ALBERT CASTIGLIA Keepin On Blues Leaf Records
Former lead guitarist for the late Junior Wells presentshis latest project, KEEPIN ON, with a mix of originals andsome interesting covers that have been ignored by toomany folks in the reading audience for way too long.
In the latter subdivision, the boogie of John LeeHooker's "Goin' Upstairs" is fueled by Castiglia's slidework while Mack Rice's "Cadillac Assembly Line" burns throughout. Add a funky take on Bob Dylan's "Til I Fell In Love With You" and a resurrection of T-Bone Walker's "MyBaby Is Now On My Mind" to the list of orphaned songs finding a new home. Pick of the category, though, has to be Peter Green's "Could Not Ask For More," where both harpist Sandy Mack and piano man Bill "Mighty" Quinn duel for the spotlight, much to the delight of the listener.
On the original side of the ledger, the title cut channels Creedence Clearwater Revival with Castiglia cranking it outat the end, while the guitarist duels with bassist A.J. Kelly during the instrumental "Mojo 305." Although KEEPIN'ON has pretty high standard throughout, that can't besaid for "Do You Love Me?," a funky, and I mean that inevery sense of the word, dance number that I'm still trying to figure out how to razor blade off the disc.
With Toby Walker adding dobro to the shadings of "Sweet Southern Angel" and "Murderin'' Blues," KEEPIN'ON has a lot of fine string work throughout that can be appreciated even if you don't live in the Windy City.
