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Monthly Archives: October 2012

Deep Delta slide blues to New Orleans cross-rhythm funkers

October 30, 2012
United States
Blue Morning

Bill Wasserzieher, Blues Revue

The Mystix, at least name wise, sound like a band in one of Lenny Kayes’ NUGGETS collections, more akin to The Standells’ of “Dirty Water” fame than to Muddy Waters. But the players in The Mystix are veteran hardcore New England bluesmen, with Jo Lily, of Duke and the Drivers, on vocals, the two Martys– both Ballou and Richards from all those Duke Robillard albums– handling the rhythm section, Bobby Keyes (not the Stones sideman) on guitar, and Tom West and guest Kenny White on keyboards.

Lily’s nasty-throated vocals are the prime focus on this 10-song 40-min. disc. Songs range from the deep Delta slide blues to New Orleans cross-rhythm funkers, with interesting oddball covers spicing up a field of strong original tunes. There’s even a crying-in-my-beer lament called “Which Side of Heartache” that Nashvillers will love.

The opening track, Lily and Keyes’, “Yolanda”, gets things bumping along at a fast pace, with Lily singing about a vamp who’s got him hooked, gaffed, and ready for an emotional broiling. Keyes and Lily trade licks as the rhythm section cranks the BTUs to high. It’s the sort of kickoff track that’s likely to keep listeners tuned in to what follows. Lily’s back-to-back compositions “New Orleans” and the title track provide the album’s centerpieces, the first bursting with Mardi Gras energy and the latter as stately as a funeral procession. For variety, the band turns to the Jimmy Reed songbook for “I’m a Love You” and reaches into the classic rock hamper for “Rattled”, a Traveling Wilbury’s tune that doesn’t sound a lot like the original; it sounds better.

Smoking cigarettes and mainlining bourbon as a toddler

October 25, 2012
United States
Blue Morning

Hal Horowitz, All Music Guide on The Mystix

The Mystix frontman Jo Lily is the kind of raspy-voiced vocalist who sounds like he started smoking cigarettes and mainlining bourbon as a toddler. I mean, you wouldn’t mistake him for Tom Waits, but he could be Tom’s long-lost Boston cousin.

When a group combines rock, R&B, blues, and country, they risk coming off like just another bar band. On their follow-up to Satisfy You, this Beantown quintet succeeds in dodging that particular bullet-not as handily as Waits and crew, but close enough.

Granted, “the kids” aren’t likely to dig Blue Morning, but I doubt The Mystix are losing any sleep over their lack of youth appeal. And by kids, I don’t just mean young’uns, but listeners of all ages who only gravitate towards the newest, hippest, most cutting-edge sounds.

That said, the record does include a couple of covers. I didn’t realize they weren’t originals until I checked the liner notes, which is always a good sign. They’re Jimmy Reed’s “I’m a Love You” and “Rattled,” which credits Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty-Traveling Wilburys alert! Clearly, catering to the hipster crowd isn’t their primary objective.

The outfit is rounded out by Bobby Keyes (guitar), Marty Richards (drums), Marty Ballou (bass), and Tom West (keyboards). Lily, who doubles on slide, conjures up Duane Allman on “Yolanda,” specifically “One Way Out”-my favorite Allman Brothers performance next to “Midnight Rider.” Separately, the musicians have played with Jerry Lee Lewis, Ben E. King, Duke Robillard, and John Hammond. These guys have paid their dues. And it shows.

Authoritative swamp-pop groove

October 19, 2012
United States
Mighty Tone

Rick Massimo, The Providence Journal

American roots outfit The Mystix play Chan’s in Woonsocket Saturday night.

The Mystix have been together for three years, but the members have been getting around for the past few decades at least…

…And they do it with the relaxed, no-nonsense groove and grace of seasoned pros who know their way around the music; you can hear it in the authoritative swamp-pop groove of “Good Deal Lucille,” the sweet slide guitar on the original “Roll of the Dice,” the minor-key foreboding of “Gamblin’ Man” and more.

The Mystix have been together for three years, but the members have been getting around for the past few decades at least.

Keyboardist Tom West has played with Susan Tedeschi and Peter Wolf; bassist Marty Ballou has been with John Hammond, Edgar Winter and Duke Robillard; drummer Marty Richards has played with Robillard, Gary Burton and The J. Geils Band; guitarist Bobby Keyes has had a long session career, including records with such seemingly unlikely names as Robin Thicke, Mary J. Blige, Lil’ Wayne and Jerry Lee Lewis; and singer and guitarist Jo Lily was with the Boston-area R&B legends Duke and the Drivers.

And on their third disc, Down to the Shore, which comes out April 1, the band revives some of the better known and lesser known names in the American roots firmament, such as Pops Staples, Porter Waggoner and Georgie Riddle, along with some traditionals (“We Are Almost Down to the Shore”) and some originals by Lily and Keyes.

And they do it with the relaxed, no-nonsense groove and grace of seasoned pros who know their way around the music; you can hear it in the authoritative swamp-pop groove of “Good Deal Lucille,” the sweet slide guitar on the original “Roll of the Dice,” the minor-key foreboding of “Gamblin’ Man” and more.

Ballou says it’s a mixture of “every damn thing,” and if by that he means electric roots music he’s right. “It’s just American. Roots American is where it comes from. … We just put everything in we can think of.”

So where in this day and age does Lily find this stuff? A variety of places. “I’m really into that,” he explains, “like a stamp collector.” He lives in Newburyport, Mass., and plugs the local record store, Dyno Records, “where the guy really knows his [stuff]. And I’ve always got my ears up.”

As well as old-fashioned record-store trolling, the Internet is a source of material, Lily says. Once he discovered the Dust to Digital series, for example, “I got the box set, and I was gone for two months on that stuff.”

While the commercial sphere for this kind of music may be shrinking, in some ways it’s healthier than ever, Lily says. “The catalogs are out there, amazingly enough. Even though people in the music business only seem to be interested in who’s going to win American Idol, there are ears that are still there.”

Lily says that he and Keyes had known each other and played together for years before Keyes moved to Los Angeles. When Keyes returned, Lily took songwriting lessons from him and began sitting in with Keyes’ band.

Lily, referring to the rest of the band, says he “knew of them, but I didn’t know them,” and calls them “a pretty top crew of the local talent,” though he adds that it’s a fully integrated band now: “It isn’t just a sideman jam thing anymore; we don’t just hand people charts.”

The future of the band is a combination of local shows and international record sales. “We sell as well internationally as nationally,” Lily says. “I haven’t been to Europe, but I want to hear the radio shows!”

As for live playing, Ballou says they’re heading for “listening rooms” in the region. Lily adds that they’ll take the occasional festival if it looks like a good time, but “To go across the country and do the bars? I did it already in Duke and the Drivers 40 years ago. It’s over!”

Band is loaded with some of the best musicians

October 10, 2012
European
Mighty Tone

Scott Hayward, Owner, Tupelo Music Hall

“What an AMAZING show we had last week with The Mystix on Saturday. This band is loaded with some of the best musicians on the circuit. Their sound is influenced by blues, R&B, rock, swing, jazz, and about every other genre you can imagine. When we have these guys return, you have got to check them out!”

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