L.A. Beat

It is always great to hear a new CD from bluesman JW- Jones.
 The Ottawa born phenom started recording in his teens and has just released his seventh CD “Seventh Hour.”
 While his voice sounds very similar to Colin James,  his guitar sound goes right back to the heyday of  Sun Studios a little bit of Chicago and  with just a touch of Hound Dog Taylor.

While a lot of his lyrics still have an innocent/ naïve feel to them, he shows a lot of creativity on tracks like on “Do For You” in which he explores all the extremes he’d go to for a woman’s love.
 His break up song “In A Song,” is pretty petulantly interesting too, calling his ex a ‘stupid little girl’ who will end up in a song. But he shows growing maturity on “What is Real,” which examines the quest for material possessions.
 He ends the CD on a country note with the pedal steel powered “So Long, I’m Gone.”

Jones is best known as a guitar player, who has been put alongside  B.B. King, Jimmy Page and Carlos Santana by the likes of Guitar World magazine, so you’d expect him to tear your ears off on every track with guitar goodness throughout. However the guitar takes somewhat of a backseat to the songs on this CD. He’s ensured his hot playing fits just about perfectly and tastefully into each song, under, I’m sure, the careful craftsmanship of producer Steve Dawson.
 There are a variety of influences present including a variety of styles of electric blues of course, but also a little rockabilly and even some country thanks to the steel guitar on “Heartbreaker” and “So Long, I’m Gone.”
 But thanks to the catchy beat, the subdued organ and of course Jones’ searing guitar, each song is a gem you will want to hear over and over again.