THE DENNIS PETERS
BAND
(SELF TITLED
CD)
BY PETER "BLEWZZMAN"
LAURO © APRIL 2008
It seems that of
late, a lot of my blues pleasures are coming from - of all places - Red Bank,
NJ. And please, don't even ask me "what exit is that?" The past
several summers have found me roaming the grounds of Marine Park for the Jersey
Shore Jazz and Blues Foundations Blues Festival and now I'm sitting here
listening to a great local band from that area - THE DENNIS PETERS
BAND.
The band is a very
strong, three piece combo featuring DENNIS PETERS on guitar and vocals, RUSS
DEINSTADT on drums and DAN CHRISTIE on bass. And, as I've said in the
past, a good three piece band deserves a lot of respect - and these guys are
good. Their self titled disc - THE DENNIS PETERS BAND - consists of all
original music with quite a broad range of styles.
"IM
SATISFIED" might just be what a listener - especially those
liking blues rock - would say after hearing this opening track. It's
a smoker with lots of good and rough guitar work, hot rhythm and great vocal
work.
"HEY HEY
MAMA" gets a bit more traditional. It's a good ol' blues shuffle that
immediately got my foot tappin' and my fingers snappin'. More great rhythm
from RUSS & DAN and some great down and dirty blues licks form DENNIS
highlight this one.
Fans of the late
great Stevie Ray Vaughan - and who isn't - will appreciate "TOO MANY
NIGHTS". Although the rhythm cats are as tight as usual, this one's
pretty much all DENNIS. The gruff vocals and the rough and tough type
of guitar licks that made SRV so famous are this tracks
highlights.
DENNIS is right on
the money when he says "I GOT THE BLUES BABY". On this fast as a
speeding locomotive track, RUSS and DAN are smokin' on the rhythm and
DENNIS flat out kicks ass on the Resonator Guitar.
If this were
Jeopardy, would you know the question when the answer was "Because you want
to sing the blues"? It would of course be, "WHY DO I SUFFER LIKE I
DO?". It would stand to reason that the players would be at discs best on
the discs best track, and that's exactly what's going on here. Along with
phenomenal guitar work, DENNIS nails it on the vocals. The other
guys? They're kickin' ass as they've done all disc.
Although there are
only eight tracks with just over thirty minutes of music, THE DENNIS PETERS BAND
brings it's game for every one of those minutes.
Other tracks not
mentioned include "YOU WANTED IT THAT WAY", "I'VE BEEN DOWN FOR SO LONG"
and "PANCAKES".
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
