CD REVIEW: SET THE BLUES ON FIRE by Jay Jesse Johnson

SET THE BLUES ON FIRE 
by Jay Jesse Johnson
(Grooveyard Records)

Bluesman Jay Jesse Johnson returns with his latest scorching release, 'Set The Blues On Fire'. Backing Johnson up are the rock solid rhythm section of, Reed Bogart on bass, Jeff "Smokey" Donaldson on drums and Lee Evans on keyboards. 'Set The Blues On Fire' is full of barrell house blues and has that Traver meets Trower vibe to it with a harder edge.  For the traditional blues lover, this wouldn't suffice, but for those of us that appreciate the blues, but love the creativity that Pat Travers and Robin Trower brought to the blues and rock, this recording is great! Some artists call their music Blues/Rock and either deliver a Blues album with a couple of '50's sounding rock songs or they put out straight ahead shredding and throw in a couple slow songs with Blues licks but this is the real deal. Jay Jesse Johnson can play like the devil and 'Set The Blues On Fire' is reminiscent of the latter glory days of blues rock. Incredible energy makes this recording a lot of fun. "Hell Or High Water", the down dirty swagger of "Ghosts of Texas", the seductive "Since My Baby's Gone" and the closing scorcher, "Rio De Los Suenos (River Of Dreams) are standouts. The whole album just smokes.  I really think it is a rarity for musicians to stay true to themselves especially nowadays but listening to this recording  you can feel the "polished grit" throughout. All in all a great find! Would definitely recommend to the mainstream music listener and go all the way up the blues rock aficionado. A musical high for sure. -Highly Recommended
Tony @ The Dedicated Rocker Society