The Reverend Jimmie Bratcher – Secretly Famous (Ain’t Skeert Tunes).

Secretly Famous is the good Reverend’s seventh album and this time it’s produced by the multi-Grammy winner Jim Gaines. You can tell immediately as the opener, Jupiter & Mars, comes at you with plenty of attitude and grinding Blues. It’s got a big, full sound in the solo and is a sweetly produced starter. Craig Kew’s funky bass line is the basis of the sexy sounding 57. Laid back and smooth, pity he’s singing about a microphone! Feels Like Friday is a fast paced contemporary Blues with guitar flowing like molten metal and he slows things down on the acoustic ballad, Just Feels Right. It goes the whole nine yards and could easily be a Bon Jovi song. Check Your Blues At The Door is a clever title for a straightforward, no nonsense soft Blues rocker with a swinging feel. It’s gritty vocal and sharp guitar carry it through. Tobacco Road is an often covered song but I’ve never heard it played this way. There’s a of John Lee Hooker’s delivery in here and it is as good a version of this song as I’ve ever heard, especially in the grungy parts. The driving Blues of Nowhere To Go But Down gives a contemporary feel whereas When I Fall Apart is a classy Blues Rock. Bratcher plays it a bit safe on the Addrissi Brothers’ ballad Never My Love but he’s back on form with the solid, grinding funky Blues of I Can’t Shake That Thing. He plays it for laughs on Bologna Sandwich Man before finishing up with Starting All Over Again, a good Country Blues rocker. The Reverend can turn his hand to a number of styles but he’s most at home when he’s rocking the Blues.

www.theRevJB.com

David Blue.