Doyle Bramhall – Fitchburg Street
This second solo release from Doyle Bramhall, a singing-songwriting-drumming Texan who’s played with both Vaughan brothers among many others during the course of a wide-ranging career, blends Double Trouble/Fabulous Thunderbirds-style blues rock, roadhouse R&B a la Delbert McClinton, and southern soul.
(In case clarification is needed: the man behind Fitchburg Street is, excuse the Vikingspeak, Doyle Bramhall the elder. His guitar-slinging son, Doyle Bramhall II, has released a couple albums in addition to starring in the Arc Angels with Charlie Sexton.)
The album’s title refers to the tough West Dallas neighborhood of Bramhall’s youth, and the merging of styles paints a vivid picture of his musical holy trinity of blues, rock and soul. A version of Jimmy Reed’s “Baby What You Want Me To Do” and a pair each from John Lee Hooker and Howlin’ Wolf, while all expertly executed, represent too heavy a blues load for me to bear; tolerance will, of course, vary. Representing the rock portion of Bramhall’s education are “Life By The Drop”, the lone original and a song originally recorded by Stevie Ray Vaughan on The Sky Is Crying, and a steamrolling reworking of Buddy Miles’ “Changes”.
The highlights for me come from the soul arena: covers of O.V. Wright’s “I’d Rather Be Blind, Crippled And Crazy” and Roosevelt Jamison’s oft-recorded (first by Wright and Otis Redding, most recently by Buddy Miller) “That’s How Strong My Love Is”. Bramhall’s road-warrior baritone captures the emotion that’s packed into both songs. Granted, he doesn’t make them his forever — who could? — but he does stake a solid claim for four earthy minutes at a time.