ALBUM REVIEW: Jontavious Willis Mixes Up a Powerful ‘West Georgia Blues’ Blend

Jontavious Willis doesn’t just play the blues, he inhabits that space so thoroughly that there’s not much room for anybody else. The Greenville, Georgia, native got a career jumpstart in 2015 at the age of 19 when Taj Mahal invited him up on stage, dubbing him “Wonderboy” after his performance. Two years later, when Mahal teamed up with Keb’ Mo’ for their joint release Tajmo, Willis was invited to be the opening act on the promotional tour.

Jontavious Willis (photo courtesy of The Jontavious Willis Team)

Willis self-released his debut, Blue Metamorphosis, that same year. In 2019, Mahal and Mo’ were on board for Willis’ Grammy-nominated sophomore effort, Spectacular Class, with Mahal as executive producer and Mo’ as producer and guest guitarist.

For his latest, West Georgia Blues, Willis once again presents a collection of originals. Mahal and Mo’ aren’t around for this one, but he steps out just fine on his own. It’s the blues, but tradition takes a back seat in Willis’ vehicle. His presentations encompass a wheelbarrow full of genres that he somehow manages to pack in a bag without busting the seams.

The unadorned title cut features just Willis’ vocal with handclaps for percussion, a powerful statement of what Willis is trying to accomplish. Sounding like an old-school gospel cut, Willis brags on his lineage (“My folks been right here since 1823”) before revealing his mission statement: “Some folks sing the blues cause they know the song / But we singing these blues just to carry tradition on.”

But the tradition Willis embraces isn’t of the traditional 12-bar woke-up-this-morning persuasion. “Keep Your Worries on the Dance Floor” is a glorious mess, a commingling of styles that are seldom even on speaking terms, much less rubbing elbows with one another. The tune starts out with a Clarence Carter guitar lick supporting the melody, but after he gets through delivering his vocal message — “That low down scoundrel done broke your heart / And you think you’ve under did, under did your part / I want you to keep your worries on the dance floor” — he commences to shake things up considerably with a jangly overlay that sounds like two guitars in a duel to the death. It’ll be interesting to see what dislocations occur among dancers trying to groove to these grooves.

“Rough Time Blues” is a country blues that Son House would be proud to claim, but once again, after he’s through vocalizing, Willis throws in some overlapping guitar licks that bring in Piedmont-style blues to the Delta framework for a very interesting cohabitation.

Cut by cut, Willis rearranges and sidesteps tradition while still staying in close proximity to his avowed musical obsession. Look for him soon to be appearing everywhere.

Jontavious Willis’ West Georgia Blues is out Aug. 16 on Strolling Bones Records.