Events for September 2022 › Blues

Billy Thompson

September 11, 2022 @ 8:30 pm
Genre: Blues
$5 cover

San Diego Blues Society: Any Billy Thompson CD is welcomed with open arms, simply because he is a great guitarist, soulful singer and creative songwriter. The former San Diegan certainly doesn’t disappoint on this latest outing. There ís a full 60 minutes here on Friend  with 11 originals (some with lyrics by Kristen Trump), plus a song (Garden) borrowed from his homeboy Joey Harris and a cover of the Bill Withers classic. Ain’t No Sunshine, that gives Thompson freedom to display his considerable vocal skills.Brimming with talent, Thompson’s music is laden with layers that allow him to flow from blues to funk to soul to rock seamlessly. His songwriting has never been better, with personal introspections such as Friend and Farmer Kenny and the social commentary Many Faces. Testimony to Thompson’s talent is the variety of first-take musicians he ís lined up to help, led by keyboardist Billy Payne and bassist Kenny Gradney from Little Feat, keyboard player Mike Finnigan (Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker and Crosby, Stills & Nash), bassist Hutch Hutchinson (Neville Brothers, Bonnie Raitt) and sax player Ron Holloway (Warren Haynes, Susan Tedeschi and Gil Scott Heron). Satisfied finds Thompson in a familiar framework, spinning a Little Feat-styled New Orleans street rocker. But this is legitimate stuff with Feats keyboardist Payne and bassist Gradney backing Thompson’s vocals and searing slide guitar. The rocket-like song is propelled forward by drummer Eric Selby’s insistent beat. An interesting thing about Thompson’s slide playing is that he Doesn’t resort to careless and indulgent slide excesses, but he uses it in the context of songs when it can add to the music. It’s a recipe missed by far too many slide guitarists. -Michael Kinsman, www.blusd.org