Funny sometimes how a genre like the Blues, often labelled as The Devil's Music, it can walk hand in hand with songs about religious themes in perfect harmony, demystifying completely the unreasonable nickname given to the Blues.
Even when the Blues gets drenched with tinges of Gospel, its message and communicative power transcend any form of popular legend attributed to a genre which has largely proved, through the decades, to carry a powerful link between the need of human beings of having a spiritual guide and their constant search for inner peace within.
In that respect, the 66-years-old American Blues-Rock veteran guitarist Kid Ramos, an authentic authority of the genre that has been performing both as a solo artist and as a luxury sideman for other artists for over 45 years, has done a rather splendid job on his brand new solo album called Strange Things Happening, a record where the very talented veteran guitarist showcases 12 songs all inspired by the relationship between human beings and God, interlocking Blues and Gospel in a very effective and inspired fashion.
Ramos, who strangely has recorded only 6 albums in his career (including his new one) as a solo artist, was inspired to put together an album that would touch on religious aspects by one of Ramos' old friends, a pastor that candidly asked him to record a new album that would refer to the aforementioned aspects.
The American Blues-Rock Maestro did not lose any time to group together two singers, for his album, Ramos' talented son Johnny and Brian Templeton, another old and equally talented friend of Ramos coming from the Massachusetts music scene, plus an array of greatly skilled musicians, such as Hammond and piano player Dave Limina, Mike Turturro on bass, Stephen Hodges on drums and percussions and Takazo and Kaizo Hall on trumpet, to complete the line-up of Ramos' studio band as part of the making of Strange Things Happening.
For his brand new record, Ramos decided to opt for songs written by other artists that would reflect well enough the concept behind Strange Things Happening, choosing songs from fellow artists like Bob Dylan, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Soul Stitrrers guitarist Arthur Lee Crume, Brian Templeton himself and many more.
Ramos' new musical venture proved to be a complete success on many different level; while the class and talent of Kid Ramos himself is absolutely undisputed and shines throughout the whole of Strange Things Happening, the choice of choosing two singers radically different (in terms of vocal range) from one another, like Johnny Ramos and Brian Templeton, it works incredibly well in terms of interpretation style and soulfulness present in all their vocal performances, particularly in songs like Oh, What A Meeting and God Walks The Dark Hills from Johnny Ramos and Every Grain Of Sand and Jesus Dropped The Charges from Templeton, among others.
The careful musical balance crafted so well by Kid Ramos between Gospel and Blues also allows other musicians to display their enormous skills, within the album, in particular that of Dave Limina, with his piano and Hammond remarkable body of work that helped to add a further "House Of God feeling" to the songs part of this rather exquisite record.
Kid Ramos works his socks off at every point of his new record, with the American artist penning not only highly effective arrangements but also displaying his usual enormous musicianship on guitar, particularly on songs like Oh, What A Meeting, Nobody But The Lord and More Love, More Power, in our personal opinion.
Ballsy, inspired, evocative and soulful, Strange Things Happening is the perfect demonstration that Blues and the word of God can live together in total symbiosis and the confirmation, once more, of the breathtaking talent of an artist like Kid Ramos.
Strange Things Happening is out now and it is available to be purchased via Nola Blue Records
