Reddog and Friends – Booze, Blues and Southern Grooves

10-02-2022

Atlanta, Georgia was the home of the band Reddog and Friends for many years. JK Higgins (aka Reddog) is a fiery blues guitarist, heavily influenced by Freddie King, Duane Allman and Otis Rush. Reddog now lives in Pensacola, where he regularly tours the region with his band. The late Southern Rock producer Johnny Sandlin invited Reddog to his Duck Tape Studio in Decatur, Alabama, where three tracks ("Simple Song", "Searching for Some Soul" and "Honest Man") from this album were recorded. 'Simple Song' is inspired by the late Eddie Hinton, who came from Alabama. These recordings became the basis of "Booze, Blues and Southern Grooves". The players for those sessions included Reddog on guitar, Clayton Ivey on keyboards, legendary Muscle Shoals bassist David Hood and acclaimed former Capricorn Records drummer Bill Stewart (Gregg Allman, Cowboy and Bonnie Bramlett). Reddog's style of music is soulful, southern blues. Muscle Shoals, Alabama was the studio where he had to record to get that sound. All other tracks were recorded at East Avalon Recorders in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The other players were David Hood on bass, Justin Holder on drums and Carla Russell, Mary Mason and Angela Hacker on backing vocals. One thing is unique to Muscle Shoals, they want the music recorded there to sound great. Other members included the late Donnie McCormick on drums/vocals, of the Capricorn Record band Eric Quincy Tate, and Chris Long on bass/vocals, who later went on to work with the talented guitarist/songwriter Oliver Wood. Top tracks are the instrumental 'Don't Muscle that Shuffle' and 'Old School Blues' (with a list of names of 'older' blues artists). This is a beautiful, varied album, very 'laid-back' and a must for anyone with a heart for soul and blues ! Muscle Shoals. If this name unfortunately does not already evoke much to people under fifty, it resonates in the eardrums of their elders like that of Mecca to those of Muslims. Indeed, it was from the Fame studios in this town of Alabama that Arthur Alexander's "You Better Move On" came to us, which the Rolling Stones made their honey on their first EP of January 1964. Followed "Steal Away " by Jimmy Hughes, then, above all, "When A Man Loves A Woman" by Percy Sledge. And Jerry Wexler's ears were then opened to this sweet southern sound, detecting in it the magic formula which opened to musicians, however White, access to the depths of the black soul. The vice-president of Atlantic Records successively sent Wilson Pickett, Clarence Carter, Arthur Conley and Aretha Franklin there, so that they could benefit from the climate provided by the local sharks. Stax was quick to follow suit, and there are some notorious sessions by Eddie Floyd and the Staples Singers. Composed of Barry Beckett (keyboards), Roger Hawkins (drums), David Hood (bass) and Jimmy Johnson (guitar), the house orchestra was supplemented, according to needs, by auxiliaries as crucial as Duane Allman, Eddie Hinton or Clayton Ivey. It was the keyboards of the latter that prompted the Florida guitarist JK Higgins (alias Reddog) to solicit the legendary Johnny Sandlin (talent scout and producer, among other tutelary figures, of this Hourglass which foreshadowed the Allman Brothers Band) to produce this recording . Inviting Reddog to his own studio (Duck Tape in Decatur, Alabama), the venerable sachem gave birth to his final mixes there before folding up the saplings. After a double introduction where churchy gospel ("Love, You've Got To Spread The Word") and groovy funk ("The Blues Will Get You Everytime") follow one another, the lowdown southern blues style JJ Cale and Leon Russell makes its entrance in majesty with the unstoppable "Down, Down, Down", where the Reddog guitar expresses all the juices of the South (even evoking the Freddie King of the Shelter period), while Clayton Ivey's organ recalls that of the late Gregg Allman. This southern feel continues with the no less funky "She's A Georgia Peach", whose contribution of the female choirs of Carla Russell, Mary Mason and Angela Hacker accentuates the sexy range. It is high time to mention the presence of veteran David Hood, historical pillar of the Swampers, whose bass playing lit up so many historic recordings (up to 1973's "Traffic On The Road", including some of Joe Cocker, Rod Stewart, Ry Cooder, Linda Ronstadt and... Eddy Mitchell). The three tracks recorded at Sandlin's Duck Tape Studio (his very last service as a sound engineer) necessarily take on an even more poignant character, and gospel "Simple Song" (where Reddog's sensitive guitar gives the answer to the organ and the singers) to the "Honest Man" which closes the ban, the legendary touch of the great man radiates this puck. With its easy-going slide, the southern-shuffle "Searching For Some Soul" is sure to titillate inconsolable Duane Allman fans, while the shadow of the Allman Bros hangs over him from start to finish. The soul of the South haloes the soul ballad "Why Oh Why Are