Six String Soldier
Joey Stuckey
Senate Records, 2016
White boys playin’ the blues can be a well trod, cliché filled, music genre. Blind blues musicians, while a less crowded a field, is also a thing. So it’s good that Joey Stuckey happens to be good enough to stand apart on the opening Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
number here. With a rich, full voice and fiery and fluid attack on the strings, Stuckey is a welcome sound.
He gets the party started with a rollicking mid-tempo number, “Blind Man Driving.” There’s Chicago style horns and an extended guitar workout that vacillates between reflection and over the top guitar hero histrionics. “All Roads Lead to a Broken Heart” sounds like a song a contemporary country act could overproduce into a radio hit. As is, it’s a wonderful, ballad that sidesteps trite emotions.
“Runnin’” is a slow burn blues number where Stuckey once again alternates space with flurries of notes into interesting guitar solos. “Lover’s Ride” is a churning, unsettled song, full of punchy, tacit anger. Trying to keep his emotion in check, his fingers get the best of him, and Stuckey’s reveals a torment he doesn’t have the right words for.
This is a fun disc that sidesteps a lot of obvious moves and ups the ante for the blues men currently honing their trade.
