| Catfish Hodge, who launched his
solo blues career back in 1949 with the Epic album Get Down Ann, has
since collaborated with a number of blues-rockers in such Little Feat-inspired
hands as Chicken Legs and the Blues-busters, delivers his second disc for
Wildcat, the fledgling Los Angeles-based label that records mainly acts
with strong cult appeal. Like a Big Dog Barkin' is an impressive
outing that, with the exception of the harp-driven, hard-boiled boogie
‘Dead Presidents," doesn’t blast out of the speakers as much as ooze with
raw-honeyed soul.
The husky-voiced Hodge opens this disc with three catchy tunes—including "We Need Each Other," which bounces with a relaxed Taj Mahal-like lilt and "Blues Got the World," which moves in a cool groove—before slow-cooking into one of the album’s finger-lickin’ highlights, the greasy’n’gritty "Chicken in the Kitchen." The album’s strongest moments are reserved for the home stretch. Hodge goes the jazzy route on the gently swinging "Cut Me Loose" and lumbers through the booze-trouble blues rune "Messin’ With the Juices." The two songs that close are the best: the down-on-my-luck "Stinkin’ Thinking,’ with pop-blues vet Freebo pumping on the bass tuba and pianist Rick Solem tinkling the keys; and the tempo-shifting title cut, where pianist T. Lavitz (of Dixie Dregs and ‘Widespread Panic fame) deftly supports Hodge talking, belting, and blathering out the big-dog blues. —Dan Oulletee
|