Jay Willie Blues Band featuring Bobby T. Torello

Still Raisin’ Cane

Zoho Music

Connecticut based Jay Willie is the frontman for The Jay Willie Blues Band first formed in 2001 with Bobby T. Torello. They are a Texas styled blues band playing both traditional and contemporary blues. The JWBB released their debut recording in 2011 with former Stevie Ray Vaughan bassist Tommy Shannon. In 2013 they signed with Zoho music. This is Jay Willie’s seventh album for Zoho, the last being 2020’s “Cadillac Walk”. The album is  produced by Joachim “Jochen” Becker.

The lead off track “Still Raisin’ Cane” is the only original song on this album of covers. It was written by Jay Willie; with drummer Bobby T. Torello who played with Johnny Winter; and Paul Opalach, bass, guitar, lap steel, and keyboards. Rounding out the ensemble is Doug Bernstein, tenor sax; and Karen Johnstone, who sings on one track. “Rollin and tumblin’, just like a rolling stone, rollin and tumblin, and I’m still raisin’ cane …we were raisin’ cane and wide-eyed blues, I miss those days, honest I do, still raisin’ cane”. “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” is a song co-written and sung by Freddie Fender in 1960, “why should I keep lovin’ you…why should I call your name, when your makin’ me blue, why should I keep lovin’ you, when your to blame, for makin’ me blue”. “Boogie For Drums & Guitar” is a rollicking instrumental written by Paul McGhee, with Willie on slide, and some great drumming from Torello.

“Much Too Late” co-written by Tarheel Slim and Little Ann, features a vocal from  Johnstone, and the lyric “there was a time when I would do anything for you…but you drove me fro, your door. “Sugar In My Tea (Cream In My Coffee) was written by Piney Brown and Edna Price and recorded in 1960, “your the cream in my coffee, your the sugar in my tea…no matter what you do now, you’ll always belong to me”, with some  great sax from Bernstein. “Positively 4th Street” is the Bob Dylan classic performed with Harvey Brooks, Mike Bloomfield and Al Cooper, “you got a lotta nerve, you say you are my friend…you just wanna be on the side that’s winning”.

“I’m Lost Without You” is a piano blues written in 1964 by Memphis Slim, featured is Opalach on piano, as Willie sings “baby, you’ve been gone too long, so I wrote this song, what did I do , to cause you to leave me, I’m so all alone, I cry all night…what you want me to do, I’m lost without you”. “Stranger” was written and sung by Johnny Winter in 1974, Bobby T. played on the original, “Hello, pretty stranger, can I sit here for awhile, you know I’m kind of tired and lonesome, seems like I’ve been ten thousand miles, just  want to talk to you awhile, you know I’m not sure where I’m goin’ but I can tell you where I’ve been, but I guess it really doesn’t matter, I’m just lookin for a friend, I might not pass this way again”. On “Jesus Gonna Be Here” written by Tom Waits, Willie groans “well,  Jesus gonna be here, he gonna be here soon, he’s gonna cover us up with leaves with a blanket from the moon, with a promise and a vow, and a lullaby for my brow, well Jesus gonna be here, he gonna be here soon…I can hear him rolling on down the lane, I said ‘Hollywood be thy name’.

“Still Raisin’ Cane” honors the spirit and energy of Johnny Winter, as well as Freddie  Fender, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and other R n’ B artists. It is a celebration of the enduring power of the blues.

Richard Ludmerer
Contributing Editor/Making A Scene

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