KENNY
ACOSTA
"FULL MOON ON BLUES
STREET"
ROCKIN' CAMEL
MUSIC
BY PETER "BLEWZZMAN"
LAURO © NOVEMBER 2007
Down in
Louisiana, along the banks of the Mississippi River, there's a very soulful
and charismatic blues man who's currently paying his dues, while quickly
working his way up to becoming a household name in the blues
community. No, I don't mean that Delta Blues Man, he's
already a household name. However if you did take the
legendary Dr. John, dispatched him of his voodoo and elixirs, made him a bit
more articulate and stood him behind a guitar rather than sat him in front of a
piano - you'd now have the blues man I'm talkin' about -KENNY
ACOSTA.
On "FULL MOON ON
BLUES STREET", his third release, KENNY ACOSTA on guitar and vocals, is
joined by: SHAWN MANGUNO and BILL STEWART on drums; MIGUEL HERNANDEZ on bass; N
C THURMAN on Hammond B3 organ and piano; and KEVIN MC KENDREE on Hammond B3
organ.
The disc opens with
an original - which at a recent live show, KENNY announced that he had written
for his lovely wife SUE - titled "NOBODY'S BETTER THAN YOU".
KENNY seems very happy to announce that as a result of nobody being better than
her, that nobody has it better than him. The song is slow but funky and
features good soulful vocals by KENNY, backed up by a mellow yet funky rhythm
section.
Some of KENNY'S best
vocals can be heard on the slow and soulful Ray Charles ballad called
"HARD TIMES". It's stuff like this that is quickly making KENNY ACOSTA one
of my favorite blues vocalists.
KENNY does an
absolutely masterful version of one of my personal all time
favorite blues songs - "I STILL HAVE THE BLUES FOR YOU" by Gary
Moore. This ballad is all about Kenny. With the band in a real soft
groove behind him, KENNY just tears it up on the vocals and his precise picking
on the piercing guitar notes. This one is by far the best track
on the disc. While writing this paragraph, I may have hit the replay
button on the media player more than I did the keypad.
Hearing the sorrow in KENNY'S voice, as he
sings about the great flood of 1927 on a track called "LOUISIANA",
would make one think he was singing about something he had lived through.
Thankfully he hadn't. But then again, this Baton Rouge native does have
Katrina - which offered some horrible similarities - fresh in his
mind. More great vocals on this one.
This disc, which was
rich with slow and soulful ballads, appropriately ends with one of the
best slow and soulful ballads of all time - "HOUSE OF THE RISING
SUN". Interestingly enough though, KENNY'S version, about halfway
through, picks it up a notch. Great rhythm by BILL and MIGUEL on drum and
bass on this one.
Other tracks on "FULL MOON ON BLUES STREET" include "BOOGIE CHILLEN",
"MR. CHARLIE", "JUST TO HAVE THE BLUES", "POLK SALAD" and "THE THRILL
IS GONE"
If KENNY ACOSTA
should ever decide to take a trip to the Crossroads, there would be "no way in
hell" the devil could afford his soul - there's just way to much of
it.
Visit KENNY at
www.kennyacosta.com and while
you're there, tell KENNY you stopped by to see what the Blewzzman had to say
about his last disc - "SPANISH TOWN MARDI GRAS". Then
do yourself a real favor - buy them both.
This review has been complimentary
written for your newsletter by Peter "Blewzzman" Lauro, a contributing writer
for BLUESWAX and the Blues Editor at www.Mary4Music.com where you can read many
more CD and live show reviews, view lots of blues photographs and find an
abundance of blues material. I can be reached at
Blewzzman@aol.com 