Swamp Water Bluz is looking good with its recent freshening up and they continue trying out new artists, as well as maintaining their "tried and true" crowd pleasers. I haven't blogged from there in awhile and it was high time I got another one up. Evan Williams (UtahCowboy Kayor) And His Baby Blues sounded like a perfect fit, and they didn't disappoint.
Evan has been singing for 30 years in RL and he has come into SL to share his gifts and to have some fun. He started up his Band about a year ago and the whole outfit are great entertainers and interact with the audience throughout the set, keeping the show rolling and having a great time while they do it. He does great blues too, so I was a very happy blogger when it became evident we would have a "blues heavy" set. I was smiling from the first notes.
You can tell Evan loves to sing and his vocals are always true and clear, and when he is singing the blues they are pulled from that well some artists have that taps their soul. They let you feel the music through their interpretations and the stories they tell with their music. To me, there is nothing better that that, except maybe some hot, kickass guitar licks and a groove that make the hair on the back of my neck stand up and bring goosebumps zooming up my arms... I wasn't disappointed on this front either. In addition to Blues, his genres include Hard and Soft Rock, Jazz, Pop and Country. His Band, "Evan And His Baby Blues" feature Evan on vocals, AmberLeAnn Braham on Lead Guitar, Melisande Marie Benbow and UniQue on keyboards, Jasminerose on Horns and drummer Kaylei. Starting with some blues, they took off like jet. It was a good warm up choice and got me moving right away.
Evan's got a great vocal style... soft in this opener but with a soulful feeling that starts deep. He's got good power and range and can really belt it out. Amber's guitar work rocks with lots of punch that grabs you and gives you a shake and makes you wanna get out on the floor and dance! I like the whole sound of the Band and I love the way they can take a number like Buddy Guy's interpretation of Willie Dixon's "Let Me Love You Baby" and just own it. They did it again with Lenny Kravitz's - "Always On The Run." Amber takes that great groove and runs with it... Her tone is perfect. That hard edged blusey sound had me chair-dancing right into the next offering and then they slowed it down somewhat with "Flying Without Wings" by WestLife, to give us a bit of a breather.
Then they were making me happy with some excellent slide work with a good up beat blues number. The set tunes complimented each other with similar topics and tempo. He makes the tunes their own and presents them effortlessly. Evan also does some rearranging of the tunes they do to suit the style he wants to present and has rewritten some of his song list so the sets mesh and fit together well. This was evident in "I'm in the Mood" by John Lee Hooker and it was just what it should be: laid back, soulful and slinky/sexy... I loved his growls and purrs in this one. I think he thought he had the "sexy ones" out of the way when they finished up "Mood", but it seems he found one hiding under the couch or behind it somewhere... and before we knew it we were deep into "Rock Me Baby" by BB King with an interesting time change. The change made it into a down and dirty groove, which sounded great out here in "the trenches", and I noticed the time was just evaporating as we moved further into the second half of the set.
And WHAM!... something hard and heavy came pounding off the stage... sounded like a Blackmore'sNight tune, "Just Call My Name (I'll Be There)"
Coming up to the end of the set was Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" staying faithful but stretching it just a bit to stay fresh and keep the tempo of the set moving along....Evan is VERY good at what he does! just a short break and right back into Pink Floyd with Us and Them. (He also does a full set of Pink Floyd that is not to be missed!)
As the next artist was a bit late and dead air is never fun, Evan took us through a great rendition of Stevie Ray Vaughan's "The House Is Rockin" and Rockin' it was! I LOVED it from start to finish!
What a GREAT SET!! WOOOO HOOOOO!!
THANK YOU EVAN AND HIS BABY BLUES!!
AND AS ALWAYS, A GREAT BIG THANK YOU TO
MELIAN MINA WEISSBROD FOR THIS WONDERFUL VENUE
AND THE GREAT ARTISTS YOU FILL IT WITH.