Musicians: Travis Furlong (guitar, vocals); Ron Dupuis (drums, vocals); Paul Boudreau (bass, vocals); Roger Cormier (keyboards, accordion, harmonica, vocals); Don Rodgers (sax, vocals). Special Guests: Michael Jerome Browne (guitar, triangle, fiddle, harmony vocals); Charlie A'Court (acoustic guitar); Phillipe Lucy (alto & tenor sax); Roland Bourgeois (trumpet, flugelhorn).
Review: Glamourpuss is a great little blues band from Moncton, New Brunswick in eastern Canada. Together for about six years, the group already has three CDs under its collective belt. Wire & Wood is their first recording for a big-name label. NorthernBlues is developing a habit of bringing otherwise "regional" talent to the forefront of the North American blues scene.
Glamour Puss is off to a good start with this disk and CD launch party/concerts are booked across Canada as far from home as British Columbia. The Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival in Fredricton closely follows their hometown CD bash as do numerous TV/radio appearances on national networks.
With the single exception of John Lee Hooker's Boom Boom Boom the material on the album was written by band members Travis Furlong, Roger Cormier and Don Rodgers. Sax man, Don Rodgers penned Swingin' Gin, an outstanding instrumental played in the style of the jump bands of the fifties. Roger Cormier wrote a few outstanding pieces in the Acadian/Cajun style and some fine blues including the thoughtfully witty Six Feet Down. Dangereuse is another Cormier original, sung in French, and reminding me of the legendary Quebec rocker, Robert Charlebois.
Guitarist Travis Furlong is certainly a B.B.King disciple and a brilliant soloist. I especially enjoyed his original Blues For Sheilah. It's one of the two instrumental tracks on this session. Furlong wrote Wire & Wood, a logical choice for the "title tune." Great guitar work by Furlong and Michael Jerome Browne make this track a gem.
This is an exciting group and I'll bet it we won't have to wait very long for a follow-up CD. I'll be very surprised if Glamourpuss doesn't garner an award nomination of some sort in 2004.
The album hits the shelves on September 2nd.
Tracks: Kitty Kitty; Hollow Man; Don't You Worry; I Don't Know How To Win Your Love; You're Rich I'm Poor; Maman Don't Play No Zydeco; Wire & Wood; If You Miss Me; Swingin' Gin; Boom Boom; Dangereuse; Six Feet Down; Million-Air; Blues For Sheila; Maman Connait Pas Le Zydeco.
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