Racky Thomas Band educated Smoken’ Joe’s audience

With smoking hot harmonica and vocals, Racky Thomas celebrated his Fourth Of July weekend at Brighton’s Smoken’ Joe’s BBQ & Blues last night. With a crack band behind him, Thomas blew and sang with the passion he’s become known for over the years. Often, he played through an electric harp microphone that gave his melodies an authentic old time sound. At times, it gave off a blistering, edgy timbre, offering something of a different color to his roots material. Thomas treated his audience to a vast array of old American music, and it was better than any music appreciation course.

Thomas and his band opened the show by singing about usual blues topics, coffee grounds, drugs in his tea, and wanting to drink when there’s no liquor around. Thomas’s spiraling roots melody sea sawed out of his amp, traveling in the summer breeze, sailing through the room. Meanwhile, his guitarist, Pete Henderson, picked a big happy vibe out of his big jazz guitar. Together, they created an exciting texture of sound that informed the audience it was in for a good time.

RTB played “Shimmy Shake” with a combination of piano boogie, breezy blues harp, and a sharp rhythm section that brought the joy of this one home. Thomas’s voice is another sharp instrument he used to tease the meaning out of each song. His powerful, sandpapery vocal glided over the lyrics while hitting the touchstone emotion in each word, singing about a woman who can make a dumb man talk and blind man see.

The entire band locked into an incredible groove on “Pink Cadillac,” a slow, almost marching beat song, with Thomas’s ever so expressive vocal. Henderson’s guitar was on fire, blistering notes making sparks, combustion, guitar licks jumping around like they were on fire.

John Hammond‘s “Shake For Me” gave Thomas and his boys a lot of space to stretch out. To great effect, Thomas asserted his sharp edged voice over Matt McCabe’s spirited piano line. Henderson put his three cents in on this one, adding a lot of frenzied notes over it all, as the rhythm section, bassist Brad Halen, and drummer Mike Avery, developed a serious groove to move to.

Down tempo, “Blues At 12:30” gave Thomas space to build a strong emotional core with his voice in dead center. The feeling injected into this song made it go over big with his Smoken’ Joe’s crowd.

The Racky Thomas Band‘s take on “Soothe Me, Baby,” by Sam Cooke, was built on bluesy romantic twists. This easy going, mid-tempo number featured three-part harmony and Henderson’s warm, vibrant guitar work. It was yet another instant of Thomas making his crowd feel something as well as hear some really good bluesy interpretation of a Sam Cooke Classic. Next thing, Thomas was singing about standing on a corner with reefer in his hand. Moving on to “Rock Me, Baby,” Thomas and company pumped out a 1950s style rock and roll feeling. McCabe’s piano work reminded of Jerry Lee Lewis while Henderson’s guitar resembled Chuck Berry influences. Three part harmonies by Thomas, Henderson, and Avery completed the picture of a fine ensemble from yesteryear.

Henderson’s hypnotic blues licks on “Smokestack Lightning” walked the song right into the audience’s consciousness. Possessing an alluring beat and rhythm, Thomas blew over its groove a harp line that teased the melody out of thin air. He also sang this one with cooing madness and arcing heft, making you feel he was escorting you over a forbidden threshold. Listeners couldn’t help but get caught up in the notes making their way through this one.

A force of nature in his voice, Thomas held the crowd’s interest during the break with an aca pella version of “John The Revelator.” With his resonator, he picked off melodies that have been with us, in one form or another, for centuries, playing solo “Mr. Candy Man” and “Shake ‘Em On Down.”

Pete Henderson’s slide guitar phrasing made his instrument come alive on “Hey Lordy Mama,” an intriguing country blues number that sounded like something you’d find on an old record. Thomas, on voice and resonator, kept a chirpy personality in the tune, and, with his exceptional players, wove a fine texture with intriguing details and nuance.

Henderson’s slide work on “Rollin And Tumblin” made it greasy fun, like grit sliding around inside a buttered pan. The thumping groove underneath made it a toe tapping affair for anyone within earshot. It is amazing how Thomas can make a story song come alive. He was singing, with such conviction, about the devil taking his baby away and hearing a mighty rumble deep down in the ground, that you could actually picture the scene. Add a bulbous groove, New Orleans flavored piano tinkling, and Thomas delivering a sensitive, mournful harp line. And you get a raucous thing that expresses the revelatory nature of this song.

Thomas performed Fats Dominoes “I’m Ready, I’m Willing, and I’m Able” with a steady cool borrowed from the oldies rock and roll era. Here, Matt McCabe played something in between barrelhouse and Jerry Lee Lewis. It was a crowd pleaser to be sure, but it was also a crack piece of team work, each band member adding just the right touch.

Thomas is the ultimate American music historian. Racky Thomas Band closed out with the slick R&B classic “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg,” showing another hip side the audience didn’t see until the end. It also showed, as did their other 1950s classics, the direction all of their roots offerings were heading in years earlier.

Racky Thomas isn’t just a passionate singer and harmonica player fronting a high octane blues band. He’s a walking encyclopedia of vintage blues, roots, country, and gospel music. Like a good teacher, he turns his venues into living classrooms where he teaches music appreciation by bringing it to vivid three dimensional life. He kept his Smoken’ Joe’s audience enrapt for three hours. Lesson ended. Class over.

http://www.rackythomas.com

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