JD Simo and Luther Dickinson: Do the Rump Review
Do the Rump, released in September this year, is the first collaborative record from JD Simo and Luther Dickinson. Both veteran blues players with impressive resumes of work with multiple big name acts across genres, the duo sound stellar together, and their drummer Adam Abrashoff compliments them perfectly. Do the Rump was reportedly recorded over a series of live in studio performances with no overdubs, built on beats laid down by Abrashoff, and it shows in the best way. Listening to this joint feels like sitting around with your best friends listening to them just follow their hearts into the music for a while. It’s unpolished, it’s raw, it’s old-school, it’s fun. Every song is an interesting combo of classic blues, no newfangled verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure, and the fresh funky drums differentiating the rhythm section.
The album opens with a reimagining of Bobby Charles’ “Street People,” coming in at three and a half minutes of crunchy rhythm playing and far out bendy solos. This is a honky-tonk tune through and through. Vocals are minimalist, as they are throughout the vast majority of the record, but it works perfectly, the vocals are like the spice that sends the dish over the top. It’s the perfect intro to what their intent is with the album: grooving.
The second track is a cover of JJ Cale’s “Right Down There,” and for my money it’s the standout tune on the record. This thing soars at just over four minutes of swampy, seductive, classic goodness. A big funky Afrobeat drum intro leads us into a version of the song that, to be frank, conjures images of a smoke-filled bedroom where the temperature’s rising.
“Right Down There” is followed by “Lonesome Road,” “Come and Go with Me” (a Junior Kimbrough cover), and “Serves Me Right to Suffer.” All three tracks are excellent, fun, groovy listens, with that traditional country blues sound supported by the refreshing Afrobeat drumming. These guys know exactly what they’re doing, just let big chords ring out, let the instruments do the talking. There’s nothing at all wrong with these tracks, but they don’t quite reach the heights of the front and back thirds of the record.
Do the Rump closes a trio of absolute masterpieces: at number six, the title track “Do the Rump Louise,” is a combo of Junior Kimbrough’s “Do the Rump” and Fred McDowell’s “Louise” that’s energetic and classic. Number seven is “Come On,” an original track with a nice hill country feel with a simple but effective drum part and an extended solo for most of the second half of the track. The album closes on a cover of RL Burnside’s “Peaches,” an almost ten minute saga with a big slide riff intro. Despite the length, it’s the most pop radio friendly track that feels more conventionally structured, even with a nearly 5 minute jam and a fun, playful noodling session to close.
Unequivocally, this record rules. It marries traditional swampy guitar-driven electric blues with funky Afrobeat percussion. You can see frogs jumping into mud and smell the algae on the water surface when you put this record on. The band uses vocals as a restrained dressing to compliment their excellent, moving playing, and boy oh boy can these cats play. This is a groove album, made purely for the joy of making the instruments talk the blues. You couldn’t ask for a stronger opening record from a new team of collaborators, and here’s hoping there’s more to come.
The Review: 9/10
Can’t Miss Tracks
– Street People
– Peaches
– Do the Rump Louise
– Come On
– Right Down There
The Big Hit
– Right Down There
