ALBUM REVIEW: The Nick Moss Band Brings Back a Big Blues Sound

A legion of Chicago blues ghosts are back for a resurrection of their sounds by a modern-day bluesologist. It may not be their material showcased here, but it feels so authentic you keep thinking that perhaps it’s just obscure cuts from legends like James Cotton, Little Walter, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, and the Wolf. For their latest release, Get Your Back Into It, guitarist/vocalist Nick Moss and harpist Dennis Gruenling recreate the soundscape of 1950s and ’60s Chicago with 14 original offerings.

Moss fronts a great band with Gruenling featured on harp, Taylor Streiff on keys, Rodrigo Mantovani on upright and electric bass, and Pierce Downer on drums, with Sax Gordon Beadle sitting in on sax. Together for seven years, the band’s musical conversations have the feel of old friends so comfortable with one another they can finish each other’s sentences without stepping on anybody’s feelings.

Nick Moss, left, and Dennis Gruenling (photo by Michael Kurgansky)

Originally a bassist, Moss was recruited by Legendary Blues Band drummer Willie “Big Eyes” Smith to join LBB for their final album in 1993, and Smith persuaded him to switch to guitar for the two more years the band of former Muddy sidemen stayed together. Prior to that, Moss had honed his skills with stints with legendary bluesmen Jimmy Dawkins and Jimmy Rogers before going out on his own in 1997.

“Get Your Back Into It” sounds like an Elvin Bishop throwdown with Gruenling and his harp bringing Little Walter back to life with rip-roaring vigor.

You could swear that “Aurelie” is an undiscovered Fabulous Thunderbirds outtake with Kim Wilson on harp and Jimmie Vaughn on guitar working out on a big foot-stomper based on Slim Harpo’s “Scratch My Back.”

John Lee Hooker’s ghost floats around the groove on “Your Bark Is Worse Than Your Bite,” with Gruenling biting off huge chunks of James Cotton-ish blues licks and spitting them out around Moss’ choogling guitar and grave-dirt gargling vocals.

You can do the samba to “Bones’ Cantina,” a shimmery, jangly instrumental with bits of “La Cucaracha” sandwiched in with Gruenling’s back-alley reed wails and Moss using a railroad spike as a pick for his clanging solos.

Big sounds abound here. Sounding like a supercharged Louis Jordan, Moss roars bigly on the 1940’s flavored “It Shocks Me Out.” The duo give a spirited shout out to jump blues on “The Bait in the Snare.”

It’s a great vintage Chicago trip you can take without leaving the comfort of your domicile — until the next time they come to town.

The Nick Moss Band’s Get Your Back Into It, featuring Dennis Gruenling, is out July 14 on Alligator Records.