Album Notes

“Been Gone So Long,” features ten contemporary blues tracks written by The Snake Charmers' own Marie Angell. The album is eclectic mix of blues, blues rock, and The Snake Charmers own brand of charm itself. “Been Gone So Long” features music that leads the listener through the breadth of their music, capturing slices of life that everyone can relate to:
The full-of-life “(I Wanna Be a) Hoochie Mama,” the misery-when-life-goes-wrong blues ballad “Ain't Nothin' But the Blues,” the standard 12-bar of “Move On Blues,” the roots/rock meld of “Can't Trust a Heart,” the Southern Blues/Rock “No Mercy,” the New Orleans-flavor of “Big, Big Love” and the seductive blues swing, “I Wanna Do Right.” The title track, “Been Gone Too Long,” with a touch of the spirit of The Doors warns that the heart hardens after it's been broken. “Half a Cup” reminds us that something is better than nothing while “Just a Little Kiss” can lead to more.
After years in other music ventures, The Snake Charmers began in 2002 when spouses Will Blumentritt and Marie Angell created a band to “play what they like, and like what they play.” Keeping it in the family, they added eldest son Eric Blumentritt and relative through the “Brotherhood of Man” Larry Meeker.
“Been Gone Too Long” is not just the album title, but an apt description of the travails of producing the CD, which was delayed just before completion by Hurricane Ike. Summed up by Larry Meeker, The Snake Charmers' guitar player, “It's like the Book of Revelations: It's supposed to happen but not in my lifetime.”