Phillip-Michael Scales
Sinner Songwriter
Dixie Frog Records
An Emotional and Cathartic Rollercoaster of Blues, Soul and More.
I will get it out of the way early; Phillip-Michael Scales is a nephew of BB King; but that matters not a jot as Phillip-Michael plays in a very different musical field to his famous Uncle; what he himself has daubed “Dive Bar Soul.”
Scales description is very apt right from the ‘get go’ on the slinky opener Another Man’s Sin ……. which simply oozes with the type of passion that you only get when you visit the wrong side of town.
I certainly don’t want to get too drawn into Scales’ heritage; but the guitar playing across this album; be it electric or acoustic genuinely sparkles every bit as much as it is honest and best of all raw ….. owing more to the likes of Keb Mo, Prince or Lenny Kravitz than his famous relative.
There’s a longing in Scales’ voice that comes to the fore on the slow and sultry Send Me There and Go Easy On Me that has to be heard to be believed; as it’s so natural which is a rarity these days on anything that comes out of Nashville in any guise.
SINNER SONGWRITER is something of an emotional rollercoaster and for the likes of me (and you) as the handsome young man lets us know that he has suffered his fair share of heartache in the love stakes; and he does so in a really eloquent fashion on the heartfelt murder ballad So Long Baby, Be Good and later on the finale Your Love’s Working Me To The Bone too.
At times the songwriter may even go deeper than is good for him; but when you hear Lay It On Me, Shame and Go Easy On Me, there’s a presumption that writing these songs (and others) proved to be quite cathartic; but drawing upon these same emotions ten years down the line in a concert hall may not be as simple as he expects.
This album; and indeed Phillip-Michael Scales has been a fabulous discovery for me and has been a great friend late at night driving home from work on the open roads; and two songs have been go-to’s when I’ve needed a quick fix; the restrained anger in O Hallelujah! has been like a shroud that I’ve regularly wallowed in; and the other is the most Traditional of Blues tunes here; and an ode to the genealogy of Phillip-Michael and that of Archie Lee Hooker who assists him on When They Put Me In My Grave which fires off sparks like a worn brake pad on a rusty sports car ……. dangerous and exciting in equal measures …….
“I come from sons and daughters of lambs who escaped the slaughter
My bloodline should have stopped with Bones and Chains in that blue water
What will they say when they put me in my grave?
Gammy told me “Son, you better keep our flame.”
I certainly know where they are ‘coming from’ but as the son of a family of coal miners; I feel the same legacy too; therefore making this my Favourite Song.
By the way; my copy has a Bonus Track; Get Grown which is as intense and emotionally deep as any other song here and as to how it was nearly left off the running order actually beggars belief; but then again also shows you how high the quality threshold has been on an album that I can’t recommend highly enough.
Regular readers will already know that I still try to think of new albums by new albums by how would I feel if I stumbled on the CD/LP in a record store; would I pick it up?
Well; I think I probably would as the artwork is certainly eye-catching; but the store itself would have had a problem deciding which rack to put it in ….. is it Soul? Is it Blues? Is it Pop? Is it Singer-Songwriter? Is it Rock?
Yes, yes, no, yes and yes.
There’s a gorgeous mix of all four genres here; but I actually guess it will end up in the Blues rack alongside Keb Mo, Eric Bibb and Robert Cray although nothing like any of them!
Released 29th October 2021
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