MICROWAVE DAVE: Wouldn't Lay My Guitar Down

Microwave Dave

Wouldn't Lay My Guitar Down

© 2000 Duck Tape Records (664980004924)

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Guitar-driven blues from Alabama with incandescent songs, featuring Microwave Dave's incendiary style supported by members of the legendary muscle shoals rhythm section and special guests from the amazing rhythm aces and the bands of delbert mcclinton

notes

NOW AVAILABLE ON CD BABY: MICROWAVE DAVE & THE NUKES' NEW LIVE ALBUM, DOWN SOUTH NUKIN'. TYPE DOWN SOUTH NUKIN' IN THE SEARCH BOX ABOVE TO ACCESS ALBUM INFO.

Following the surprise success of "Road Runner" on GOODNIGHT, DEAR (BluesWorks BLW5500-2), the record that "beep-beeped" he and the Nukes around the world, Microwave Dave returns with a fresh blast of blues that flies in the face of those guitar hotshots who take themselves too seriously.

Whether allowing his swirling slide guitar to steal the accordion lick on Clevland Crochet's "Sugar Bee" or laughing while his leering cornet eggs on his underclad beloved on "Hat," Microwave Dave utilizes great songs to keep the joy of the blues on the front burner while members of the legendary Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section provide the heat with master producer Johnny Sandlin keeping all the ingredients in proper porportion throughout Dave's new solo effort, WOULDN'T LAY MY GUITAR DOWN.

Very few modern guitarists can play in the blues trio format without invoking a heavy debt to SRV, but Microwave Dave is one--his rhythm playing bubbles, chunks and crackles, never sounding like something to do 'til time for the ride.' The solos themselves propel pianistic flurries and trills on top of the requisite string bending, evoking Professor Longhair on the hilarious parade prayer "I Want My Rib Back" and quoting Thelonious Monk on Roosevelt Sykes' seldom-heard "Don't Care Blues." The album's dedication to Bobby Bland is borne on the late-night lounge reading of "Soon As The Weather Breaks," (a composition Bland actually got credit for writing), and blues musicians everywhere will relate to the ironic "King Of The Blues" with it's weird shuffle and...what, no solo?

Microwave Dave pays tribute to his blues mentor, Johnny Shines, with percolating slide while Roger Hawkins and David Hood host the cook-out on "Dynaflow Blues." Fellow Alabamian Eddy Clearwater must wonder at how hard this trio rocks his "Wouldn't Lay My Guitar Down," while their roadhouse rollick rescues "Sentimental Journey" from the elevator and flings it back on the dance floor.

The most serious note struck on the album comes on "Don't Throw My Baby Away," Dave's homegrown solo tune about a torn man's plea to his lover, begging her to not terminate a pregnancy. With it's chilling guitar and determined vocal, this work stands as a sharp rejoinder to those who say there is nothing new to write a blues song about. Dave returns to the solo format on the gentler, partied-too-hard "Stumblin' Home" which tucks in this disc and kisses it good night.

Critics who contend that the blues trio format is ready for burial need to look here. Resurrection is at hand.

reviews

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  • Hat is a FUN song....
    author: debi hyde

    I personally love this song because it is written by some good old friends of mine, Scott Boyer and Topper Price. And Topper can belt it out, too! And if Topper hadn't told me about it, I wouldn't have gotten to hear Microwave Dave sing it.

  • first microwave Dave Really liked it .
    author: Bill Billingsly

    I liked the CD. It was my first of Daves and it was very well done. I liked ti progression of the music the way it picked up all the way through. Bill

  • Excellent, moving, rocking blues!
    author: Mark Riley

    I have already enjoyed the CD, been wanting to get some "Microwave" ever since I heard the group at the Savannah Blues Club in '99!

