WALKIN' THE BLUES WITH DIESEL

I admire so much music of MARK LIZOTTE, more commonly known as DIESEL or if you go back far enough to the late 80's when he first started out, JOHNNY DIESEL AND THE INJECTORS, the latter obviously was his then pub rock flavoured backing band. I will refer to him as DIESEL here, even though he has released albums under his real name as well, because the album which i am using as the backdrop for this post was released under the DIESEL name, and it's a half covers/half originals blues and roots gem, called PROJECT BLUES - SATURDAY SUFFERING FOOLS.

If memory serves me correctly, i might well have written a blog about this album many moons ago, so long in any case that it deserves a re-run. It is a part family affair, with MIKE LIZOTTE providing baritone sax and BRIAN LIZOTTE playing trombone as extras besides DIESEL's official backing band - which comprises LEE MOLONEY on drums, RICHIE VEZ on bass and piano and BERNIE BREMOND on tenor and baritone sax, with all three providing backing vocals behind DIESEL.

What really grabs me about PROJECT BLUES is the brilliant and frenetic playing of the banjo which DIESEL achieved, it almost outshines his gritty and no less convincing performance on the guitar. Not to mention DIESEL is a very underrated harmonica player, and he lets his tonsils rip on the harp quite regularly on PROJECT BLUES.

Twelve songs in all, including covers of FIRST TIME I MET THE BLUES and the classic 70`s AEROSMITH tune SWEET EMOTION. Here is my favourite original on the album, WALKIN' THE BLUES. The way in which DIESEL rips into the banjo here is full on amazing, his band are hammering as well. A ripsnorter!