Jesse Jay Johnson – Man On A Mission (CD)

It’s been a few years since Jesse set the blues on fire. To show he is still on fire, he opens the new album with the smoking hot “Got To Burn”. “You got to burn if you want to shine” – and shines it does. A cool stomping blues rocker, indeed! “Livin’ On Rock ‘N Roll” kicks it into backbeat and lets out a classic blues rocker, while “Man On A Mission” starts off almost like Robin Trower’s “Day of The Eagle”, but only the intro riff. Powerful classic blues rock. In “Good As Gone” Jesse takes it down into a groove funky vibe, while “No Disguise” is a smooth blues ballad with Jesse’s outstanding guitar playing and soulful vocals. “Whatever You Want” kicks it back into gear with that perfect neck pick-up Strat grind and a funky touch. “One Day At A Time” brings out the guitar and slide and places the vibe on the porch, at least in the intro, while the verse brings us into full blues-rocking mode. “Tearin’ Down The Walls” adds a bit of organ to the mix, but the funky vibe is still the same. “Rock The Blues” is a cool, driving, shuffle rocker, while album closing track “Beyond The Horizon” kicks off with a smooth keyboard and a searing Strat solo and goes into a sound track for the open fields. A very good album, I must say!

Year: 2021

Country: USA

Label: Grooveyard Records

Link: www.grooveyardrecords.com

Jay Jesse Johnson Band – Down The Hard Road (CD)

Jay Jesse Johnson (not to be confused with disco/funk rocker Jesse Johnson) has released a bunch of high class albums since his solo debut “Strange Imagination” in 2004. Before that he recorded an album with pomp rock band ArcAngel (featuring Jeff Cannata) in 1983 and in 1989 he released the album “Electrocution of the Heart” with AOR band Deadringer (featuring Charlie Huhn and Barry Dunaway among others). His solo albums are however quite far from the melodic rock scene. “Down The Hard Road”, like Jay’s previous solo efforts, are all about the blues. The album is all originals except for Booker T’s “Born Under A Bad Sign” and Roy Buchanan’s “The Messiah Will Come Again”. I remember reviewing Jay’s previous album “Set The Blues On Fire” two years ago. The album was a nice piece of hard edged blues rock. On this album Jay is leaning more towards the classic side of blues rock and boogie and he’s even added some horns on a couple of songs and there’s a piano solo in “Drive Me Home”. Jay is an outstanding guitarist with both incredible feel and great technique. Most of the songs are classic blues rock numbers, while “Tears Of An Angel” is a slow and slightly heavier blues ballad and “Bull In The Barn” offers some swift chicken pickin’. The aforementioned Buchanan cover “The Messiah Will Come” also offers a slightly different touch to the album, and I honestly hadn’t really thought about how this number must have had a great impact on Gary Moore when he wrote “The Loner” and “Parisienne Walkways”. Sweet notes a’ la carte.

Janne Stark

Year: 2017

Label: Grooveyard Records

Country: USA

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Link: www.grooveyardrecords.com

JAY JESSE JOHNSON – Set The Blues On Fire (CD)

American blues rocker Jay Jesse Johnson is one outstanding axe master. He’s delivered nothing but quality discs, and this one is just another notch on the Marshall stack. What I really like about JJJ is that he blends his down to earth, classic blues playing with swift and tricky licks, similar to the way Stevie Ray used to do. In fact Set The Blues On Fire would fit in nicely somewhere between Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Texas Flood”, Joe Bonamassa’s “A New Day Yesterday” and Pat Travers “Makin’ Magic”. His tone is really to die for and the sound is fat. I also really like his rough and bluesy voice. What also makes this album such a stellar piece, is the phenomenal backing band featuring groove master Jeff Donaldson on drums, the funky Reed Bogart on bass and the cool Lee Evans on keyboards. The song material goes from semi-hard blues ballads such as I Knew Then and the outstanding cool guitar master piece Rio De Los Suenos to full out funky rockers like Ace In The Hole and album opener Hell Or High Water. A killer album and indeed it's on fire!

Janne Stark

Country: USA

Year: 2015

Label: Grooveyard Records