Dave Riley & Bob Corritore
Lucky To Be Living
Blue Witch Records – daverileybluesman.com
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also available on amazon
The chemistry between these two is evident right from the opening cut “Jelly Roll King” and stays with these two throughout the disc, this is also the first of four Frank Frost songs these two do. This disc is a beautiful melding of their two disparate yet cohesive styles; Bob was born and raised up in Chicago and learned his harmonica chops on Maxwell Street from many of those who blazed the trails such as Big Walter Horton and Junior Wells. Dave Riley was born down in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and spent his early years learning gospel started playing guitar and moved to Chicago as a teenager and eventually teamed up with Sam Carr, Frank Frost, and John Weston and they moved back to the Delta. This is their second disc together and the two of them just surround themselves with friends and cut loose on a variety of acoustic and electric blues, it is a relaxed and yet intense melding of city and country blues. These are the down and dirty
blues that you hear about with an ample burst of fire just to let you know that “it is the devil’s music.” These two cut loose on a variety of tunes that amount to 10; as well as the 4 by Frank Frost you also have 4 by Dave Riley, and one each by John Weston and Fred James. There is a joy and simpatico that is apparent throughout this disc, and some excellent musicians join them. Henry Gray kicks in with some great piano on 3 cuts and Chris James joins in with some wicked guitar on those same three cuts. Everyone gets their chance to cut loose and they do with a fiery vengeance that just amps up the rest of the players. A sure fire crowd pleaser here.