SCOTT H. BIRAM – NOTHIN’ BUT BLOOD
2014 – Bloodshot
Records
Dirty blues and dirty country, it’s all the same to Scott H. Biram, a man who has, since the very beginning of this 21st century, made consistently powerful and uniformly excellent albums of roots music. If you have a love for the mellow side of country or blues you should not go within a mile of this album, although it would certainly broaden your horizons if you did! In fact it just might be the wake up call that you need!
This is Scott’s eighth full album of raw, yet melodic roots music, that whilst very much a modern recording also emphasizes the music’s roots that are embedded in a time when there was very little generic difference between ‘hillbilly’ music and the blues. Many of the old time hillbilly musicians were as likely to learn their chops from an old black musician as they were a white one and in some cases vice versa. In general terms they all came from similar poverty stricken backgrounds and the music around at the time was all thrown into the melting pot. It is really only the world of commerce and racisicm that originally dictated the split into all of the various sub genres within roots music. Scott Biram’s music is very firmly rooted in those days before the split, making it a more powerful experience than many of his peers can hope to match. Of course, this is helped by the raw vocals and exacerbated by the sheer and often sinister passion in his songs and performances. By the same token his songs also contain an intense melodicism whilst never losing the raw and often aggressive elements that are certainly not for the faint hearted!
This album ranges from mellow, or as near as he will ever get to mellow, country/folk to something that can only be described as heavy metal, with blues, blues rock, hillbilly, country, ……………. well, you get the idea. Nothing that has any formula to it, just fiery, often otherworldly state of consciousness roots music that is frequently a primordial stew of fire and passion! Many of the songs on this album are assaulted rather than played and yet where he shows a little restraint he proves that he is as capable as anyone of inhabiting a song and almost providing a little tenderness without simply attacking it. There is a complete lack of blandness but any potential listener should know that whilst the above statements are (to me at least!) true, those peeks at sensitivity are something that adds hugely to the power and diversity of the music, even if that emotion is more rooted in a macho persona than exploring his ‘feminine side!’
Of the fourteen songs on the album eight are Scott originals, whilst the remaining six serve to explain his musical roots and influences, being penned by artists such as Mance Lipscomb, Willie Dixon and Doc Watson and with a few traditional songs added to the stew. His completely uncompromising style even brings a uniqueness to the old songs and when you think those songs veer from an almost mellow Doc Watson song to the sheer driving aggression of heavy metal, they are all done so convincingly that he could excel in any musical field of his choosing. Of course, that is never going to happen to this extraordinary one man band for whom experimenting with a variety of styles seems to be his lifeblood!
After the almost mellow, laid back, sparse blues opener of Slow And Easy, a little fieriness is starting to creep in on Gotta Get To Heavan, another excellent song that kicks off with nice acoustic guitar before being joined by a melodic electric guitar and Scott’s raw vocal on the tale of someone who finally sees his mortality and realizes that as a sinner he needs to seek some redemption if he is not to end up in hell! Next up is Mance Lipscomb’s Alcohol Blues, with Scott’s version being as uncompromising a piece of blues rock as can be imagined. His vocals couldn’t possibly be more evocative on a song about the revenge of an aggressive man for being two timed, with some tremendous crashing, slashing guitar work. Had it been written 50 years ago it would have fitted on the ‘Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton’ album, but it would have needed some toning down! Never Comin’ Home is a shock to the system after the raw power of the prievious song. It slows right down to just acoustic guitar and a tremendous emotion drenched vocal on a song that contains a little tenderness on a sad ‘classic’ country song of regret. Nam Weed is propelled by just Scott’s acoustic guitar on a drugs song that could be straight out of the 1970s anti Vietnam movement, although thematically this is a looking back song rather than being in that particularly harrowing moment in American history. Further diversity is added by Willie Dixon’s Backdoor Man with it’s lovely chugging, dark electric guitar accompaniment on a song that genuinely evokes the ghost of the late great Howlin’ Wolf, with Scott’s deep dark vocal at it’s sinister best on this Dixon classic! Finally the last three songs are all powerful gospel tales, two of them, Amazing Grace and John The Revelator being genuine greats, but sandwiched between the two is Scott’s When I Die a song that more than holds it’s own in this exalted company! The lovely chiming melodic electric guitar is accompanied by acoustic guitar and Scott’s raw vocal on a gospel song that sounds as old as the hills making it almost impossible to believe it was actually penned by Scott. The song is eventually joined by a tremendous deep twangy guitar that only enhances it’s power. I can imagine this potentially classic gospel song will be picked up by many singers and choirs. Great song and a great performance!
It’s difficult to sum up an album of such varied, raw, often ferocious passion. His totally uncompromising style and desire to wander from one sub genre to another makes Scott H. Biram a unique artist totally at home in his own musical skin. The recording is unlikely to be a multi million seller, although it should be, thus allowing all music fans to hear just what a modern day artist at the top of his game can do with old styles for which he has the same depth of feeling as the originators. A truly spectacular album that I for one will never tire of. Buy a copy and get the Scott H. Biram bandwagon rolling. As more and more people hear this music that wagon should pick up speed and become unstoppable!
http://scottbiram.com/
Dirty blues and dirty country, it’s all the same to Scott H. Biram, a man who has, since the very beginning of this 21st century, made consistently powerful and uniformly excellent albums of roots music. If you have a love for the mellow side of country or blues you should not go within a mile of this album, although it would certainly broaden your horizons if you did! In fact it just might be the wake up call that you need!
