It’s a heck of a way to start an album review but oh well. I was cruising along the interweb highway the other day. Ya’ll can surf, I cruise. I made it on to Youtube, to check and see if any of the myriad of channels I follow had anything new and fun. Uh oh! There’s a blue dot by Texas Blues Alley on my list of subscriptions, something new this way comes. A quick click later and I am checking the titles of Anthony Stauffer’s latest offerings. Right by one of Anthony’s brilliant 1-minute blues lessons, is a short entitled “Eric Gales just dropped the blues album of the year”. I didn’t even bother to listen to his review I went straight to Amazon Music to snag the album up into my playlist of albums I’m supposed to eventually review, I’m a bit behind on that process. I listened from start to finish, wow, just wow! This thing is a refreshing, stimulating, good times are to be had, kind of recording! Now, I’ve seen Mr Gales live and have listened to some of his albums, I admit not all of them. Eric Gales is a monster player, virtuoso if you will, and he shows it with incredible restraint and control in these ten songs. If that isn’t enough let’s bring in Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Joe Bonamassa, Josh Smith, Buddy Guy, and pedal steel impresario Roosevelt Collier to sweeten the mix and folks, the gumbo is starting to roll.
The album in question is Eric Gales – A Tribute to LJK (Little Jimmy King). Released August 29, 2025. We start off with soul and groove aplenty at track one – You Shouldn’t have Left Me, the opening licks should suck you right in right quick. Next up, the wah flavored funk of “Rockin Horse Ride” with its James Brown style rhythm section. Now it’s on to number three, with the blues rock burner “Guitar Man”. With “Don’t Wanna Go Home”, featuring Joe Bonamassa, you get another driving burner of a tune. We tune it down a bit with a classic style slow blues, “Something Inside of Me”, Mr Gales lays down some the tastiest licks around, makes your fingers itch just listening to them. Back to the funk with “Baby, Baby”. Both Josh Smith and Joe Bonamassa join Eric for “It Takes a Whole Lot of Money”, what more needs to be said. Next we get a story song ala “Angel of Mercy” styled “Worried Man”, with its slow funk blues ride. Finish the album off with “Blues Been Too Good To Me”, an upbeat funky burner that should have you pressing the gas pedal a bit more than usual. “Somebody” features Buddy Guy and Roosevelt Collier, it’s smooth Delta stylings with Buddy Guys vocals make for a smashing ending song.
As Anthony Stauffer states, this is a durn good album, thou shalt not be disappointed. As Mr Dave states, just go get this album, trust me.
Make a JoyFul Noise,
dave
