Mike Lowry Band
CD Revue

I got an email the other day out of the clear blue sky from a fellow up in Georgia named Mike Lowry who wanted to know if I’d care to do a revue of a CD he and his band had put together. I wrote back and said Sure, send it on in here. A Tweed's Blues Revue won't make you rich, but you'll be a little more famous.

While I was waitin’ on the mailman to bring it, I had a look at his website to see what I was getting myself into and found this photo of Mike Lowry who didn’t look like he was too far past eighteen or nineteen, so I figgered….

“Well, here’s a young man that’s gonna send me a guitar slinger SRV type o’ CD an’ I’m gonna have to make up a load of lies about how dang much I enjoyed the CD and sorry but I ain’t got no time, my dog just died, I lost all my fingers in a freak rock climbing accident and won’t be able to do no revues til they grow back somewhat.”

But a couple days later a little box came in the mail with this young man’s music inside and I’m happy to announce that I couldn’t have been more wrong. There’s not much of a hint of SRV copycat licks on this, there IS however a lot of good music with a load Georgia R&B flavoring.

The record starts off with a Willie Dixon number called “Let Me Love You Baby” recorded at a place called Back Porch Blues, which I’m guessing must be in the Atlanta area and I reckon the joint was rockin’ while this was being put on the tape. This young fellow’s got a heck of a voice to go along with his guitar. Mike Lowry, for being so young, has that all important “hold it back” mechanism going on that many guitar players don’t seem to understand. He could noodlewith the best of ‘em but you don’t hear that going on. His guitar playing complements the music rather than overwhelming everything and wearing out the listener. HarpPlayer Joey Hoegger surely must have blistered his lips with third degree playing. Damn good stuff from all the band on this one.

Lowry can write some good songs too. There’s three originals on this record that he’s penned and if any "BigName" artists who ain't had a hit in a while happen to read this, you might want to think about gettin' together with this young man. There's a couple on this CD that might put you on top again.

“Getting Burned”(M.Lowry) is a swampy sorta tune. Click the link to have a listen...

”Please slow down you’re movin’ too fast,
too much temptation and the lovin’ can’t last,
Ten more miles to the next rest stop,
Got to get off, our love is too hot..."

Good stuff, good hook, good feel.

“Dark Before the Dawn”(M.Lowry) follows with Mike’s laid back acoustic guitar and tells a tale of infidelity, which is a part of every bluesman’s life. This ain’t exactly a blues but I’d definitely place it in a Delbert McClinton ballad category and is good to the ear and the inner eye as well. You know what I’m talkin’ about with that inner eye thing right? That’s where you hear a song and it sets off a movie in your brain to watch while you listen. A sign of a good song writer for sure.

“Trying to Get Over You” (M. Lowry) is jazzy with Harmonicat Hoegger blowing out the Mississippi saxophone with great good skill. It’s also recorded live at The Back Porch with just enough coming outta everybody in the band to make a good, listenable club tune. No pyrotechnics and freaked out crap. It could happen and go nuts at any time but these guys are able to keep themselves in check for the benefit of the music and the big picture. They’re workin’ together and that’s the way it ought to sound, to my way of thinkin’ anyhow.

“That’s All Right” (Jimmy Rogers) “Black Cat Bone”(Wilson & Semien) “Before You Accuse Me” (E.McDaniel) round out the playlist here and are very well done, but I’ll tell you that I’m partial to Mike’s originals as they seem to come out of him like he knows and feels ‘em personally. They’re just flat out catchy tunes and I believe he could make some money from royalties as a songwriter if internet CD sales don’t make him rich.

This record surprised me and once again I’ve had to re-learn that you can’t judge a book or an artist by the cover. The Mike Lowry Band is a hot one, but I suppose everyone in the Atlanta blues scene already knew that. Good luck to Mike and Band, you all get an "A" from Tweed's Blues CD Revues. Thanks very much for sending it in to this tarpaper and chickenwire shack of a website. Like I told you before, a Tweed Revue probably won't make you very rich, but you'll be a little more famous anyhow. Go work on gettin' rich now, you got the weapons.