James Leg Gladly Hits Below The Belt

The baritone beast that is James Leg (aka John Wesley Myers of the Black Diamond Heavies) is back with an eternally powerful offering of hypnotic, distortion gospel-blues and cement-hearted rock-n-soul. Working his trademark Fender Rhodes piano into a tizzy backed by drums and guitar tones to wake the dead, Below The Belt feels as if Tom Waits, Captain Beefheart, and Booker T and the MGs played the party that accidentally burned down Junior’s Place on April 6, 2000 in Culahoma, MS and engraved that night onto vinyl. Pulling no punches is evident from the get go with album opener “Dirty South”.  Leg steers a beautifully distorted, heavily chorused Rhodes progression backed by a crafty drumbeat with a lyrical delivery reminiscent of the dark lord himself. Add in some choice piano fills and you just started off the purest rock record of 2015.

A dark lord Leg is not. The son of a preacher, later washed in the blood of rock-n-roll, Leg is equal parts gospel to his heavier undertones. Taking on Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s “Up Above My Head” with harp solos for days on end complete with call and answer praises from a church choir is a statement of faith in and of itself. If you have none, faith you shall find after a listen or two. Another cover, yet more obtuse is a take on The Cure’s “A Forest”, a highlight of the record equally haunting and invigorating. Beautifully strange and equally infectious, it scares the shit out of you but you pray it won’t end.

Album closer “What More” finds Leg channeling his inner Al Green in a sultry laid back number still full of the classic ‘klank’ Leg made famous with the Black Diamond Heavies and even earlier, The Immortal Lee County Killers. Still the swift funky roll of “October 3^rd” puts Leg’s genius to the forefront. A number that could easily be a deep cut on a Waits best of record, Leg’s Rhodes and piano solos are pure legend and I haven’t stopped listening to it, it’s the type of song that makes you feel cooler just for listening to it. One of my favorite songs of the year, well played Mr. Leg.

The record moves swiftly to the dark, driving punk-blues of “Glass Jaw” and right into the third and final cover of the album “Can’t Stop Thinking About It” by incomparable garage heroes, The Dirtbombs — Leg’s version naturally a bit heavier on the throttle. Case in point, James Leg takes you on a star bus tour of how the Fender Rhodes and a keyboard can melt your face of equal or greater value to Les Paul’s, SG’s, Strats, and Telecasters. God speed, James Leg, it must’ve hurt to put that much rock-n-roll into ten tracks. Below The Belt is due out this Friday, September 4^th on Alive Naturalsound Records, don’t walk…run to your local record store. (+words: scott zuppardo+)

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