Spoonful James ~ "Seven Mile Breakdown"

I took this CD, "Seven Mile Breakdown," from the stack and put it in the machine. I had no idea what to expect; I didn't even know what kind of music Spoonful James was into. The title track begins with an acoustic guitar strumming a sweet country riff. Then, a voice sounding much like Greg Allman, except younger, with a slightly higher pitch and a bit more reedy, begins to sing, and my ears pricked. This was sounding good--really good. Enter the sweet slide of a bottleneck guitar and I felt that tug of adreneline that I get when I hear something that's really special. By the time the bass and drums began that fine country shuffle, I was hooked. I was thinking that this band was definitely in the zone and then I heard the voice that had me scrambling for the liner notes. Could that be Bonnie Bramlett, blending her voice with Wynn Christian? It couldn't be anyone else! No one sings quite like Bonnie Bramlett, and her contribution to this recording is part of the reason that this music is not only good, not just great, but absolutely stunning.

Spoonful James consists of: Wynn Christian on lead vocals and guitars, Quinn Borland on bass and Patrick Lunceford on drums, with Spencer Pope on the Hammond B3 and piano. They are a group of young, talented and, apparently, well connected musicians with the ability to blend country, rock, blues, soul and funk into a fine recording that is a pleasure to listen to. I say that they are well connected because of the guest artists that appear on the liner notes--so many that it gets downright confusing to review. There are so many folks playing keyboards, everything from Wurlitzers to Hammond B3's to piano that I have given up trying to figure out who's playing this and who's playing that. I will say that it's all outstanding. But hold on, there's more! Track three, "Take It Off Him, Put It On Me," not only features the great Buddy Miles on drums and backing vocals, but this album is also blessed with the fantastic Muscle Shoals Horn Section, featuring Harvey Thompson on tenor sax, Brad Quin, baritone sax, Ken Watters, trumpet and Charles Rose on trombone and doing the arrangements.

Wynn Christian's name is most prominent for writing credits, along with bassist Quinn Borland and others, including Leon Russell, who is credited for co-writing "Big Legged Woman" with C. Blackwell. I've heard several versions of that tune over the years, and I never knew Russell wrote that one. You learn something every day!

I just can't say enough about this CD, mostly because, with the exception of Bonnie Bramlett and Buddy Miles, I'm not familiar with the artists who appear on it, and I'm leaving out a lot of names. Suffice to say that this is what happens when young, inspired musicians get together in the studio with plenty of seasoned veterans to produce a body of work that is exceptional, confident, and as sweet as a Georgia peach. Produced by Johnny Sandlin for Duck Tape Music and released on Possum Den Records, this is a record that is sure to be a jewell for anyones's music collection. "Seven Mile Breakdown" is available at:

 Barnes and Nobles : http://www.BarnesandNoble.com 

 CD Baby: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/spoonfuljames

---Ray Synkane