The Rusty Wright
Band is known as a standout blues group - it won the Detroit Blues Challenge in
2010 and made it to the semifinals at the International Blues Challenge in
Memphis - but the band's latest CD, "This, That & the Other
Thing" (Sadson Music) shows off the versatility of singer-guitarist Rusty
Wright, who wrote nine of the 11 tunes on the CD.
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| Rusty Wright |
"It's a real
mixed bag, and that's how the title came about," said singer-guitarist
Laurie LaCross-Wright, who co-headlines the group. "Growing up, the albums
we both appreciated were the ones that surprised us. Back in the '70s, you
rarely heard an album that just had one groove all the way through -- where
when you heard one song and the rest were exactly the same.
"We looked
forward to being surprised, and that was his intention (with this
record)."
Laurie was a fan
of Rusty's music long before they started dating and got married. She first met
him when she was working as a newspaper reporter.
"I've
watched him progress since the early '90s," she said. "After
interviewing him, I kept track of him over the years and he would send me
cassettes at times, with a few more songs on them. I could see his stuff
percolating and watched his songwriting and music progress.
"Later, I
got to see his progression and how his ideas came about. I'm in awe of his
abilities, these songs just sort of pop into his head fully formed.
"He hears
all the parts in his head."
Even the two
cover tunes on the CD - AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie" and Mountain's
"Mississippi Queen" - show creativity.
"On the
AC/DC song, he totally redid the music," LaCross-Wright said. "It
sounds nothing like the original. I listened to AC/DC's version on YouTube and
I just giggled for four minutes, it was so different.
"Rusty said
he wanted to steal one back for the blues, since the rock guys have taken so
many blues songs."
"Mississippi
Queen" has a cool Delta spoken word intro and outro.
"We have so
much fun playing that, with the center section when the three-part harmony
hits," she said. "We debuted it in November at The Whiting when we
opened for Kenny Wayne Shepherd. We started our set with that song and people
loved it."
The CD also shows
off Rusty's extensive vocal range, which Laurie said comes from his upbringing.
"His mother
was an opera and gospel singer, and his father was a gospel music promoter. As
soon as he was able to play four chords on the guitar, they put him in the
band.
"He grew up
surrounded by the gospel harmonies and heard the high-soaring vocal techniques
since he was a kid. He can sing the dirty, gritty stuff, too."
The Wrights are
joined in the Flint-based band by keyboardist Dave Brahce, bassist Dennis
Bellinger, and drummer Peter Haist.
Brahce was been
in the band since 2007 and shines on jams with Rusty on songs such as "Man
On Fire" from the new CD. Peter Haist joined the band a year later and has
continued as a key member despite developing eye problems that have left him
legally blind.
Bellinger, the
former bassist with Grand Funk, joined last June after former bassist Andy
Barancik went into the ministry full time, something Laurie said the Wrights
knew would eventually happen.
The band will
officially debut the new recording -- which has been charting on Touchtunes,
the Relix Magazine jam bands chart, the Living Blues chart, the Roots Music
Report blues chart and the Americana Music Association charts -- at a CD
release party Friday night, March 29 at Callahan's Music Hall in Auburn Hills.
For information,
click atcallahans.com. For more on the Rusty Wright Band, click www.rustywrightblues.com.
To send info to
JB Blues, please email Joe.Ballor@dailytribune.com
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