Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Robben Ford, earMUSIC 2018.
Robben Ford is a five time Grammy Award Nominee and one of the best guitarists going around.
He also has an incurable itch to explore his craft and reinvent himself.
It’s true to say that he really is eclectic by nature.
He is one of the most sought after session musicians in the business and in addition to his own recordings he’s worked with artists as diverse as Miles Davis, George Harrison, Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, Dizzy Gillespie, Georgie Fame and Kiss just to name a few.
Ford is a guitar virtuoso capable of mastering styles from blues and jazz through rock and even on to country and folk. In fact there is little that he can’t, or won’t, do.
Purple House is his brand new studio album and first on earMUSIC.
It was co-produced by Casey Wasner and represents quite a departure for Ford in that he has deliberately placed a lot more emphasis on the production qualities than he has in the past.
He comments that “I’m always pushing myself with each record. I haven’t made one record that sounded like the one before it and this (album) was going to be no different, apart from a lot more emphasis on production.”
It’s true that some of his earlier albums contain blistering playing but slap-dash production that’s somewhat let the final product down.
It’s an attitude he shared with Bob Dylan.
Eric Clapton once said of recording with Dylan that “You watch his hands real close and try to get down as much as you can because you may not get a second chance.”
Most of Robben Ford’s earlier songs have been written in the blues/R&B tradition but he’s really expanded his repertoire as a songwriter on this album.
There are still blues and R&B influences discernable throughout the album, especially on the track Somebody’s Fool, but there’s also a good deal of jazz inspired crossover tracks and Bound For Glory has quite a bit of Steely Dan DNA in its makeup.
There are special guest appearances from blues powerhouse vocalist, Shemekia Copeland, singing a duet with Ford on Break In The Chain and Travis McCready sings the lead on Somebody’s Fool.
Plus, on an album littered with outstanding guitar solos we hear one solo that is not performed by Robben Ford. Bishop Gunn guitarist, Drew Smithers, does a great job on the closing track Willing To Wait.
