Benjamin Booker @ Baby's All Right

Benjamin Booker; Blank Rage
@ Baby's All Right
Brooklyn, NY - November 7, 2014

I recall over a decade ago the last time a young gun mixing blues and punk with his Robert Johnson-like fingers was called the future of rock and roll and it was actually true. In fact some of the press has been essentially verbatim. And there's nothing to stop it from happening again. It has been awhile since someone under the age of 30 had the chops, played the licks, and wrote the songs that give goosebumps right through the chest and down to the toes. And to do it like a church revival, with good swaths of swamp rock stomp and country fiddle fire, makes that trite line about someone being a "revelation" actually true.

 The only blemish in the live show is the only blemish on the record. Some of the more sparse numbers are really sparse - long breaths of silence and limited play. They could do with some compression because this is a man and a band that need to be full-on ripping it up.

Better catch him now when you can catch him outside the club and thank him for his performance.

And also thank you Benjamin Booker for not being from Tennessee. Everyone in rock n roll these days is from Tennessee. Not everyone has to be from there. It's become quite annoying. So thank you for being from New Orleans.

Blank Range - are from Tennessee. And they play their instruments well.