Rowland Jones – Rowland Jones Live
Format: CD / Label: Independent
Release: 2020
Text: Iain Patience
An album from a UK blues picker that comes as a surprising delight in many ways, ‘Rowland Jones Live’ is a eleven-track pleasure. Jones writes his own material and it holds up well with nice lyrical flourishes as he roams loosely across the usual blues bases of love, loss, heartache, pain and hope.
Jones’ fretwork is solid, always melodic and nicely paced here. Having seen Jones perform a live set in England in the recent past, I know he can more than hack it, with an assured delivery that never fails to grab a listener’s attention. He comes from that old-school blues tradition where rootsy music remains King and the music itself has an importance that can too easily be lost in a flurry of self-important, self- indulgence and loud, competing turmoil. That Jones readily avoids that trap is a credit to his own ability and confidence, with some instantly engaging jazzy-swing chording echoing through the mix and rolling steadily through the tracks.
‘Rowland Jones Live’ is an album that will immediately and easily appeal to lovers of genuinely good quality modern blues with a traditional touch and feel. And make no mistake, this guy hits it hard but with a deft, light touch when needed. Easily an album well worth discovering from a solid, experienced blues journeyman who knows exactly what he’s doing with the music.
Tracks:
01. Still the Blues
02. True True Blues
03. Don’t Play With Fire
04. Climbing Up Snakes
05. Where’s the Why
06. Am I Feeling Blue
07. Blues Gonna Lose
08. Squeeze Me Right
09. Never Met Someone
10. Never Been to Memphis
11. How It Is
Website: Rowland Jones