Search - Kenny Neal, Billy Branch :: Double Take

Kenny Neal, Billy Branch
Double Take
Genres: Blues, Pop

Track Listings (12) - Disc #1
1. Going Down Slow - Kenny Neal, Oden
2. Son I Never Knew [Take 2] - Kenny Neal, Greenlee
3. I Just Keep Loving Her - Kenny Neal, Jacobs
4. My Babe - Kenny Neal, Dixon
5. Early One Morning - Kenny Neal, Cook, Al
6. Going to the Country - Kenny Neal, Miller, Steve [Guit
7. Don't Start Me Talking - Kenny Neal, Williamson
8. Mannish Boy - Kenny Neal, London, Mel
9. Billy and Kenny's Stomp - Kenny Neal, Branch
10. Baby Bee - Kenny Neal, Greenlee
11. Northern Man Blues - Kenny Neal, Branch
12. The Son I Never Knew [Take 1] - Kenny Neal, Greenlee

CD Details

All Artists: Kenny Neal, Billy Branch
Title: Double Take
Members Wishing: 2
Total Copies: 0
Label: Alligator Records
Original Release Date: 1/1/2004
Re-Release Date: 1/13/2004
Genres: Blues, Pop
Styles: Chicago Blues, Contemporary Blues, Electric Blues
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 014551489429

Synopsis

Album Description

Take two critically acclaimed bluesmen, team them up in a recording studio, hit the ?Record? button, and listen as the magic begins to flow. Case in point: Kenny Neal and Billy Branch?s new Alligator album, DOUBLE TAKE. Kenny Neal is a critically acclaimed triple-threat bluesman, whose guitar and harmonica prowess are matched note for note by his soulful singing and passionate performances. Billy Branch is among the best blues harmonica players in the world. He is a gruff and potent vocalist, a groundbreaking solo artist, a valued session player and leader of the venerable Sons Of Blues. Neal and Branch got together in a studio in France in 1998 and recorded a magnificent acoustic album (released only in Europe), paying tribute to past musicians and laying the path for a bright and uncompromising future for the blues. Now that album?DOUBLE TAKE?is finally seeing the light of day in the United States. From St. Louis Jimmy?s Goin? Down Slow to the Little Walter gems My Babe (written by Willie Dixon) and I Just Keep Loving Her to Sonny Boy Williamson?s Don?t Start Me Talking to the originals Billy and Kenny?s Stomp and Northern Man Blues, the two trade vocals in a relaxed and warm meeting of styles, riffs, whoops and hollers. Blending deep blues tradition with a contemporary, pulsating edge, Neal and Branch deliver a foot-stomping and spirited look into the blues through the eyes of two remarkable musicians who will continue to be at the forefront of the blues world for many years to come.

CD Reviews

!Tremenda Combinacion!

bluejim | San Leandro, California United States | 06/13/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"...as they say in Salsa music. These guys work very well together. Just the two of them with judicious use of overdubs as best as I can tell. This is my first album with Billy Branch on it. My goodness, the man knows his way around a harp. Lets you know why they call it a Mississippi Saxophone. Thanks Alligator, for licensing this from it's original European label."

***3/4. Enjoyable acoustic session

Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 05/06/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Originally issued on Isabel Records as "Easy Meeting", 2004's "Double Take" is the second incarnation of this acoustic 1998 session.

It is a lean affair, just Kenny Neal (guitar and vocals) and Billy Branch (harmonica and vocals), but the sound is never flimsy, and the two second-generation bluesmen turn out fine renditions of classic numbers like "Mannish Boy" and Willie Dixon's "My Babe", and an interesting, up-tempo version of James Burke Oden's "Going Down Slow" which features instrumental backing in double tempo and a slightly revised melody line.

"Double Take" also includes two excellent takes on Kenny Neal's poignant slow number "The Son I Never Knew", and Neal's presence is generally stronger than Billy Branch's...he also contributes "Baby Bee" and "Early One Morning" compared to only one original by Billy Branch, the slow "Northern Man Blues".

A couple of songs are pretty lightweight, like the clich?d "I Just Keep Loving Her", and this "Don't Start Me To Talkin'" doesn't measure up to Sonny Boy Williamson's original. But most of what is here is very good, and "Double Take" is certainly worth a listen, even if it isn't one of the major items in either man's catalogue."