The SoCal bar scene is thriving and throwing up artists like Jon Geiger. I’ve never heard him before, but this is an album I will be cherishing for a long time to come.
Geiger plays, mainly, a slow Blues with a dark intensity. His soloes border on jazz and his deep baritone vocal has a hard edge to it that is really exciting. When he mixes it up with a speedier number, he still maintains that intense depth.
The band is: Peter Buck (drummer/composer. He has recorded & toured with Keb’ Mo’, Thelma Houston, Michelle Shocked, Ice T, Bonnie Raitt, and Barbara Morrison.) Chad Watson: (Bass in the Nashville & L.A. session scenes since 1972, he has recorded & toured with Delaney Bramlett, Charlie Rich, Janis Ian, David Arkenstone, Ronnie Milsap, The Burrito Brothers, Freddy Fender, & John York of The Byrds.)
It’s not something you’ve never heard before, but in league with a heavy drummer and solid-as-fuck bassist, it is better than most. In many ways reminiscent of sixties progressive Blues bands such as Taste or Groundhogs, from the opening number – a stunning workout around Bill Withers ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ – to the last psychedelic and Trower-esque Blues of ‘I Dream’ – I was transfixed.
