If you liked country music mixed with blues music, you should have been at the Luke Blu Guthrie show, May 17 at the Owl Acoustic Lounge.
They didn’t have a lot of people, perhaps owing to numerous other events happening in the city including Oscar Lopez at CASA. However, the first song of the duo’s second sec encapsulated what they are about — country bass and bluesy slide guitar.
Much of their set appears on Guthrie’s excellent new CD “Routes & Blu.”
The tall, brunette bassist, Elizabeth Penny grinned as she plucked the thick strings, singing the occasional vocal harmony. When she spoke her voice reminded me of Lilly Fawn.
Guthrie hid behind a microphone and a microphoned telephone receiver, which he used sparingly and tastefully to add odd vocal effects. He sang a couple songs about drinking. Some of the highlights off the CD were the first track “Southern Time,” and the upbeat country rocker “Blood From a Stone.”
He switched guitars midway through the set for more standard tuned, country inflected numbers. A delta blues style number about rich girls was another highlight as was a J.P Lenoir blues cover, which suited his strong tenor voice. He looped a rhythm for a more jazz influence number and soloed over it.
They were called back for an encore— a more alt-country number with the co chorus “ As Long As I Love You.”
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor