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Five UK shows in five days for blues rock guitarist Ally Venable in support of her recently released sixth studio album, ‘Money & Power’. Tonight, it’s the turn of the ankle-breaking cobblestone, streets of Edinburgh’s Old Town to pay homage to the young Texan who is certainly making waves in the blues scene.
Hosted by the well-respected Edinburgh Blues Club (whose monthly membership fees cover entry to the gig), tonight’s show has been upgraded to a larger venue due to demand, a surefire sign of those waves mentioned previously. As with previous gigs hosted by the EBC, there are rows of seats in front of the stage, with standing areas behind and to the side. With the headliner favouring lengthy, free-flowing jams that stretch the songs out, this makes sense with such a studious audience. But for the opening act, Blue Milk (from along the M8 in Glasgow), it’s quite an alien scenario facing them, as these guys are not hanging around and play with such enthusiasm that they would be perfect as the house band down at The Double Deuce alongside the much-missed Jeff Healey.
Led by guitarist/singer/songwriter/slide-aficionado and Manc-in-exile Jonny McGiffen, Blue Milk have a lot of energy, thanks mainly to harmonica player Leo Glaister and drummer Taylor Whyte, who, when they lock into a groove together, are a pair of noisy bastards damn hard to ignore. For a blues drummer, Whyte is especially heavy and hints at a John Bonham influence. Those poor punters sitting in the front row with their arms folded are getting it full blast from both Glaister and Whyte, who, along with the rocksteady Ike Malinki on bass, make one hell of a rhythm section.
Solos alternate between Jonny McGiffen and Glaister, and what is particularly pleasing is that they are loud, especially when they go toe-to-toe, thus drowning out the dreaded bar-chatterers. Original material is what keeps the genre alive, and Blue Milk (the band takes its name from the classic Captain Beefheart album ‘Safe As Milk’) have some belting originals. ‘Come Back Around’ is a smouldering piece of magic that builds gradually into a stunning conclusion, while ‘Devils Calling’, although introduced by McGiffen as “the most Delta Blues song that we’ve written”, packs a bit of a Ry Cooder-esque punch. Once the last notes of the well-received set fade away, the only thing left to do is start following/stalking the band on social media for the next hit of Blue Milk. Seriously, impressive stuff.
Although only 26 years of age, Ally Venable has years of experience under her belt (debut album ‘No Glass Shoes’ landed in 2016), and it shows from the moment she explodes onto the stage and launches into the wah-wah-laden instrumental ‘Penitentiary Philosophy’. Not many acts would have the nerve to open a show with an instrumental, but here, it serves as a statement of intent from Venable. One that simply says that this girl can play. Leading perfectly into a way-gutsier version of ‘Brown Liquor’ than the one that opens the current album ‘Money & Power’, it’s a fiery way to open the show.
‘Unbreakable’, one of the standout moments from ‘Money & Power’, is up next, and after a few moments of noodling from bassist EJ Bedford and drummer Isaac Pulido while Ally tunes up, it’s Ally’s vocal talents that take centre stage. Excellent Thin Lizzy-esque guitar melodies build the early stages of the track, before Ally lets rip with more flashes of wah-wah effects and her warm, gritty vocals.
That grit and rasp are at the forefront of a killer cover of James Taylor’s ‘Steamroller’, which the American folk singer wrote in the 70s as a parody to mock the inauthentic blues acts he encountered in New York “…mostly white kids in from the suburbs with electric guitars and amplifiers that their parents had bought them for Christmas and stuff …” – here Ally takes what was originally an acoustic track and turns it on its head. It’s an interesting cover choice, especially given the circumstances behind the track, but in Ally’s hands, it stretches out into an 8-minute exercise in how to make a track your own, with copious amounts of fretboard fireworks.
Given how strong an album ‘Money & Power’ is, it’s a surprise that the set is quite light on material from the album. Along with the opening brace of ‘Brown Liquor’ and ‘Unbreakable’, the only other new tracks aired are ‘Stopper Back Papa’ (EJ Bedford’s bass licks are incredible on this one) and ‘Feel That Sting’ (which has gorgeous finger-pickin’ licks from Ally). 2023’s ‘Real Gone’ was a namedropping, wish-list album, so it’s understandable that it provides a few beauties, with ‘Texas Louisiana’ especially standing out. Here, Ally recreates her collaboration with blues legend Buddy Guy, and even without the give-and-take from the studio version, it is special. As is the smoking hot version of ‘Broken And Blue’, which featured a trademark Joe Bonamassa guitar solo on the album, and Ally knocks it out of the park (as she does all evening) with jaw-dropping finesse and tonnes of feeling.
Bonamassa is a good comparison because, like Bonamassa and players such as Dan Patlansky and Eric Gales, Ally Venable also favors stretching her songs out with extended solos and jams with her bandmates. Ten songs might seem like a short set, but with additional flourishes from this stellar trio of musicians, it lasts eighty minutes or so. This includes a kick-ass cover of Hendrix’s ‘Fire’, an emotional tribute to Ally’s hero Stevie Ray Vaughan with ‘Tribute to SRV’, and a flawless, mega-extended version of Johnny “Guitar” Watson’s ‘Ain’t That A Bitch’, complete with the funky groove of the original.
One of those masterclass performances from a bunch of musicians so in tune with each other that at times it is otherworldly. The guitar work from Ally Venable, though…smoking hot.
Review – Dave
All images – Callum Scott
