Most modern electric blues these days sounds like it comes from Chicago, but apparently Crash Kole & the Bluesouls come by it honestly. A Chicago native, Kole leads his Memphis band through a set of accomplished, stomping, growling, City of Big Shoulders blues on Two Weeks Notice.
The album doesn’t exactly break new ground or put novel twists on a time-tested (or some might say time-worn) formula, but the result is certainly as convincing as any of the army of similar bands you can hear on Beale Street every year at the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge.
Outside of some slide guitar on “Blues Ain’t No Trouble” and a little bit of Elvis echo trailing some of his phrasing, Kole is not a terribly distinctive singer/guitarist, but as long as they keep the tempos up, he and his band produce the kind of workmanlike blues groove that can keep a club hoppin’. The slow ones — such as “Tupelo” and the aforementioned “Blues Ain’t No Trouble” — don’t quite sink in as deeply as they need to. — CH
Grade: B
Crash Kole & the Bluesouls play a CD release party for Two Weeks Notice on Thursday, August 23rd, at Pearl’s Oyster House (299 S. Main Street). Showtime is 7:30 p.m.