Delicious Blues Stew is a fun band with a Cajun-Zydeco-rockin' blues feel. Their musicality and off-the-wall antics earned them a place as a past finalist in the International Blues Talent Competition in Memphis. Veteran Louisiana harp/frottoir player Shannon Williford, bassman Scott "Patio Daddio" Achord, and drummer Tom Larson have combined with Nashville session guitarist Brian Fechino on the band's debut CD "Stewed Alive."
The album mainly documents a performance described by Williford as "one of the strangest gigs that we ever did . . . in front of a handful of elderly country folks . . . (who) didn't understand Stew at all, nor did we understand them." Though it may not have been their favorite gig, it does a great job of showing how hard the band works.
You wonder how much dancin' the crowd did, because the disc will move your feet. "The Levee's Gone Dry" describes fishin' — in a Cajun-styled blues. "Chicken" and "Communicate" are incorrectly listed on the CD cover, but that doesn't detract from the sound. "Communicate" is appropriate, considering the audience, and provides a sing-along tune that should get an audience involved in the performance. "Chicken" is a hilarious examination of fowl calls. Yet don't think these guys just play around; "San Antonio" is a wickedly haunting bluesy treatment of long-distance love.
But I'm sorry: Their disc can't do justice to the show they deliver to an appreciative crowd. Even so, it would be worth it to have an example of some good N'awlins' stew.
Editors note: This album can be found in Museka, a store of Southern independent artists. Southern Sounds and Museka are mutually exclusive entities.
