StompTown Revival

StompTown Revival
Save the City Records

When I saw that producer/performer Brandon Bee and Circleslide front man Gabe Martinez had gotten together to create a blues-inspired Christian record, I have to say I was surprised. While Martinez, with roots in San Antonio, Texas, has some credibility as a blues harp player, I’d never noticed Bee having a down-home bluesy bone in his body. How wrong I was. They’ve managed to produce a very satisfying blues record by combining ripping blues harp; slide guitar that could be at home on a forties 78 record; dirty, driving guitars; moving Christ-centric lyrics; Bee’s trademark acoustic guitar and clean vocals; and Martinez’s raw rock voice. It’s quite a melding — one that I bet you’ll like. Oh the stomptown thing comes from their use of an old blues technique of using a wooden box (a stompbox), played with the foot, as the underlying rhythm instrument.

“Waiting for the Man,” one of the standout originals, “uses the mythology of the bluesman to describe what we’re doing with the backdrop of waiting for that judgment day, the approval and presence of God to make things right,” according to Martinez. A cover of “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” is like nothing you’ve ever heard — powerful, raw and barely recognizable as the beloved old hymn.

Give this one a listen. Whether you love it or hate it, I’m pretty sure you won’t be neutral.