ALBUM REVIEW: Kid Ramos’ ‘Strange Things Happening’ is a Raucous Good Time
Grant Britt
Posted On March 21, 2025
Kid Ramos usually doesn’t work in such celestial surroundings. He and his guitar are more at home dealing with down to earth matters. Ramos was the guitar voice in the James Harman band as well as Room Full Of Blues before his lead guitar stint with the Fabulous Thunderbirds from ’93 to ’02.
Ramos’ Left Coast jazzy style adds an aura of sophistication to his blues outings, and works wonders for his latest project, Strange Things Happening, a bluesy interpretation of gospel classics. Inspired by a pastor friend who had become disillusioned with overseas missionary work he was backing and wanted to switch to getting his message across musically, he asked Ramos if he would be interested in making “a God record.”
The result, Strange Things Happening, on NOLA Blue Records, revisits gospel standards originally performed by Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Clara Ward, Mahalia Jackson, and A.P. Carter, along with a Bob Dylan cover (“Every Grain Of Sand”), and originals by vocalist Brian Templeton.
The title cut, also adapted by Etta James in 1961 and Johnny Cash in 1984, changes Tharpe’s boogie-woogie style offering to a more uptown, swing version while retaining the power and glory of Tharpe’s original thanks to Templeton’s powerful vocal.
Dylan’s “Every Grain Of Sand” from 1981’s Shot Of Love show him at the height of his born again-ness, a magnificent hymn in which God’s presence is revealed to him: “I can see the Master’s hand/ In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand.” Ramos’ version has Templeton oozing soul over Dave Limina’s come-to-Jesus organ swells.
Tackling Clara Ward is a daunting task. Ward’s powerful message on “How I Got Over” came from an encounter Ward had with some Alabama hooligans who resented seeing black women in a Cadillac driving through their territory. Mahalia Jackson took the message and turned it into a civil rights anthem when she performed the song at the 1963 Washington D,C. March For Jobs and Freedom right before Martin Luther Kings “I Have a Dream” speech. Ramos swings it once again as Templeton delivers the sermon like a man possessed with the holy spirit bursting at the seams to spread his joy of deliverance.
Although “I’m Working On A Building” gives a writing credit to Carter Family patriarch A.P. Carter, the song predates him, passed down as a hymn or folk song for many years. Bill Monroe, Elvis, B.B. King, and the Seldom Scene covered it over the years as well. Ramos and company get the joint jumpin’ on its foundation, leaping back and forth from foot-stompin,’ rocking country blues to gospel. The material may be gospel, but the presentation is a house rocker fit for a raucous good time throw-down good for soul and body.
Kid Ramos Strange Things Happening is out March 21, via NOLA Blue Records.
