Francis Dunnery Music 2023
The Blues Of Tombstone Dunnery – Vol. 1
In a totally unexpected turn of events, avatar of progressive pop embraces the Mississippi Delta idiom and delivers what may amount to the album of the year in his newly chosen genre.
In recent times art-rock seemed to have been set in stone instead of developing further, which could be the reason why the former frontman of IT BITES decided to change his stylistic affiliation and find a different niche by resorting to the music that originally inspired him ages ago, when the future singer listened to Robert Johnson and other old masters. More so, it was not as a vocalist yet as guitarist that Dunnery was kept in high esteem by the likes of Robert Plant – on whose “Fate Of Nations” Francis played and with whom he went on tour – and back in 2021 his two facets came together, and a band called TOMBSTONE DUNNERY emerged on the scene to finally present their first album a year later. And this album is truly stunning.
What’s most surprising is the platter’s utter authenticity: while lesser mortals of similar pedigree might play at blues, the 60-year-old Englishman and his fellow travelers play the blues as though they were born on the bayou, although there’s enough of Chicago influences in this dozen cuts, too. Of course, it’s easy to accuse Francis of sticking to his freshly-acquired form’s staples in “She Left Me With The Blues” – the first of a few pieces on offer that cross the six-minute mark to unfold and unseal the filigreed undercurrent the ensemble supply to their leader’s incendiary, albeit often reserved, licks and voice – only the groovy opening number bristles with brass and fizzes with organ to highlight Dunnery’s patented humor, even if his rapturous roar, which will give way to soft lines, doesn’t enter the frame for about ninety seconds. Still, once his pipes cover Déannè Blazey’s gospel backing, stopping such a sweet onslaught would be unwise, so “Poison Woman” and “My Whole Life” flaunt a Muddy riff and add a sludgy six-string tone to the record’s drift to create drama Neil Yates’ reeds try to turn to jazz before the warbler’s fretboard-bending fingers resume the previously tentative rapid fire, and “Boys Running Wild” sees him jive in a funky mode and sing in an rather acerbic manner, as Nigel Hopkins’ electric ivories flutter around his urban fusion.
However, the vigorous R’n’B track “Take My Joy Away” defies its own sorrow and rolls triumphantly towards nocturnal delights that “Don’t You Cry” tosses further for the listeners to cut the rug until the scintillating “The Town Where Nobody Feels” locates an “I Put A Spell On You” angle to pursue, with Francis sounding like an old soul yet laying down incredibly robust solos like a young buck, and “Danglin Man” restrains the band’s rumble to solidify their individual instrumental punches. But then, the piano-sprinkled “Blues Falling Down Like Weather” appears to delicately dim the preceding shimmer in order not to contrast “It’s Hard To Love Another Woman” which, propelled by Paul Brown’s bass and Phil Beaumont’s drums, is gradually picking up the pace and bolsters the overall mood again. As a result, “The Comeback Boy” directs the Diddley voodoo along the collective’s boisterous delivery and allows this epically spiritual storm to swell and ebb away into twang, and “Riding On The Blues Train” brings on the acoustic finale and whet all the genre’s aficionados’ appetite for the second volume of Dunnery’s wondrous reimagining of his creative juices’ flow.
A genuine milestone.
*****
