Search - Jelly Roll Kings :: Off Yonder Wall

Raw blues, cuts to the bone.

11/19/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album is gritty, funky and loud. The Jelly Roll Kings are not afraid to get their hands dirty, in fact, they know you've got to spray some dirt around to play the blues right. Lead guitarist and vocalist Big Jack Johnson is creative and quirky on this album. He lets loose falsetto sobs and yodels on two of the tracks and his guitar-work comes in piercing attacks. Frank Frost, who takes one vocal, plays some funky keyboards throughout. Sam Carr's presence is felt on every track as he mans the drums. Many of the tracks that these three pump out are wonderful originals, such as Frank Frost Blues and Fishin' Musicians. And their work with standards like That's Alright (which opens with a fierce progression of amped up guitar notes) and Look Over Yonder Wall is very much done with Jelly Roll Kings stamped all over it. You are not going to get the same old rehashed blues.Don't be fooled if some of my descriptions don't sound like the blues albums you envision. This album is possibly the truest to blues tradition that has come out in a long time. This album has the energy and emotion that is the blues' trademark. Off Yonder Wall does not feature some over-produced crooner, with a gaggle of backup singers behind him. Nor is it a musician copying blues originals lick for lick and singing in cheap imitation of the original artist but with half the energy. Yes, you can hear the Kings mumbling, humming and sometimes laughing just below the music. This is not a slick album, but it's got that emotion, that feeling that makes listening to the blues the visceral experience it is. This is something that you can hear. It will come out of your speakers and infect your soul."

The Common Man Blues

mrimar@indy.tds.net | back home, Indiana | 01/13/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The first time I heard the Jelly Roll Kings was in Memphis live. I knew right away I had to take some home with me. OFF YONDER WALL does not disappoint the common man with a bent for the real BLUES !"

Move yo' bootay!

"Ian Herrick" | San Jose, CA | 12/13/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of my all-time favorite blues albums (and that's saying a lot). This is the kind of music I put on at the end of a long day at work when I'm tired and cynical but I want to MOVE 'cause I need to get stuff done. The King's music will move you in more ways than one-- everything in the music is infused with rhythm and SOUL. When I try to describe the music, words won't suffice. Listen to it and be awed -- by Big Jack's singing and guitar playing, by Sam Carr's drumming -- etc etc."