Elvin Bishop’s Funky Fun Trio Returns

Fun, not funk is Elvin Bishop’s trademark. But with the help of guitarist /pianist Bob Welsh and percussionist/vocalist Willy Jordan, Bishop combines the two, whipping up a cauldron of bubblin’, old-school R&B that’s as much fun as it is funky.

Bishop and company take a few good shots at the administration on the title cut. “I’m not talking ’bout funky like a groove,” Bishop says over a bigfoot fonk framework with Jordan letting a soulful Sly Stone scream or two slip out in between comments. “Yeah, we’re talkin’ funky like PU,” Jordan answers, with Bishop adding he believes the smell is coming from some rotten old politicians in DC. “This county is ours and we gotta respect it,” Bishop says, with Jordan adding “This guy we got in charge, I believe he’s tryin’ to wreck it.” Bishop comes back with “He’s got trouble with the truth, and he’s rough on women,” with Jordan replying, “Yeah, man, I believe we got stuck with a lemon.”

The group’s cover of Jackie Wilson’s “Higher And Higher” is spot on, co-guitarist Welsh funkin’ it up with crashing waves of wiggly surf guitar sandwiched between a perfect note-for-note rendition of Wilson’s classic, Jordan taking it a few rungs higher into the stratsophere than Wilson’s original, displaying his incredible range on the outro as he climbs from the floor to the attic with Bishop’s guitar shimmying around him.

“Right Now Is the Hour,” revamped from 78’s Hog Heaven, then resurrected for 1998’s The Skin I’m In, offers double handfuls of Berry riffs seasoned with rockabilly with a slippery bluesy guitar solo in the middle.

But this version is a gospel flavored rocker, slower and slinkier, a little too wiggly for church, but jes’ fine for crossin’ the aisle and heading down the street into the juke joint.

Fats Domino bandleader Dave Bartholomew composed the nudge-nudge, wink-wink cuckold blues “Another Mule,” about another critter kickin’ in your marital stall, and Bishop puts some stank onnit with his trademark string twistin’.

Title notwithstanding, “That’s the Way Willie Likes It” is the kind of county fonk that Bishop excels at: nasty, wiggly, down-home, foot-pattin’ goodness.

Bishop turns in another outstanding cover, yodeling soulfully on Ann Peebles’ 1974 hit, “I Can’t Stand the Rain,” his take on it standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the two best covers, Graham Central Station’s 1975 funky masterpiece on Ain’t No ‘Bout-A-Doubt It, and Lowell George’s 1979 deep dish soul cover on Thanks, I’ll Eat It Here.

Bishop revives “Stomp,” from 2000’s That’s My Partner with Smokey Smothers, lightening it up a bit from the Bo Diddley bomp of the original, with a more rockin’, Chuck Berry feel.

Bishop and company even take a run at Zydeco with a take on Clifton’s Chenier’s “My Soul,” sticking close to the original, but adding some bluesy guitar chunks to the mix. Andre Theirry, who was baptized at the age of three by Zydeco king Chenier, who told the boy he’d grow up to be an accordionist, does the squeezebox honors on the cut.

This second collection from the trio is as much big fun as the first, a stellar showcase for the talents of the eternally youthful-sounding Bishop and his funky friends.