Professor Louie and the Crowmatix Crowin’ The Blues (2017, Woodstock Records)
Professor Louie and the Crowmatix are a bar band through and through. That’s high praise when you realize the company includes NRBQ and the Morells. Crowin’ The Blues opens with the flag-waving “I’m Gonna Play the Honky Tonks”; the rest of the disc pushes sawdust on the floor and further benefits from a tinkling glass or two. Vocals are shared by Miss Marie (Spinosa) and Louie (producer and keyboardist extraordinaire Aaron Hurwitz), who recorded the album—the band’s 13th—live in the studio over three days. Solos were in the moment, too; guitarist Josh Colow’s impressive, sweet-home Chicago slide drives much of the action, which includes sharp originals like the grooving “Prisoner of Your Sound.” The Crowmatix also put a Woodstock stamp on some classic early R&B: Famed guitarist John Platania shakes a tailfeather on “High Heel Sneakers,” reminding all of the protean power of a blues strut played by exemplary musicians. And that, really, is what bar bands are all about. Woodstockrecords.com.
This article appears in September 2017 Issue.
