Jeremy Lyons & The Deltabilly Boys Quartet - Live At Fribourg

Styles : Electric Blues
Released : 2000
Lable : Five Eighths Music

01 - Salty Dog
02 - Country Boy
03 - Comin' Home
04 - Who Do You Love
05 - Let's Give a Party
06 - Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby
07 - Mystery Train
08 - Come on in My Kitchen
09 - One Cup of Coffee
10 - Everybody Loves My Baby
11 - Cafe Au Lait
12 - Early in the Morning
13 - All by Myself

About ten years ago, in the backyard of his parents' house in Ithaca, New York, Jeremy Lyons showed me his newly purchased 1935 National Guitar. At the time I was playing in a band with Lyons' life-long friend and future Deltabilly Boy Greg Schatz. Lyons would occasionally sit in with our band, and I knew him to be a pretty decent electric guitar player. When he sat down on the picnic table and began finger-picking that National, I knew he had found his niche. Anyone who knows the music scene in New Orleans these days or reads this magazine knows the rest of the story.
Lyons was a little hesitant when I asked if I could review his new CD, Live at Fribourg. He was concerned about the quality of the mix. Given that Mark Bingham produced the last Deltabilly Boys disc (with great results) and that Live at Fribourg is a no frills live soundboard mix, I can see his point. Although there are some rough edges that you would associate with such a live recording, there is really only one track (the last) where the mix is slightly distracting. That nit having been picked, let's get down to business.
This CD rocks. It is by far the loosest, greasiest recording of this band to date. Eleven of the tracks are from 1998 appearances at a festival in Switzerland. These cuts feature the current line-up of the Deltabilly Boys (Lyons on guitar and vocals, Greg Schatz on bass, accordion, and vocals, and Paul Santopadre on drums) augmented by multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and fellow Ithacan A.J. Strauss. He provides backing on piano, guitar, trumpet and upright bass with amazing facility. His Slam Stewart-style bass/vocal solo on "Everybody Loves My Baby" is one this disc's many highlights. Also of note is a red hot version of the Jr. Parker classic "Mystery Train," as well as a stunning seven minute workout on Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love?" The playing and in particular the vocals on this album are as on time as you would expect from a band that gigs as constantly as these guys. If you're a Deltabilly fan, this is a must have.

original CD from sussex