SOME CORRECTIONS!
A NOTE FROM THE SCB!!
Please take note of the following errors in the article:
* Guitar work by Joe Lasorte, Lin Doughten, and Roger Girke -- NOT David Berger
* "No label - No #" should read "Teletone Records - (302) 421-9852"
Click here for original online magazine version and go to page 59.
Click here for original .pdf version and go to page 59.
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REVIEW: Digital Living Blue Magazine
Issue 237, Vol. 46, #3
page 59
SAM COCKRELL
Trying To Make a Living Playing My Guitar
No label - No #
Bassist/vocalist Sam Cockrell has surrounded himself here with musicians both versatile and blues savvy--guitarist David Berger is especially notable for his ability to spice up his bluesy emotional and musical focus with a flamboyance obviously borrowed from pop and rock--and Cockrell's own thematic range, both musically and lyrically, diversifies the proceedings even further. Last Night (no relation to the Little Walter classic) is a heartfelt ballad of atonement and forgiveness, but its musical structure and jaunty tempo bespeak an almost carefree optimism. The meditative Life Can Be Complicated, in contast, is hymn-like and Cockrell's gritty-sweet vocals accentuate the lyrics' message of hard-won redemption. I'm From Chicago, meanwhile, limns scenarios of Windy City community life, set to a jubilant 12-bar blues lope toughened by Berger's sinewy leads.
You Can Have it All If You Play the Game and the funky, melodically challenging You're a Sellout address the precarious balance among integrity, conscience and commerce that musicians (and, by implication, all of us) contend with on a day-to-day basis. This Ain't Another Baby I Love You Song cuts even deeper, as Cockrell recites a litany of social ills and concludes with a warning that "working-class people [have] had enough...things need to change."
Cockrell's voice isn't really a deep-blues instrument but he delivers everything with passion, and the unerring support he gets from his bandsmen, as well as the overall production--roomy, clear-toned and robust--create an atmosphere of emotional directness that invokes the best of the blues tradition. Combined with his lyric acumen and wide-ranging musical palate, these elements combine to make this a pleasing and often inspiring set of contemporary blues.
--David Whiteis
