Search - Rick Holmstrom :: Cruel Sunrise Deluxe Edition

Rick Holmstrom long ago joined the exclusive club of blues guitarists whose playing you recognize in two notes. His incendiary work with Johnny Dyer, William Clarke, Rod Piazza and R.L. Burnside proved that he could shuffle with the best of them, but on Cruel Sunrise the California guitarist was looking for something else.

The two CDs that comprise the Deluxe Edition of Cruel Sunrise evidence Holmstrom's blues roots largely in their sonic quality. Both Cruel Sunrise and bonus instrumental disc Lonesome exhibit the live, small room sound that lent exotic mystery to classic recordings by Holmstrom's heroes: Lightnin Hopkins, Mose Allison, Gatemouth Brown and Little Walter.

Rick Holmstrom - My band (Stephen Hodges drums and Jeff Turmes bass, guitar, saxophone and backing vocals) played a regular Sunday residency for years in LA, says Holmstrom. That audience just wanted to relax, drink and enjoy some good music, not be pummeled by it. We realized we sounded better as we played quieter - going for ambience, rather than the punch or impact needed for a Saturday night crowd. And as we got quieter everything sounded bigger.

The quest for quiet but big sound finds aid in Turmes' sparse bass parts matched with his huge tone, as well as the inventive kit-plus-percussion drumming Hodges lent to recordings by Tom Waits and others.

Cruel Sunrise opens with Need To Dream, extolling having a vision over alcohol abuse - with a Beatlesesque chorus to hammer it home. The title tune follows with a plea for release from the merry-go-round of the midnight creep, couched in searing, sweaty swamp rock.

Current employer Mavis Staples takes over the vocal chores for Owe You Everything, as Holmstrom's tremolo guitar recalls the distinctive style of her late father. Sometimes I have to look around because I think Pops is up there with Rick, says Staples. I say to Rick, Pops is in your fingers. He's got that soulful feeling.

You Drive 'em Crazy tells the time-honored blues tale of a fickle woman more in the manner of Neil Young than Muddy Waters. My mind got blown by Neil's sound, says Holmstrom. For a year there I wanted to be Neil Young." Frustration finds release in the burning solo concluding It's Time I Lose.

Inhabited by the ghost of Slim Harpo, Creepin' In sparse solo demonstrates the band philosophy of embrace the space. Holmstrom next offers protection in I'll Hold You Close, even as his dark toned guitar evokes monsters and villians.

Mavis returns to interject testimony on the gospel-hued Lord Please, before Holmstrom's guitar testifying takes it home. Hodges' hip hop groove on I'm Not Afraid recalls the brilliant blues-meets-beats experiment of Holmstrom's 2002 Hydraulic Groove. Holmstrom's off-kilter melody and harmony then take Break It Down to appropriately dark-night-of-the-soul spaces.

By My Side points up the overlooked relationship between country music and the blues, while the vocal-less Luellie offers a taste of the less-is-more attitude featured on Lonesome, the Deluxe Edition's instrumental bonus disc.

Blues fans will dig Holmstrom's distinctive guitar tone and occasional blasts of fretboard fire on Cruel Sunrise, while fans of Neil Young, Chuck Prophet, Wilco and Neko Case will respond to his heartfelt songs.

Cruel Sunrise is a record for the times. In a world where the record industry is but one more casualty of social and economic upheaval, Rick Holmstrom's melodic tunes and tight, creative trio demonstrate that you can stray from the blues form and still offer all of its cathartic essence.