The Name Droppers

Let’s Live Together

Horizon Music Group

The Name Droppers are a tightly knit quartet of veteran New England musicians who have traveled a long and winding road in shaping their multiple talents into a high-octane blend of blues, R&B, soul, and good old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll. The group came together in the 1980s as Charlie Karp and the Name Droppers, with the Connecticut-based Karp being a seasoned guitarist, a prolific songwriter, and an Emmy-winning producer. After Karp’s passing in 2019, the remaining Name Droppers stuck together: songwriter/guitarist Rafe Klein; pianist Ron Rifkin; bassist Scott Spray; and drummer Bobby “T” Torello.

Scott Spray was Johnny Winter’s longest-running bass player; his bass work on Winter’s final album, Step Back, earned him a Grammy for Best Blues Album in 2015. Torello was the former drummer for Winter; he has also toured with Michael Bolton, Grace Slick, Black Oak Arkansas, and the Jay Willie Blues Band. Torello was inducted into both the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame and the New England Music Hall of Fame.

Rafe Klein is a songwriter and guitarist who played alongside blues legend Karp and co-wrote many of the songs on Karp’s last album, Back to You (Red Parlor Records). He played on all five of the Name Droppers’ previous albums. Ron Rifkin is a keyboard powerhouse who has played on numerous sessions alongside Karp, both live and in the studio. His unique style and distinctive voice put him in high demand as a session player. Gospel singer Simone Brown is the background vocalist on the Name Droppers’ last two albums, 2024’s Starshine and 2025’s Cool Blue Shoes. Special guest Crispin Cioe (the Uptown Horns) plays saxophone on five tracks. Let’s Live Together, the Name Droppers’ sixth recording overall, is an energetic session of smartly crafted originals and creative covers. The album is produced by Vic Steffens.

Everything kicks off with guitarist Klein’s whimsical “Grey Haired Blues,” as Klein sings, “Yeah, it’s true my roof is covered in snow, don’t be fooled, there’s a fire below,” with some great piano from Rifkin as he solos. On the topical title track, “Let’s Live Together,” also written and sung by Klein, he chimes, “Lately we’ve seen a lot of sadness in the news, each Monday morning we wake up with the blues, have to find a way where we can do better…let’s live together.” Klein’s soulful vocal partners magically with Cioe’s soaring sax and Brown’s backing vocal.

On “Heartbreak City,” written and sung by keyboardist Ron Rifkin, he chants, “Don’t know what you’re looking for, don’t look back, cause it ain’t here no more,” with a guitar solo from Klein. Brown steps into the center-stage spotlight for a smoking reworking of Aretha Franklin’s classic “Chain of Fools,” written by Don Covay and recorded by Aretha in 1967: “For five long years, I thought you were my man, but I found out, I’m just a link in your chain. Chain, chain, chain, chain of fools,” as Spray lays down a strong bassline.

On “Gotta Serve Somebody,” the Bob Dylan classic first recorded in 1979, Klein takes the lead as he cries, “You may be an ambassador to England or France, you may like to gamble, you might like to dance, you may be the heavyweight champion of the world, you may be a socialite with a long string of pearls, but your gonna have to serve somebody…” The song is propelled by Rifkin’s churning Hammond organ, with a backing vocal from Brown.

“Don’t Cry Over Me” was written by Frank Durazzo and first released in 2022. The lead vocal is sung by guitarist Klein, as he belts, “You always wonder how I get along with out you…you see the picture from a different view than me, I see the picture the way my love has to be…don’t cry over me.” Once again, Rifkin is on the B-3 while sharing the backing vocal with Brown, guitarist Tim Dehuff, and saxophonist Cioe.

The band revisits two tracks from their Charlie Karp years: the salaciously sexy “Talk Dirty,” written by Charlie Karp, David Hull, and Arthur Resnick in 1987, as guitarist Klein demands, “hold me tight, talk dirty”; and “Love Lightnin’,” written by Karp, Klein, and Bruce Carter, with the lyric, “Even Lightning love runs thin when the money runs out, they say it don’t strike twice, but I wish it happens to me,” as Rifkin switches between organ and piano.

“Watch Pocket,” written by Torello, features special guest Jay Willie on slide guitar as Torello howls, “Baby since you’ve been gone, there’s a hole in my watch pocket, time keeps slipping away…I’ll get you back some way,” again with Rifkin on piano. The closer is “Mannish Boy,” written by Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield), Elias McDaniel (Bo Diddley), and record producer Mel London. Klein croons, “Everything gonna be alright this morning,” and Richard Hunter is featured on harmonica.

The Name Droppers have given us another great album, Let’s Live Together, as hopefully we “find a way where we can do better.” The Name Droppers seem to have found the way.

Richard Ludmerer

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