- BEAU KAVANAGH AND THE BROKEN HEARTED
Comprised of Beau Kavanagh on lead guitar, lead vocals (and the songwriter of the trio), Marc Durocher on bass guitar, and Matt Lavender on drums and back-up vocals, they breeze their way through a 10-song collection of original tracks running the gamut of blues styles from shuffle, slow blues, boogie and outright blues rockers worthy of comparison with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix.
Probably the most compelling element is the sweet-as-honey lead voice of Beau Kavanagh. Not unlike Colin James or Shaun Verreault of Widemouth Mason, he can put on the grittier vocal edge needed on certain tracks and melt any woman's heart with tenderness on others. Add to that the beautiful musical output of their vintage gear (1950 Gibson ES-175, 1966 Telecaster, 1970 Fender Super Reverb, along with a 1964 Fender Precision Bass and 1970's Ludwig jazz kit and 1950's Gretch kit), which they are quite capable of playing to their maximum potential, and you've got a winning formula for success!
Tracks like "Blues in E", "Salty Love", "All alone" (a particularly alluring composition) and the instrumentals, "Ghetto Blues" and "Matt's Hands" set the tone for most of the CD, but the moodiness of these melancholy tunes is interspersed by the fast shuffle beats and wah-wah wailings of "Vibra King Blues", "Runnin' Train" and "Train Song", which could give Toronto's Dylan Wickens Project a run for its money.
"Can't Love You Enough" a laid-back blues ballad, is the perfect closer* for this highly engaging CD, which will no doubt be played on "repeat" mode on many CD changers!
