Back in the 60’s Stax Records famously plowed the fertile ground of the overlap between early rock & roll and rhythm & blues. That sound became identified with Memphis, but like the stone thrown in still water, its effects spread across the south from Muscle Shoals all the way to the Atlantic seaboard. Along the way it shimmied and danced its way into all the other styles of popular music so that by the time it influenced Duane Allman’s slide guitar it was as much Southern rock as soul. If you want to experience that entire journey in about 45 minutes, check out the latest from New Orlean’s Honey Island Swamp Band, entitled Custom Deluxe.
The early part of that experience comes in Boneshaker. It’s a Booker T. Jones kind of instrumental groove, with a few vocals judiciously wrapping things up. Second Son layers in some horns and female background singers in a treatise about drifting through life, where “maybe it’s the whiskey, maybe it’s the want to be free.” Sugar For Sugar brings Spooner Oldham-style keyboards to the forefront evoking a Muscle Shoals sound. By And By is a little dirtier and includes harmonica and mandolin to mix things up a little.
Cowbell leads you into Dark Days, where you start to get as much rock as soul. High River Rag gets a Southbound feel with slide guitar leading the way. It’s almost hard to believe it’s not an Allman Brothers original composition. Gone goes down the road further, in a country rock tale of knowing your path even if Momma’s sure you’re going to “end up on the inside or wind up dead”. The album finishes with Wildfire and has the band sounding more integrated and modern. It’s a fast forward 50 years to how all those sounds have influenced current day Americana and indie artists.
Formed in San Francisco, where the band members relocated after Hurricane Katrina, Honey Island Swamp Band encompasses just about every sound you associate with their original home. After relocating back to New Orleans, perhaps inspired by a return to their roots, they stepped up their game and fully embraced that hybrid southern style. If you’re ready to hear it for yourself, grab a frozen daiquiri and a copy of Custom Deluxe.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.