  • awesome
    author: greg mahan

    great cd i thought it had heart soul and mind put into every song

  • His axe drips seductive honey---his taste in covers is impeccable.
    author: Robert Fontenot/Blues Revue July/Aug 2001

    It may seem odd for a bluesman to name himself after an ultramodern symbol of household convenience, but damned if it doesn't fit---David Gallaher's guitar certainly sounds as if it's been heated by questionable but powerful methods. Listen to that watery, angry squawk he wields throughout Wouldn't Lay My Guitar Down---Regardless, he didn't pop up fully formed: Microwave Dave has backed up Johnny Shines and Bo Diddley, and basically appeared at any Southern roots-music festival that would have him. He's been a journeyman, in other words, and the music on his first true solo album is plenty tight as a result. You can hear the Diddley all over his sprightly cover of Dee Clark's "Hey! Little Girl" (not much of a surprise, of course, but still solid), and his axe drips seductive honey all over his cover of Bobby "Blue" Bland's "Soon As The Weather Breaks." Like microwaved food, some of this seems reheated and slightly rubbery. . .but his taste in covers is impeccable (his version of Roosevelt Sykes' "Don't Care Blues" is swamp pop in extremis), and he even pulls out a shiny new original in the raw "Don't Throw My Baby Away." . . .if you're looking for wiry, tightly wound good-time raunch, this'll fill you up.

  • Rife with crackling songs that bounce off a variety of bases, all of 'em apt to
    author: Tom Clarke/Hittin' The Note Spring 2001

    Alabama's Microwave Dave can't help send sparks-a-flyin' when he applies heat to his six steel strings. Contrary to what his moniker might imply though, you can like Dave's sparks to those that spray from a backwoods bonfire or a roadhouse grill, not some device. When he sings "No big fat record company lookin' at me out there 'cause I'm a little bit short on that long blonde hair," he sums up his mission plainly. This guy just loves to cut loose-no pretenses allowed. That same song, "King Of The Blues," begins with the lyrics "Well I love Duane Allman and I love Stevie Ray." That about says it all! Produced with zest and clarity by Johnny Sandlin, Wouldn't Lay My Guitar Down is rife with crackling songs that bounce off a variety of bases, all of 'em apt to give the body a case of the shakes. In place of his regular band The Nukes, the steadfast Muscle Shoals rhythm section is on board matching Dave's growl on "Sugar Bee," stamping out a Bo Diddley rhythm on "Hey Little Girl" and sending the Eddy Clearwater-penned title track into caterwauling Chuck Berry territory.

  • Some excellent Alabama blues done up just right by a fine blues craftsman.
    author: George Seerdorf/ Big City Blues Feb-Mar 2001

    If you dig the late Johnny Shines, you might want to pick this disc up just for the fine rendition of "Dynaflow Blues" (track #10), so you can hear some fellow Alabamians properly saluting the chief. Back in 1976, Dave actually took a long afternoon lesson from Shines, which he obviously savored. He even captured it on audiotape, but that's another story Another surprise standout is a wonderfully quirky version of "Sentimental Journey" (track #11). Without question. Microwave Dave's new record will also delight Lonnie Mack fans everywhere the way the first cut, "Sugar Bee," indulges itself in that special blend of distortion and tremolo, done well enough here to provoke a king-sized Mac attack. Cut two goes straight to Texas with a Buddy Holly knockoff called "Hey Little Girl," which taps into a Peggie Sue sensibility and carries a lyric that connects with the proverbial high school sweater in the sky. Cut three, which is also the title cut, connects with classic Chuck Berry, done very tastefully and quite effectively. Cut four, "Hat," goes straight to Memphis for some nice back-scratchin' guitar built around the premise of a sunbather wearing only a hat and some No. 8 sun screen. Cut five, "Soon As The Weather Breaks," heads up north for some tasty Chicago-style slow blues with "Stormy Monday" chord changes around a cold weather theme that reaches a little for an Albert Collins flavor minus the windshield scraping. Finally with cut six, we get to hear Microwave Dave himself must be all about with some excellent Alabama blues done up just right by a fine blues craftsman, here aided with some radioactive assistance from Nukes Rick Godfrey and Skip Skipworth, pictured with Dave on the flip side of the liner notes. The effort was recorded at Duck Tape Studios in Decatur, AL, and produced by Johnny Sandlin. This is a very tasty CD with a wonderful late '50s/early '60s feel to it and more than adequate vocals throughout. There are 12 tunes in all and each one is highly listenable. Pop it in your changer and drive with it a while. You won't be sorry.

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