Jimmie Bratcher -- Red (Ransom Music).

Jimmie Bratcher, or rather, the Reverend Jimmie Bratcher, is a guitar toting Christian Blues rocker that is likely to pull up to his gigs on a motor bike. Have you got a picture of him yet? Red is his third album but it's the first that I've heard so it's a new set of ears for the Reverend. Red opens with Bad Religion, a Southers style boogie with drawled vocals and slide guitar. As openers go it's not too flamboyant and is a good, solid start. Bratcher gives a plaintive vocal performance on Mercy but he funks up the melody with the excellent addition of horns. This is very different from the opener and his voice gets stronger throughout the song. He shows that he's not just a one trick pony and there's some good interaction between guitar and brass. I See Red is an excellent blues rocker -- all pomp and circumstance and Drive is R&B that drifts into soul. T.J. Herrick gets his chance to shine on saxophone and the horns give it an all round fuller sound. Jimmie throws in some New Country on Dance With Me and it's a bit out of touch with what has gone before. Having said that, this is a very, very good song but I wonder what style Bratcher feels more comfortable with. Restless For The Son is smooth, sultry and sophisticated jazz club fare.

Another style is shown on Beautiful People. This Country Rock has Jimmie in strong vocal mood and although I expected more guitar fills, the short guitar solo is fine. We are given a genuine blues on Three Chords and it's an interesting idea to play the words around the three chords that everyone thinks that all blues consist of. This has a very strong guitar performance and the horns will just blow you away -- a standout. The Blues continue with I Love My Baby but Jimmie keeps us on our toes by varying the style. He then goes on to mix Blues, Rock and Country to come up with a winner. It's slightly reminiscent of Sammy Hagar, Marching To Mars era and Jimmie judges it well by keeping it short and dynamic. Right Side Of The Tracks is a modern, urban blues and it's such a pleasant change to be on the other side of the tracks for a while. There's some straightforward blues rock on No Pretense but it probably has some of the best guitar work on the album. Things are wound up with Happy, which is an upbeat, fast paced instrumental that shows exactly what he can do on guitar as he flits between jazz and rock.
I said that Jimmie Bratcher is a guitar toting Christian Bluesman but I didn't get the feeling that the messgae was being rammed down my throat and you can take whatever you wish from the album.

www.jimmiebratcher.com

David Blue.