Big Joe Maher Keeps the Party Moving with The Dynaflows
Grant Britt
Posted On February 18, 2019
For half a century, Big Joe Maher has kept the spirit of jump blues alive. Preaching from behind his drum pulpit, often with the aid of guitarist Anson Funderburgh, Maher invokes the spirits of jumpers including Big Joe Turner, Amos Milburne, Percy Mayfield, Smiley Lewis, and Roosevelt Sykes. Delbert McClinton loves his singing and playing, and has him sit in with his magnificent road band when their paths cross on the road. Maher will also be drumming on McClinton’s upcoming CD as well as cruising with McClinton on his Sandy Beaches Cruise next year.
Although Maher limits the size of his band, The Dynaflows, to a quartet, they put out a sound worthy of an orchestra. Maher’s big voice fills out Turner classics like “Oke-She-Moke-She-Pop,” written by Turner’s wife, Lou Willie, in 1954. It has become one of his signature tunes, an important component of the engine that keeps the Dynaflows purring smoothly.
For his latest outing, Maher used the studio of longtime collaborator and keyboardist Kevin McKendree, who’s been an important fixture in Delbert McClinton’s band for decades. But Maher claims to have seen him first, giving McKendree his start with the Dynaflows in 1987. He also recruited McKendree’s 17-year-old son, Yates, on guitar as part of a string trio that also includes Erin Coburn and Robert Frahm. Bassist Tom Mookie Brill has been a Dynaflow since 1982, touring and recording with Maher.
Roosevelt Sykes’ “Driving Wheel” is a perfect opener, revving up the Dynaflow power plant for a smooth retro roadtrip, the wire choir pulling strings that sound like Funderburgh is behind the wheel for a wiggly jaunt through a Texas blues guitar landscape.
Little Milton’s 1982 hit “So Mean To Me” gets some of the rough edges shaved off instrumentally, Brill keeping Milton’s vocal roar intact, sounding more like Bobby Blue Bland.
Brill reveals his considerable prowess as a soul singer covering O.V. Wright’s 1968 hit “8 Men and 4 Women,” stretching his tonsils magnificently to accommodate Wright’s crusty, octave leaping testimony to being guilty of the crime of loving too deeply.
Maher jumps back in on vocals for Fats Domino bandleader Dave Bartholomew’s rollicking “Go On Fool,” McKendree’s barrelhouse piano keeping the Dynaflow pistons clanking merrily with Maher at the wheel, gliding smoothly down the road.
Brill exhibits some deep Southern soul covering Nappy Brown’s 1958 version of “If You Need Some Lovin’” buoyed by McKendree’s churchy organ burbles.
Maher’s original “I’m a Country Boy” is a seamless fit with the big boys of jump, sounding like it dropped off Big Joe Turner’s piano bench while he was plowing a deep groove.
The closer, Percy Mayfield’s “Two Years of Torture,” is Maher at his laid-back finest, stirring up the R&B spirits to concoct a bluesy, soulful cocktail that goes down easy.
Even though the tank is full of fossil fuel, Maher and the Dynaflows put out a product that sounds like it just drove off the showroom floor, still bright and shiny and ready to roll.
