Backtrack Blues Band

Make My Home In Florida

This long running Florida based quintet consists of Sonny Charles on harmonica and vocals, Kid Royal on lead guitar and vocals, Little Johnny Walter on rhythm guitar and vocals, Stick Davis on bass, and Joe Bencomo on drums. This CD/DVD combo, recorded live at the Palladium Theatre in St Petersburg, Florida on January 6 2017, features a nice mix of covers of classic Blues, and originals. The album is a “production presented in an honest fashion, no enhancements, overdubs or studio edits.”

“We try to keep our blues a bit more in the traditional vein” says Sonny a co-founder of the band. “I’d say the rhythm and harp are more Chicago-influenced, while the lead guitar is heavily Texas-flavored. That combination works well for us.”

That became clear the first time I heard the lead song of the album, a cover of Sonny Boy Williamson’s (#2) “Checkin On My Baby”. This is also the first time that I notice Sonny sometimes sounds like the late Quebec Blues artist Bob Walsh when he sings, which is not a bad thing at all.

The second cut, B.B. Kings “Woke Up This Morning” is the first of two that show off the vocal talents of Canadian native Kid Royal. The other being the cover of T Bone Walker’s “T-Bone Shuffle”, where Kid also delivers on the guitar, “stretching in directions that would have surprised even T-Bone himself”, as so aptly put by Blues author Bill Dahl.

There is also another Sonny Boy cover, a mid-tempo version of “Your Funeral and My Trial”, which helps cement the connection between these two acts. The final cover is a great rendition of Little Walter’s “Nobody But You”, where again I hear the similarity to Bob, and a killer harmonica.

That leaves four original cuts on the album, including the title song, “Make My Home in Florida”, where they express their love for where they live. “Heavy Butt Woman” is a shuffle “extolling the virtues of a woman that is anything but a stick figure” to again quote Mr Dahl. 

Sonny keeps a home on an island in the Caribbean. The rocking shuffle “Shoot My Rooster“ was derived from his island experiences. As Sonny explained, “On that island, we have lots of wild animals that roam the island and keep us entertained: donkeys, goats, iguanas and chickens are everywhere. At my place, a feral rooster hung out, and crowed loudly every morning. A friend said I should shoot the rooster. I never did pull the trigger, but it did inspire me to write a new tune.”

The album finishes with a booty-shaking “Tell Your Daddy”, which starts with a catchy groove, switching to a “walking glide” for Kid Royals solo, then back to the original groove for Sonny’s harmonica.

As writer/author Bill Dahl summarizes in the package’s liner notes, “Whether they’re cooking up a dynamic original or reviving a hallowed classic, the Backtrack Blues Band has a sound all its own. This exciting in-concert collection is the next best thing to experiencing them in the flesh!”

Now to go watch the DVD.