Texas-based guitarist Lance Lopez may be familiar to sharp-eyed readers as a member of the remarkable Supersonic Blues Machine, but he’s also carved out a successful solo career of his own, starting with 1999’s ‘first things first’. A guitarist of note, Lance began his professional career at the age of fourteen and his resume includes stints with Lucky Peters and Buddy miles. It’s been some time since Lance stepped out with an album of his own, 2012’s well-received ‘Handmade Music’, but fans had something to get excited about when a brand-new cut was featured on Mascot’s mid-priced ‘rockin’ the blues’ sampler.A smoking cover of John Lee Hooker’s ‘Mr Lucky’ (also included here), it proved to be the absolute highlight of a set that featured contributions from Walter Trout, Sonny Landreth and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and it set an incredibly high bar for ‘Tell the truth’, a bar that Lance casually smashes with the very first track.
‘Tell the truth’ gets off to a cracking start with the dusty blues of ‘Never came easy’, a track that weaves harmonica, slide guitar and organ into a cohesive whole that conjures up images of dirty saloon bars, spilled whiskey and old blood. Bearing in mind that ‘tell the truth’ is an album that covers a degree of auto-biographical territory, there’s a harsh bite to Lance’s assertion that “every ounce of pleasure I weighted half a pound of pain” although it’s sweetened by the warm melody the music carries. Offering up the same kind of dusty stomp that Guns ‘n’ Roses so effectively tapped into on ‘dust ‘n’ bones’, ‘never came easy’ packs a powerful rock punch alongside its exquisite musicianship and if you’re not utterly hooked by its conclusion, then you’re checking out the wrong genre! Next up is that John Lee Hooker cover, ‘Mr Lucky’. A cleaner, rockier track with some glorious solos and a vocal performance that recalls the power of Buddy Guy in his prime, ‘Mr Lucky’ remains a spectacular reading of a classic track and offers up the perfect entre to anyone unfortunate enough not to have heard Lance’s work before. As with all good cover versions, Lance clearly has a lot of love and respect for the original, but that doesn’t stop him bending the track to his will to make it his own, and, just as it was a highlight of ‘rockin’ the blues’, it is also a highlight here. ‘Down to one bar’ keeps things moving nicely with a delivery that recalls The Rides with its tinkling ivories and gospel vibe. It’s the blues, but with a golden soul and a huge smile, and no matter how dark the subject, Lance transcends it all with a performance that makes you want to leap from your seat and dance with joy at the sheer gloriousness of it all. That honeyed vibe continues on ‘high life’, a track which sees Lance tearing up his fret board with a joie-de-vivre that is utterly impossible to fake. The taut crack of the drums leads into the countrified, honky tonk glory of ‘cash my check’, the sort of song that the Rolling Stones used to deliver in their heyday, before ‘the real deal’ rounds out side one on a more relaxed note, those rich southern influences leading into a chorus that will lodge itself into your brain for days to come. It’s not the melody so much as the vitality of the performance, however, and Lance once again conjures up that same electricity that has powered Buddy Guy all these years. Mischievous but with a hint of darkness at its core, this is the blues with a diamond smile and a blade kept close to hand and you underestimate Lance at your peril.
Despite its barn-storming title, ‘raise some hell’ proves to be a surprisingly reflective piece that brings to mind fellow southerner Zakk Wylde’s love of Procul Harum. A band that Wylde has covered on occasion (and with great effect), Lance takes the influence and runs with it, crafting a bewitching work in the process. It’s a track that underscores Lance’s versatility and the bittersweet lyric is painfully direct, whilst the song also offers up some of the album’s most expressive and emotional soloing. Things take a tougher turn and the same dirty stomp that opened the album is back on ‘angel eyes of blue’. A tough-as-nails, stage-trashing mix of AC/DC-style hard rock and gritty blues, this would make a perfect single and it rocks the house down. Next up, the Hammond squelch of ‘back on the highway’ gives way to Chuck Berry-style rock ‘n’ roll, Lance putting on his boogie shoes and encouraging the audience to do the same. In contrast, ‘blue moon rising’ offers the same subtly sweet guitar work that paved the way for ‘raise some hell’. A gorgeous, slow blues with overtones of Gary Moore amidst its weeping guitar lines, it’s a truly lovely piece of music. It leaves only the title track, ‘tell the truth’, to close the album out in suitably raucous style. Pitched somewhere between vintage Deep Purple, AC/DC and ZZ Top, ‘tell the truth’ has it all – soulful backing vocals, a hard-driving pace and Lance’s expansive fret work – and it’s as if Lance and his band have tapped into the subconscious of anyone who’s ever wanted to rock the blues, crafting this near perfect missive in the process.
As with his work in Supersonic Blues Machine, Lance Lopez imbues his music, no matter how gritty the subject matter, with so much heart that you can’t help but be won over. His gnarled vocals perfectly suit the sweetly distorted riffs that pepper the album, and Lance never succumbs to the temptation to overplay, preferring to find the sweet spot between complexity and elegance that lies at the heart of the blues. A richly varied album, ‘Tell the truth’ knows how to rock, but Lance also knows the value of dialling it back, allowing the audience a chance to breathe amidst the fiery riffs, and the result is an armour-plated hard blues album with a vulnerable heart. It epitomises the idea of the blues bringing joy out of heartache, and it is likely to be one of the blues albums of the year. 9
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