Repertoire 2023
Sun On My Face
British blues mainstay goes for fiery comforts of classic tune and heartwarming song.
Listening to Dave Kelly sing in his garden was one of those little delights which provided relief for many a music lover during Covid woes – that’s why, and possibly for the sake of preserving his own sanity, the English guitarist streamed such performances via social media on a weekly basis. It would be logical, then, if this album, presumably conceived there and then but actually starter earlier, found the veteran in the same, solo mode; however, limiting himself to a single creative strand has never been part of his remit so, while there indeed are a few numbers where Dave’s left alone with his acoustic six-string, the bulk of the cuts here display full-band arrangements. Yet no matter the format, each of Kelly’s performances, renditions of both originals and covers, is sincere and incendiary.
Of course, it’s easy to focus on the mood offered by the finger-popping “Too Happy To Write” or the folk-informed titular track – two of Dave’s finest, most infectious pieces that perfectly capture his post-pandemic joie de vivre and highlight his smoky voice which the passages of Lou Stonebridge’s smoldering ivories passionately bolster – but Kelly’s treatment of American standards like “Georgia On My Mind” and opener “Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall In Love” is no less arresting and elegant. His licks are filigreed throughout, and telepathic grooves courtesy of his sons, bassist Homer and drummer Sam, infuse the classics with family vibe, and there’s no better place than home to cotton on to the techno-tinged intimacy of “From My Ass In Lagrasse” – a rare occurrence of this musician rapping against funky-to-ska background – or “Lovin’ Arms” whose twang feels wondrously warm. And if Dave’s returning to the already familiar, at least to his fans, slider-oiled “Them Ole Crossroads Blues” and “Mean Old Frisco” – the former dedicated to Kelly’s recently departed friend Tony McPhee, the latter featuring Paul Jones’ harmonica, an instrument also present, alongside a violin, on “A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square” – it’s to enhance the sense of belonging to one’s hearth and heart. Why else would the master’s down-to-earth reading of “Take Me Home Country Roads” and another staple of his repertoire, “I Am The Blues” serving as the platter’s finale, sound simultaneously humble and triumphant?
Just as gleeful, the piano-sprinkled take on “I Can’t Help It If I’m Still In Love With You” and energetic, falsetto-flaunting live delivery of his great late sister Jo Ann’s favorite “Ain’t Nothin’ In Ramblin'” see Kelly’s left hand caress the fretboard and his right do the muscular strum, yet Dave’s vocals are best projected with spellbinding force on the a cappella approach to Scottish perennial “Tramps And Hawkers” and the soul evergreen “My Girl”: a brace of unexpected choices that go to show the breadth of this artist’s vast expertise. Marrying light to shadow, “Sun On My Face” is unpretentiously tremendous.
*****
