Alright ... we're gearing up for the last weekend of shows with T in Florida.

Tonight we're in St Petersburg ... a film crew will be documenting the whole thing.  It should be a blast ... T's sounding great, he got a new (used) acoustic guitar 2 days ago in Bradenton FL at a pawn shop ... along with a "new" Feaux-Lex Watch - - some BLING for Mr T-Model!  He may use the acoustic tonight.  He borrowed one from Ben Prestage in Bradenton and did an impromptu acoustic set for the early-comers at Ace's Lounge.  What a treat.

T's health is holding up.  He shows some signs of wear as the night goes along.  It's amazing that more people don't get that 80-something year olds get TIRED late ... and being reasonable around TIME really matters ... but other than some apparent tiredness at the ends of nights, T is looking good.

The people coming out to shows have been killer.  I wish I could thank everyone personally, but that ain't possible.  I will say this, though, to that one jerk in Orlando: You're F'in lucky you got out of there when you did.  You almost jot a boot up your ass or a drum stick down your throat if'n you'd have kept up your trash talk. 

All in all, though, one or two over zelous drnks are nothin' compared to the quality of those coming out and being a part of the shows.  I can't wait to post some video, pics, and hopefully, music.

See ya on down the road aways ...

-MR

GravelRoad

1.Blues Blast Magazine - November 27, 2008

GravelRoad - Shot The Devil

Uncle Larry's Records

www.gravelroadblues.com/

Just as the alt-country movement of the last decade or so has added (or more correctly maintained) a deeper and roots-ier element to the country music scene, bands like GravelRoad, who consider themselves alt-blues, are doing the same thing in the blues community. Their sound is unlike most of the blues we are used to listening to and combines elements and attitudes whose paths don't usually cross to create new music that is, at times, as strange as it is compelling.

It is honestly hard to come up with a sonic comparison to draw to describe GravelRoad and the music on the latest CD Shot The Devil. They are rock-influenced, but not in the more obvious Kenny Wayne/Bonamassa style one expects when thinking blues/rock. Instead, imagine something closer to ZZ Top meeting Black Sabbath fronted by R.L. Burnside and the picture will start to emerge. There is plenty of heavied-up blues guitar here, but it goes in service of the groove rather than the typical long wanking solo.

The band calls their music "dark blues" and that is a pretty fair description of their vibe. This is music for soul-selling more than party-starting, more crossroads-at-midnight than Saturday-night-juke-joint. Much of the record gets kind of hypnotic and keeps the listener engaged in the feel of the songs.

One spin of the title track "I Shot The Devil" will make clear the things that are hard to describe about the band. GravelRoad is at once deeply rooted and completely modern and that is the crux of their appeal. It will probably take more than one listen to get what is going on here, but the time is worth investing, as the world needs more people making this music their own rather than repeating what was done half a century ago.

2. BLUES BLAST MAGAZINE

Gravel Road - Shot The Devil
Uncle Larry's Records
www.gravelroadblues.com/
Just as the alt-country movement of the last decade or so has added (or more correctly maintained) a deeper and roots-ier element to the country music scene, bands like Gravel Road, who consider themselves alt-blues, are doing the same thing in the blues community. Their sound is unlike most of the blues we are used to listening to and combines elements and attitudes whose paths don't usually cross to create new music that is, at times, as strange as it is compelling.
It is honestly hard to come up with a sonic comparison to draw to describe Gravel Road and the music on the latest CD Shot The Devil. They are rock-influenced, but not in the more obvious Kenny Wayne/Bonamassa style one expects when thinking blues/rock. Instead, imagine something closer to ZZ Top meeting Black Sabbath fronted by R.L. Burnside and the picture will start to emerge. There is plenty of heavied-up blues guitar here, but it goes in service of the groove rather than the typical long wanking solo.
The band calls their music "dark blues" and that is a pretty fair description of their vibe. This is music for soul-selling more than party-starting, more crossroads-at-midnight than Saturday-night-juke-joint. Much of the record gets kind of hypnotic and keeps the listener engaged in the feel of the songs.
One spin of the title track "I Shot The Devil" will make clear the things that are hard to describe about the band. Gravel Road is at once deeply rooted and completely modern and that is the crux of their appeal. It will probably take more than one listen to get what is going on here, but the time is worth investing, as the world needs more people making this music their own rather than repeating what was done half a century ago.
By Mike O'Cull
www.myspace.com/mikeocullmusic

