Jumpin' Juba
Bumpity Bump
© 2004 Steve Hurl / Bruce Ward (801495118528)
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Roots-y, eclectic original blues-rock with a focus on the songs; also featuring great piano and guitar work throughout.
tracks
- 1 Funny Farm
- 2 Back Street Studio
- 3 Bruce's Boogie
- 4 Chase the Dream
- 5 Sufferin' Blues
- 6 Explaining the Blues
- 7 Complications
- 8 Best Buy in Town
- 9 Four-Footed
- 10 Fixated Woman
- 11 Lost in Logic
- 12 Rear View Mirror
- 13 Back Door Blues
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Jumpin' Juba
Steve Hurl: Guitars, vocal
Bruce Ward: Piano
and where heard: Brian Flan, drums
Chris Denune, bass
Hand-made music, presented live and in real time.
Jumpin' Juba plays blues mixed with many flavors of American "roots" music.
New-Orleans-inspired swamp-rock, classic boogie-woogie, folk, Memphis rock & roll, and a playful use of everything from calypso to country are stirred into the band's
blue stew.
Bruce alternately pounds and glides over his piano keys. Steve bends the guitar strings and sings it blues-y. Hurl is active in the New England acoustic music scene as a live performer and recording artist (2 CDs, so far), writing and performing roots-y original tunes.
He has played at over 250 locations throughout New England and the eastern half of the USA.
Bruce has been playing blues and boogie piano for 4 decades (he did start young). His musical heroes include Prof. Longhair, Otis Spann and Jimmy Yancey.
In early 2004, the band released its first studio-recorded CD entitled Bumpity Bump, a diverse collection of original blues and roots-rock tunes (along with a couple of traditional blues numbers). On stage, Juba adds many an R&B classic to their sets, always done with their own arrangements. People listen, people dance.
The CD comes with an 8-page booklet that includes lyrics. Below is a brief track-by track description of what you'll find on the disc.
1. Funny Farm: New Orleans rock & roll, up tempo, party-time.
2. Back Street Studio: A straight-ahead up tempo R&B number, some Slim Harpo influence; lyrics describe a recording session that might have gone down sometime between the mid-1940s to mid-1960s.
3. Bruce's Boogie: A straight and natural blues piano instrumental, with band backing.
4. Chase the Dream: More on the acoustic singer-songwriter side. It's a minor-key blues, with a more expansive song structure, medium-slow 6/8 time.
5. Sufferin' Blues: Medium tempo blues, rolling piano. Lyrics say hang tough,and deal with your blues creatively.
6. Explaining the Blues: A thoroughly re-arranged cover of a very old Ma Rainey blues tune, in which Steve Hurl's slide guitar takes the part of Ms. Rainey's moaning horn section.
7. Complications: Blues-rock, slightly reminiscent of Irish blues-blaster Rory Gallagher's work. Some socio-political commentary here. Conservative Republicans may not like this tune very much.
8. Best Buy in Town: Up tempo acoustic blues, flavors of Big Bill Broonzy and Willie Mabon here. Lyrics comment on various examples of the crass commercialism that surround us.
9. Four - Footed : A fast blues piano duet, or perhaps it's more of a boogie-woogie duel, with pianist Bruce Ward romping through both parts.
10. Fixated Woman: A quick little roots-rocker, like Jerry Lee Lewis with a dash of ska. A little "parental advisory" here, but only if you're Radio Disney.
11. Lost in Logic: Blues-y, risque. Solo guitar with vocal. Maybe a little John Lee Hooker influence, maybe not... Yeah, we know about the intro...heh heh...
12. Rear View Mirror: Piano-based singer-songwriter tune (tells a story). Still some blues elements here, and a brief but biting steel guitar solo mid-song.
13. Back Door Blues: We traced this funny, up tempo blues cover (known as "Tell Me Mama" by Little Walter) back to the mid-1930s, when it was done by blues steel guitarist Casey Bill Weldon. Our arrangement features rollicking piano and careening slide guitar.