You Calling Me", and we realize how this album by a gifted guitarist is also that of a singer and composer of the first rank. This does not prevent certain tours de force on the six strings, such as the instrumental "Don't Muscle That Shuffle", "Back In The Bottle Again" (with its Clapton touch circa "Tulsa Time" and the organ solo by Clayton Ivey), or the aptly titled "Old School Blues". An album bursting with soul, like those fruit trees ripening in the sun below the Dixie line : allow yourself this pleasure, which has become so rare these days. At his worst, Reddog sounds like a pre-pop-star Clapton filtered through Southern sensibilities. At his best, he sounds purely like himself. The Next Generation of Guitar Heroes.Reddog's dark-tinged vocals and nasty guitar tones recall the best of the South's hottest musicians. Reddog is a hard-edged rockin' blues player in the tradition of Billy Gibbons, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Freddie King and Duane Allman. Southern-style rock and blues that cuts right to the bone. Once one of the favorite performers in Underground Atlanta, Reddog is a honey-voiced vocalist and stylish guitarist who delivers a treat with his latest album, teaming with some of the biggest names from the Muscle Shoals music scene to deliver a tasty, relaxed mix of Southern soul, blues, rock and roots. Influenced by Albert Collins, Freddie King, Duane Allman and Otis Rush, Reddog, aka JK Higgins, held court on Monday nights at Blues Harbor during the '70s and '80s, fronting an ensemble that regularly included musicians who recorded with Capricorn Records and were major players in the Macon and Hotlanta music scenes. He's been releasing albums since his self-titled debut album in 1986 and has based out of Pensacola, Fla., for the past 25 years or so, where he represented the Blues Society of Western Florida in the 2010 International Blues Challenge and from which he's regularly toured the Southeast. And Guitar World magazine once included him in as one of its "50 Bluesmen That Matter." This album came about after Reddog received an invitation from the late Alabama Music Hall of Famer Johnny Sandlin, who mixed or produced the Allman Brothers' "Eat a Peach", "Brothers and Sisters" and "Win, Lose or Draw" albums, to record at his Duck Tape Studio in Decatur and handle the engineering. Sandlin passed away with three tunes in the can, but Reddog didn't have to go far. The rest of this disc was captured 45 miles away at East Avalon Recorders in Muscle Shoals under the supervision Charles Holloman and John Gifford III. Reddog's backing unit includes world-class session players Clayton Ivey on keys and David Hood on bass, both of whom have been hitmakers since the '60s. Bill Stewart (Gregg Allman, Bonnie Bramlett) and Justin Holder (Albert Cummings, Lisa Mills) handle percussion, and backing vocals are provided by Carla Russell (Clarence Carter, Gregg Allman), Mary Mason and former Nashville Star, the country version of American Idol, winner Angela Hacker. A simple six-string intro opens "Love, You've Got to Spread the Word." It's an unhurried, unforced shuffle driven forward by a tasty hook as it stresses the importance of adoring and protecting your children. The action heats up slightly for "The Blues Will Get You Everytime" powered by a driving rhythm before the guitar-driven ballad "Down, Down, Down" continues Reddog's descent. The mood brightens, the beat gets funky and Reddog plays slide for "She's a Georgia Peach" before things slow down again with "Simple Song," a sweet ballad described as "lullaby for my lady." Built on the vocal hook of the title, "Searching for Some Soul" kicks off with a little slide then shifts into a medium-fast shuffle as Reddog goes hunting for some blues and honkytonk piano across Alabama.The band downshifts again and the backup singers are featured in "Why Oh Why Are You Calling Me," which describes an ex-lover who's blowing up his phone and looking for support after her ten-year marriage has gone belly-up. But the mood brightens dramatically from the opening notes of "Don't Muscle That Shuffle," a beefy, rock-steady instrumental on which Reddog shines. It flows into the well-modulated, stop-time pleaser "Old School Blues," an autobiographical number than lists several giants of the genre and delivers some tasty licks, too. Two more cuts, the Southern rocker "Back in the Bottle Again" and unhurried "Honest Man," which conveys a little knowledge about life handed down by the singer's mother, bring the album to a successful close. If you're a fan of original, blue-eyed soul with straightforward, easy-to-understand messages, you'll love this one.

1. Love, You've Got to Spread the Word 4:39

2. The Blues Will Get You Everytime 3:55

3. Down, Down, Down 4:54

4. She's a Georgia Peach 4:23

5. Simple Song 5:42

6. Searching for Some Soul 3:53

7. Why oh Why Are You Calling Me 4:20

8. Don't Muscle that Shuffle 3:56

9. Old School Blues 4:15

10. Back in the Bottle Again 3:43

11. Honest Man 4:54

Reddog - guitar, slide guitar, vocals