny and co-authored a few songs with main penman and bassist
Bob Trenchard, handles the guitar chores nicely. Also on the
recording session are Dan Ferguson; keyboards, Andy Roman;
saxophones and drummers J.T. Paz and Ritchie Puga. Add to the band
some beautiful background vocals by Reba Russell and Jackie Johnson
and I’m ready for another listen.
“Show
Me The Way” starts off the album and it demonstrates Johnny’s
raspy voice and has a cutting sax solo from Andy. I really like
Bob’s lyrics on the up-tempo “Train Keep Rolling”, a Blues
tune that features Steve’s guitar. The mood slows down a bit on
the meaningful “Keep The Faith”. Johnny sings up a strong
message of a life that isn’t fair in “I Won’t Give Up”.
Another great Blues song is now hittin’ me and I can understand
why I “Never Found A Smoking Gun”. In the ballad “Fallen
Bird’ Johnny tells a sad story. In the next track you maybe fast,
you maybe rich, but you won’t get to heaven in a “Long Black
Car”. More truth is pointed out in “Nothing Lasts Forever”.
The broken heart sorrow can be felt in the final song,
“Even Though You’re In Heaven”.
Original
songs, excellent musicians, the Blues, a lot of Soul, mix them
together with “No Boundaries” and the result is a record for any
fan of good music.
Now
one final thought from me, “Hear Johnny Rawls once; you’ll never
forget what you heard!” Eddy
B
More
about Johnny Rawls and his recordings can be found at his website: www.johnnyrawls.net
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