When I started my blog Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries, one of the first young blues artist whose music I explored was Sean Chambers. At that time he had just released his album Ten Til Midnight, initially, I couldn’t find the album on any of the music sites I use, so I listened instead to his 2007 release Humble Spirits and I was very, very impressed by his musicianship. What I didn’t know at the time was that from 1998-2003 Sean had toured with Hubert Sumlin, played lead guitar and was his band director! Sean was also named “One of the top 50 blues guitarists of the last century” by Britain’s Guitarist magazine. So by the time he released Ten Til Midnight Sean had a pretty good resume going!
Sean’s next album Live from the Long Island Blues Warehouse was released in 2011 and that resume got better.The album was voted “Best Live Blues Album of 2011” by Canada’s Blues Underground Network and ranked as one of the Top 3 Live CD’s in Germany by the magazine Wasser Prawda.In addition it was nominated for a Jimi Award for “Best Live Blues Album of 2011.” This lead to Guitar Player Magazine to do a full page feature story on Sean in February, 2012, and the same month Vintage Guitar Magazine ran a two page feature story!
So now we’re up to Sean’s latest release The Rock House Sessions,that I somehow missed in October of last year! I just encountered the album somewhere on the net and it’s been in my rotation since then and I love the album. According to Sean’s website the album is full of firsts. The initial first is that this is the first album Sean has recorded solo, prior to this album, he had always been billed as the Sean Chambers Band. It’s the fist album recorded in Nashville and produced by Reese Wynnans who is a member of Double Trouble who played with Stevie Ray Vaughan! and the final first if there is such a thing is that this is the first time Sean has used session musicians on an album. The band includes of course Sean on lead vocals and guitar, Reese Wynans on keyboards, Tommy MacDonald on bass and Tom Hambridge on drums. Special guests include Rob McNelley on guitar, TJ Klay on harmonica, Chaz Trippy on percussion, Etta Britt on backing vocals, Bob Britt on guitar, Steve Herman on trumpet, and Jim Hoke on sax!!
The tracks on the album include three Chambers originals, “Holding On” written by Gary Moore; and “Come to Poppa,” written by Willie Mitchell and Earl Randle but made famous by Bob Seger, and the one that stands out to me as a fan of Alvin Lee and Ten Years After “Choo Choo Mama” What’s funny at least to me is, as I listened to the first several tracks and heard the interplay between Chambers guitar and Wynnan’s keyboards, the playing of Alvin Lee, Chick Churchill and Ten Years After quickly entered my mind! Then I got to “Choo Choo Mama”that closes the album!! The remaining tracks on the album are new songs by Gary Nicholson, Tom Hambridge, Kenny Greenberg and Rick Vito. Oh yeah and the album was recorded at the studio of another acclaimed keyboardist – Kevin McKendree (Delbert McClinton Band) – named The Rock House, hence The Rock House Sessions.
Overall, it is another outstanding album from Chambers and possibly his best work yet!! So as I always say check out Sean’s work!!
Website:Seanchambers.com
Facebook: Sean Cambers Band
Myspace: Sean Chambers Band
Amazon: The Rock House Sessions
And I just have to end with Sean playing Alvin Lee’s “Choo Choo Mama”