Don Ray Band - Live In Nashville
Performance 
Production
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Don Ray Band - Live In Nashville
Performance |
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The Don Ray Band, who call Nashville, Tennessee home, are currently riding the wave of their two critically acclaimed albums, 2009's On Top Of The Heap, and 2010's Lonesome Rider, with every intention of bringing their Blues and Southern Rock-inspired music to the masses. Their 2009 debut received several accolades and awards from the Blues and Southern Rock community, including "2009 Best USA Blues Album" from the Blues Underground Network, and the #1 spot on Real Blues Magazine's "Top 100 Must Purchase Blues Albums" chart, and Lonesome Rider is following in it's footsteps. Live In Nashville was filmed and recorded at The Rutledge, Nashville, TN, on October 17th, 2010 and is the first live concert DVD offering from The Don Ray Band. Mr. Ray has surrounded himself with a talented group of veteran musicians who have all toured or done session work with other well established artists such as Earl Thomas Conley and Pure Prairie League, and their professionalism really shines through on this DVD. Don't let the Southern Rock label fool you into thinking you are going to be seeing some Molly Hatchet concert here (not that I don't love those guys too) but Ray's music also incorporates subtle jazz elements into their blues-rock style, especially on the standout tracks "Monday Morning Blues," and "Ball and Chain," where Donnie Lee Clark's killer guitar work reminded me more of Larry Carlton than some southern-rock axe-slinger. Have no fear, though, these good ol' boys are far from being some sissy jazz ensemble, as southern-fried blues is really where these guys call home. The16-song setlist really offers up some nice variety. Other than the already mentioned jazzy stuff, songs like "Boom Chika Wah Wah" will remind you of Lynyrd Skynyrd with it's "Saturday Night Special"-like guitar riff, and special guests Trez Gregory and Laura Vida excellent background vocals. "So Wicked" took me back to Atlanta Rhythm Section's glory days, while "Love Is," with special guest Shaun Murphy trading some powerfully soulful lead vocals with Don Ray, was certainly one of the show highlights. These two sounded like they were literally bred to sing together. This is far from a big budget DVD production, but it does get the job done. An LPCM 2.0 stereo mix is your only audio option, but it sounds powerful and well mixed. The widescreen picture is not particularly the highest of definition, but the image is clean and the camera work was excellent. There was no booklet or special features included with this DVD, but most troubling thing was the lack of a DVD menu or track listing when you plop it into your player. The Don Ray Band serve up some very tasty southern blues-rock, and Live In Nashville is an excellent showcase for what these guys can do live. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - March 2011 |
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Running Time: 84 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - April 2011 |