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Lil Joe Washington
HOUSTON GUITAR BLUES
(Dialtone)
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This Texas guitarist’s a bad-ass and maybe the dirty blues discovery of the year. At his hottest, Washington blends the rasp of James Brown (think "I Feel Good") with a stinging six-string style that has the élan of Gatemouth Brown and a lazy razor-wire tone akin to that of Albert Collins, whom Washington pounded drums for when he was 15. That was a half-century ago, before he spent the better part of a decade homeless and adopted the look of an urban street wizard, growing Rasta braids and a gray twin-peaked goatee. But Washington’s still got plenty of edge. He swings instrumentals like "Hard Work 6" and cries his way through "Last Tear," a doo-wop-inspired number that benefits from the slow, saucy guitar statements he spins out in response to his vocal melody. Occasionally his playing grows repetitive, and yet that’s a virtue — it’s a route to the kind of juke-joint hypnosis induced by the late Junior Kimbrough. Washington’s sound is not as original as Kimbrough’s; it is, however, every bit as earthy, compensating for some derivative passages with gallons of greasy attitude and tone. And when he plays laid-back leads while begging a woman to hold his hand, there’s no trace of Beatles innocence — just an invitation to the bedroom. (Lil Joe Washington headlines the second day of a free two-day Boston Blues Festival concert at the Hatch Shell this Sunday, September 26. For a full schedule and more information, go to www.bluestrust.com.)
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