This is Scott’s eighth full album of raw, yet melodic roots music, that whilst very much a modern recording also emphasizes the music’s roots that are embedded in a time when there was very little generic difference between ‘hillbilly’ music and the blues. Many of the old time hillbilly musicians were as likely to learn their chops from an old black musician as they were a white one and in some cases vice versa. In general terms they all came from similar poverty stricken backgrounds and the music around at the time was all thrown into the melting pot. It is really only the world of commerce and racisicm that originally dictated the split into all of the various sub genres within roots music. Scott Biram’s music is very firmly rooted in those days before the split, making it a more powerful experience than many of his peers can hope to match. Of course, this is helped by the raw vocals and exacerbated by the sheer and often sinister passion in his songs and performances. By the same token his songs also contain an intense melodicism whilst never losing the raw and often aggressive elements that are certainly not for the faint hearted!
This album ranges from mellow, or as near as he will ever get to mellow, country/folk to something that can only be described as heavy metal, with blues, blues rock, hillbilly, country, ……………. well, you get the idea. Nothing that has any formula to it, just fiery, often otherworldly state of consciousness roots music that is frequently a primordial stew of fire and passion! Many of the songs on this album are assaulted rather than played and yet where he shows a little restraint he proves that he is as capable as anyone of inhabiting a song and almost providing a little tenderness without simply attacking it. There is a complete lack of blandness but any potential listener should know that whilst the above statements are (to me at least!) true, those peeks at sensitivity are something that adds hugely to the power and diversity of the music, even if that emotion is more rooted in a macho persona than exploring his ‘feminine side!’
Of the fourteen songs on the album eight are Scott originals, whilst the remaining six serve to explain his musical roots and influences, being penned by artists such as Mance Lipscomb, Willie Dixon and Doc Watson and with a few traditional songs added to the stew. His completely uncompromising style even brings a uniqueness to the old songs and when you think those songs veer from an almost mellow Doc Watson song to the sheer driving aggression of heavy metal, they are all done so convincingly that he could excel in any musical field of his choosing. Of course, that is never going to happen to this extraordinary one man band for whom experimenting with a variety of styles seems to be his lifeblood!
After the almost mellow, laid back, sparse blues opener of Slow And Easy, a little fieriness is starting to creep in on Gotta Get To Heavan, another excellent song that kicks off with nice acoustic guitar before being joined by a melodic electric guitar and Scott’s raw vocal on the tale of someone who finally sees his mortality and realizes that as a sinner he needs to seek some redemption if he is not to end up in hell! Next up is Mance Lipscomb’s Alcohol Blues, with Scott’s version being as uncompromising a piece of blues rock as can be imagined. His vocals couldn’t possibly be more evocative on a song about the revenge of an aggressive man for being two timed, with some tremendous crashing, slashing guitar work. Had it been written 50 years ago it would have fitted on the ‘Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton’ album, but it would have needed some toning down! Never Comin’ Home is a shock to the system after the raw power of the prievious song. It slows right down to just acoustic guitar and a tremendous emotion drenched vocal on a song that contains a little tenderness on a sad ‘classic’ country song of regret. Nam Weed is propelled by just Scott’s acoustic guitar on a drugs song that could be straight out of the 1970s anti Vietnam movement, although thematically this is a looking back song rather than being in that particularly harrowing moment in American history. Further diversity is added by Willie Dixon’s Backdoor Man with it’s lovely chugging, dark electric guitar accompaniment on a song that genuinely evokes the ghost of the late great Howlin’ Wolf, with Scott’s deep dark vocal at it’s sinister best on this Dixon classic! Finally the last three songs are all powerful gospel tales, two of them, Amazing Grace and John The Revelator being genuine greats, but sandwiched between the two is Scott’s When I Die a song that more than holds it’s own in this exalted company! The lovely chiming melodic electric guitar is accompanied by acoustic guitar and Scott’s raw vocal on a gospel song that sounds as old as the hills making it almost impossible to believe it was actually penned by Scott. The song is eventually joined by a tremendous deep twangy guitar that only enhances it’s power. I can imagine this potentially classic gospel song will be picked up by many singers and choirs. Great song and a great performance!
It’s difficult to sum up an album of such varied, raw, often ferocious passion. His totally uncompromising style and desire to wander from one sub genre to another makes Scott H. Biram a unique artist totally at home in his own musical skin. The recording is unlikely to be a multi million seller, although it should be, thus allowing all music fans to hear just what a modern day artist at the top of his game can do with old styles for which he has the same depth of feeling as the originators. A truly spectacular album that I for one will never tire of. Buy a copy and get the Scott H. Biram bandwagon rolling. As more and more people hear this music that wagon should pick up speed and become unstoppable!
http://scottbiram.com/