Album Review: Luther Dickinson ft. Datrian Johnson - Dead Blues Vol. 1

Luther Dickinson ft. Datrian Johnson

Dead Blues Volume 1

*** out of *****

Luther Dickinson's stint with Phil Lesh and Friends put him in close contact with Grahame Lesh. Grahame and Luther played shows as Dead Blues which dug into the traditional blues and folk songs that were the foundation of the Grateful Dead's career. Dickinson himself said he never considered recording these songs, until he met vocalist Datrian Johnson. 

The two hit it off and with a host of old friends (Cody Dickinson, Rayfield “Ray Ray” Holloman, Paul Taylor on drums, bass and guitars and Steve Selvidge on Space Funk guitar) recorded this collection directly titled Dead Blues Vol.1. Getting this information, and knowing Dickinson's guitar prowess, one could conclude that this would be a hard rocking blues based album, but it is quite the opposite. Dickinson wrote and arranged this album on bass, which led to much more funky, jazzy excursions. 

Opening with "One Kind Favor" the funk flows with horns clicking in, wah-wah guitar and booty shaking bass, it is safe to say Blind Lemon Jefferson never envisioned the tune this way. The smokey and spooky groove around good guitar work colors "Sitting On Top of the World" while the funky "King Bee" also deploys a nice solo from Dickinson. While the funk is cool, Johnson's vocals are dynamic. 

His range is utterly impressive, moving from passionate to soulful to soaring. The deeply funky, almost hop hop beat of "I Just Want to Make Love to You" is super cool as Johnson's voice exhales, flutters and digs down. Another highpoint is "Little Red Rooster" which gets a head bopping groove moving with deep feeling while album closer "High Heeled Sneakers" is the most Dead like with a spacey jammed out feel. 

Not everything works out perfectly, "Minglewood Blues" is a weird disco influenced take on the track that misses the mark. "Who Do You Love" is also a misstep as Dickinson and Datrian, going overboard with too much instrumentation and vocal gymnastics. However, the fact that they try to do unique offerings makes these misses easier to digest. 

Naming this Dead Blues Vol. 1, means a Vol 2 is probably on the horizon from Luther Dickinson and Datrian Johnson and that is pretty good news as Vol 1 is an idiosyncratic take on some old favorites. 

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