3. BLOOMINGTON ALTERNATIVE

http://www.bloomingtonalternative.com/articles/2008/11/30/9833
GravelRoad and the Dark Blues
Shoot the Devil
Uncle Larry's Records 2008
Seattle's GravelRoad self-describes its music as the "dark blues," influenced by "dark blues masters" Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside, T-Model Ford and Mississippi Fred McDowell, and its second CD, Shoot the Devil, is an exploration into the darker side of life through a blues music that's built around classic Z.Z. Top riffs and adds elements of grunge and angry punk to create a sound that's most amiably listenable. For this trio is indeed most original and compelling, with its own approach that partakes of the above, but doesn't simply clone them.
"Seattle's GravelRoad self-describes its music as the 'dark blues.'"
GravelRoad's original songwriting throughout this CD, based on the traditional themes of the blues but brings them home to our desperate times with a note of angry desperation, is exemplified well in the gravelly baritone vocals of lead singer and guitarist Stefan Zillioux. "Trainwreck" and "Taildragger," for example, approach the bad-woman theme in a raucous new way, while "Forty-Four," with its shoot-my-bad-woman-down theme, recalls Roosevelt Sykes's "Forty-four Blues" and Yank Rachell's ".38 Pistol."
"Goin' Home" is a reflection on death that vaguely recalls St. Louis Jimmy's classic rumination on the subject, "Going Down Slow," and most interesting, even Robert Johnson's haunted-by-the-devil theme makes itself felt in GravelRoad's music on two tracks here, "I Shot The Devil" and "Call My Name."
Other songs on the CD are "Sammy," on befriending the stranger who comes to town, and the rumination on the toughness of life, "Lonely Nights." GravelRoad's lyrics are direct and sparse, and several of the songs are only two verses long. The tracks on Shoot the Devil also tend to be short, with eight of the tracks barely over two or three minutes long, although "Lonely Nights" is five minutes long, and "Goin' Home" eight minutes. In addition, "Trainwreck" and "Goin' Home" feature long instrumental introductions, giving Shoot the Devil an interesting feel in its overall composition.
"Shoot the Devil is a most interesting and exciting contemporary CD to listen to in its combination of grunge and punk influences with the blues."
Three of the tracks on Shoot the Devil's 11 track are instrumentals: the opening track built loosely but prominently on a Z.Z. Top riff, "Fred 3," the barely-over-one-minute-long frenetic Hendrix-sounding "Hair Of The Dog," and the ending track, "Bad Dog Remix (by Specs One)," which intermixes the guitar playing with a chorus of "Bad dog, bad dog" and recorded dog yelps.
While much of GravelRoad's guitar playing is built loosely around classic Z.Z. Top riffs, notably from "Lagrange," "Legs" and "Jesus Just Left Chicago," that isn't the whole story of this trio's guitar playing, which not only features Zillioux, but also second guitarist Joe Kirby Newman (who also plays bass), while drummer Martin Reinsel rounds out the group. "Sammy," for example, features an acoustic train-chugging riff on the solo guitar, while "Goin' Home" is played traditional Mississippi Delta-style on solo electric slide guitar.
There are guest appearances by Sean Bates on Fender Rhodes and clavinet keyboards on "Call My Name" and "Lonely Nights," and Maria Berg adds her high-pitched background vocals to "Call My Name" as well.
Shoot the Devil is a most interesting and exciting contemporary CD to listen to in its combination of grunge and punk influences with the blues. And despite the dark thematic note to the songs, this is not at all a depressing CD to listen to. GravelRoad expresses itself and the blues in a new musical way, and brings a compelling originality to an old and venerable tradition.