Search - Doyle Bramhall :: Fitchburg Street

Best of 2003

10/30/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There are two artists I can name who make me want to buy hundreds of copies of their albums and run around the world handing them out to people. One is Doyle Bramhall, and the other is his son. I discovered Doyle Sr through his son's music, and there is something about their music that blows my mind. Call it purity, magic, soul -- the Bramhalls know how to create great music, the perfect solution to the processed and pre-packaged crap that receives mainstream radio attention nowadays. These guys are too good for radio, that is until radio wises up and realizes what they're missing.Fitchburg Street I first heard live at Gruene Hall -- the perfect venue for any Texas muscian. Before seeing Bramhall live, I knew none of his work, didn't even know he was a drummer. Now I've got both albums (Birds Nest on the Ground & Fitchburg Street), a pair of autographed drumsticks, constantly hound his website waiting for new tour dates, and have read enough to write a biography. He exploded my interest in blues and Texas music culture.Everyone here seems to be in agreement that Fitchburg Street is an amazing record. All the songs are great, there's something special about each one. The band rocks -- 10 pts for Bramhall II and Dru Webber on guitars, and Mike Judge on bass -- and Bramhall's vocals are the best part of listening. What prompted writing this review happened the other afternoon when my 15 year old sister was listening to "That's How Strong My Love Is." She looked up at me and said, "This guy really means it. Who is this?"If anything, what this album has done is made a deeper blues fan out of me. I've started listening to the musicians who originally wrote these songs and acquiring a much broader blues-base than the post-Stevie renaissance. Fitchburg Street, while totally contemporary, urges history -- urges you to look into the original recordings and get involved with earlier blues.Doyle -- please keeping putting out more albums and tour New England! Thanks for everything you've brought to music."

Knee Deep in the Blues

Lee Armstrong | Winterville, NC United States | 07/19/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Doyle Bramhall's second offering is a great batch of cover tunes that fit so well to Doyle's swaggering vocals that they seem more like originals. John Lee Hooker's "Dimples" which I first heard by the Animals and then Spencer Davis Group is knee deep in electric blues. "I'd Rather Be Blind Crippled & Crazy" which bluesman Phillip Walker nailed on his 1998 "Sweet Tooth" CD pulses with great energy in Bramhall's hands. "Changes" is a great churning storm of guitar. In 1966 when the Hollies enchanted me with their album "Beat Group!," they included one tune whose melody repeatedly winds up on my turntable and that Doyle recasts here as a classic slow soul song, "That's How Strong My Love Is." Since the song has been one of my favorites for many years, it's great to hear it dusted off and given such an expressive performance. Jimmy Reed's "Baby What You Want Me to Do" is made to march with Dru Webber's lively guitar throbbing throughout. Although I've enjoyed Gary U.S. Bonds from early rock days to his incarnation as Bruce Springsteen buddy, "It Ain't No Use" is newly encountered. Its stately blues smokes slowly with Doyle's vocal swagger. My second encounter with "Maudie" since the Animals' "Animalization" works well as a trad blues shuffle. "Fitchburg Street" is a great second set from Doyle Bramhall that consistently smokes & throbs knee deep in the blues. Enjoy!"

Doyle 1 is back and the results will get you on your feet!

John Terry | Kansas City, Mo | 05/10/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Austin blues legend, drummer Doyle Bramhall returns with a smokin followup to "Bird Nest On The Ground". Although I own both albums, it didn't hit me the first time around, what an influence Doyle's vocals were on his friend Stevie Ray Vaughan. The resemblance is downright spooky. I would imagine that some will assume that it is Doyle who has been influenced. Some of the highlights for me were "I'd Rather Be(Blind,Crippled and Crazy), "Life By The Drop" and "Forty Four". If you add the fact that Doyle II and his sizzling guitar are present most of the time, this is one killer set. If you're a blues rock fan, "Fitchburg Street" is destined to be one of your top ten favorites for 2003. The Bramhalls rock my world!"