Homemade Jamz Blues Band – Pay Me No Mind – NorthernBlues NBM0048

Homemade Jamz Blues Band – Pay Me No Mind – NorthernBlues NBM0048

Written by John Taylor

In essence, blues is a pretty simple form, arguably best when the message is uncluttered and direct. Raw and real matter more than professional polish, and emotional honesty is an integral element.

By those standards, “Pay Me No Mind,” from Mississippi-based Homemade Jamz Blues Band, works very well indeed. What’s surprising is the source – the band is a brothers-and-sister trio, with the combined age of all three(!) less than 40 …

Brothers Ryan (guitar and vocals, age 16), Kyle (bass, age 13) and sister Taya (drums, age 9) Perry grew up in musically fertile territory. Blues, as the saying goes, are in their blood. But early exposure alone can’t account for the sheer depth these siblings bring to a genre that typically values experience and earned wisdom.

Perhaps it’s because the playlist, with the lone exception of a cover of John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom,” is an all-original collection penned by father Renaud Perry. So when Ryan sings about doing “The right thang / For the wrong woman,” he’s thoroughly convincing. And when he sings “The World’s Been Good To You” (sample lyric, “I’ve climbed every mountain / I’ve crossed every sea”), the words somehow ring true. Genetics, perhaps?

Ultimately, though, it’s the music that matters, and what’s here is the kind of tough, no-nonsense blues most take years to master. Uncluttered drumming and fluid bass support surprisingly slippery guitar work, with Ryan favoring a lean, muscular attack that shows exceptional economy and astonishing maturity.
Dad’s on hand with rudimentary but effective harp on a handful, and producer Miles Wilkinson adds rhythm guitar on four tracks. Renaud is also responsible for the hand-built car-muffler guitars used here – homemade indeed, as tracks were recorded in the Perry living room. Sound is appropriately raw but has all the depth of most studio recordings.

One’s tempted to dismiss an outing like this as mere novelty. It’s hard to imagine anyone so young – let alone a trio of siblings – able to convey what the blues have always been about – life, death, love and pain, the whole messy human experience.

But music’s a mysterious thing, and some souls really do seem older than mere chronology would indicate. Somehow the Perry’s inhabit a world o’ trouble and strife they couldn’t possibly have experienced, in a manner both completely believable and musically exhilarating.

A fine debut by any standards, made all the more remarkable for the age of those involved, this one’s highly recommended on all counts!

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]

WHAT'S NEW

Sponsored Links

SPONSORED LINKS

POLLS

SYNDICATE