CD - Nick Curran "Player"

Nick Curran's career has been on a meteoric rise since the release of his Blind Pig Records debut, Doctor Velvet, winner of the 2004 W.C. Handy Award for "Best New Artist Debut". He's an original new talent who has captured a golden musical moment in time and made it his own. On Player! Nick returns with another superb package of skillfully blended vintage R&B, outrageous jump blues, and down-and-dirty garage rock. With the sophistication of T-Bone Walker and the abandon of Little Richard, Curran infuses each track with urgency and exuberance. Special guests include Fabulous Thunderbird Kim Wilson and The Providence Horns.

Curran makes both Getting It Right and Getting the Spirit seem easy; his retro blues doesn't give off so much as a whiff of the moldy fig, but neither does he descend into camp, parody, or self-parody. A recovering rockabilly, his heart is with the jump 'n' jive of Wynonie Harris ("Down Boy Down," the instrumental "The Groovy Jam"), but he can also raise a ruckus like Little Richard ("Heeby Jeebies"), head for Chicago (Little Walter's "Crazy Mixed Up World," "Leavin'"), or ease into a classy Duke-Peacock groove (Bobby Bland's "Honey Bee"). As a guitarist, he is solidly in the T-Bone Walker/B.B. King style, but with enough quirks that it never sounds like slavish imitation. His originals hold their own with the chestnuts, and he's such an assured vocalist that ballads like "Come Back" come off as well as the rockers. You'd be hard-pressed to find another album that's as much flat-out fun. --John Morthland

Track List:

1. Player

2. Honey Bee

3. What About Love

4. Evenin'

5. She's Evil

6. The Groovy Jam

7. No Fun

8. The Stalker 

9. Down Boy Down 

10. Leavin"

11. Good Luck

12. Come Back

13. Crazy Mixed Up World

14. Heeby Jeebies