Artist: John Nemeth
Album: Stronger Than Strong
Label: Nola Blue
Release Date: 10.16.2020
John Nemeth has a blues tour de force with his tenth and latest album release, Stronger Than Strong. With a singular voice that’s instantly recognizable in the world of soul and blues, Nemeth’s albums are constantly evolving, showcasing songwriting with wit and social wisdom, mixing irresistible dance grooves and soulful ballads. This project was done with his core touring band, The Blue Dreamers, with Nemeth on vocals and harp, Jon Hay on guitar and harmony vocals, Matthew Wilson on bass and harmony vocals and Danny Banks on drums and harmony vocals. Recorded fresh off a hot European tour, it communicates the crispness and the all-out party atmosphere of their tight live show, a feeling it comes by honestly: it was recorded analog, “live on the floor” with real time dynamics at Electrophonic studios in Memphis.
Nemeth has compiled a legacy in the blues already, with 20 Blues Music Award nominations, five of which are for the pinnacle category of “Entertainer of the Year.” He has taken home the win for Soul Blues Album and Soul Blues Male Artist of the Year. When this blues tenor opens his mouth, his high notes are perfect, soulfully sweet and reminiscent of Sam Cooke, with lyrics parallel to Bobby Blue Bland’s. A master of the chromatic harmonica, he uses it as another vocal in his songs, cascading notes that rise to hang in the air with perfection.
Variety is the spice of life. The record opens with “Come and Take It,” a deep Delta groove blues barker featuring the fuzzy sounds of resonator guitar with the slide scratching the strings. It is a two-barreled, hip-shaking, gunslinging song filled with double entendre sexual innuendoes and layered with a John Lee Hooker call and response. The surrealist song “The Fountain of a Man” has vivid wordplay imagery on top of a strong tremolo interplay with guitar, drums and harmonica. “Sometimes” features Nemeth’s voice finding the deepest depth of a soul on this Junior Parker B-side rarity. “Throw Me in the Water” is a gospel infused baptism about surviving the muddy waters of the blues and the music industry. “Chain Breaker Blues” is a boogie dance number with deep political and social overtones about breaking the doctrine.
One of the strongest singles from the album, “Bars,” came into fruition when Nemeth’s son asked “Why are there bars on some windows?” The child’s question sparked a musical social discourse on what is happening in the world today: incarceration, oppression and depression. Memphis has always been an epicenter for social movements, from Martin Luther King to the recordings of the Staple Singers. “Bars” could bring tears to the Statue of Liberty.
The album ends with a fun number called “Sweep the Shack” a verbal tribute to several classic blues riffs.
Stronger Than Strong is a record for everyone. Everyone who buys it, loves it and grooves to it might not wind up stronger than strong, but they’ll be stronger than they were before.
—Laura Carbone
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