Jon Butcher- "Special day"

From aor master to the contemporary bluesman with the social awareness/criticizing lyrics and spirit at songs like "Special day" may seem a long road for others but for Jon Butcher is the anticipated evolution. His last works were driving him to a more blues/roots musical approach and in "special day", he plays what he feels more comfortable with and releases a work that will talk to most of his old fans as they also grow older with him. More mature, he is not a standard blues player, but he incorporates elements from Tex Mex, jazz, swing and New Orleans along with his well known pop sensibility. From the typical blues "Devil s train" with the harmonica/slide guitar driving rhythm to Hendrix like "Kiss the sky" and his mesmerizing 'Senor Garcia" a hallucinating song. Butcher plays on safe ground but still expands the limits. 'Kalena' has the AEROSMITH taste of honky tonk rock but Butcher lets the old tobacco, whiskey smell take over the place and the honky tonk piano dominates the sound of the song. 'Still crazy after all these years" could be on an Leon Russel album, just pointing out that Butcher is a far more diverse and interesting artist than you might think or expect. "Make a little room" sounds a bit like a stripped down QUEEN song full of life, depth and optimism based on piano and Butcher's distinctive voice. "How does it feel" has the horns, the backing vocals and the 60s Motown feeling and the live good, feel good vibration spread all over. "Architect of peace” closes the alum as a true Gospel song, full of positivity and enlightenment with its stripped down, warm melody.

Overall ``Special day" is a modern blues album from an artist who is feeling in the right shoes to let the music do the talking . Staying away from the classic twelve bar and the Chicago school the present us a wider targeted blues album where R n B and Tex Mex color the final result along with his strong storytelling. He may not be so contemporary as Gary Clark Jr but he is really less traditional than you would expect. An album that makes listening to it your day special.

7,5