Start off with a good dose of the blues, add a touch of boogie woogie and spice up the concoction with a healthy spoonful of honky tonk piano. Put it into a pot, place it on the stove and let it all cook on a steady flame until it is good and hot. Don't Put Me In No Box is the fourth release from blues master Rhett Tyler and is the first to go as a solo billing, all previous albums were billed as Rhett Tyler & Early Warning. In all actuality, Early Warning was an ever changing group who backed Rhett much like the Vigilantes and Bill Mallonee. Rhett is backed on this project by eighteen players who although most of their names I am unfamiliar with are all extraordinary musicians. His wife Cate plays a smokin' piano and has a killer voice. Former Steely Dan drummer, Keith Carlock who has also played with Phil Keaggy on occasion is back once more on drums, the rest of the players rotate through the twenty four songs that make up this collection.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Mr. Tyler, let me just drop a few names. He has played with Johnny Winter, John Hammond and has been favorably compared to Stevie Ray Vaughan both vocally and in his ability to handle his axe. Think of back when Eric Clapton actually knew what to do with a guitar. There are four instrumental cuts on this collection and these tend to run toward the fusion end of the spectrum. Where Rhett really shines through though is on the slow blues numbers that are spread throughout this wonderful collection of tunes.
10 tocks, 5 for each disc.
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