Artist:     Anthony Geraci

Album:     Why Did You Have to Go

Label:     Shining Stone

Release Date:     9.21.2018

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What does Anthony Geraci do for a follow-up to his 2015 release, Fifty Shades of Blue, for which he earned multiple Blues Music Award nominations? Nominations included: Best Song-for the title track, Best Album, and Best Traditional Blues Album. Anthony also received an individual nomination for the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year Award. Fifty Shades Of Blue also received high accolades from several prestigious magazines. Answer : Stay on a similar path.

For Why Did You Have to Go, Geraci expands his geographic scope, recruiting some West Coast players to join his trusted New England compatriots. Again, the well-liked and respected Geraci assembled a to-die-for all-star blues lineup. They include: guitarists Ronnie Earl, Monster Mike Welch, Kid Ramos, and Tony Gonyea; vocalists Sugarray Rayford, Sugar Ray Norcia, Michelle “Evil Gal” Wilson, Willie J. laws, Dennis Brennan, and Brian Templeton. Fellow members with Geraci from Sugar Ray and the Bluetones include, besides Norcia, bassist Michael “Mudcat” Ward and drummer Neil Gouvin. Jimi Bott and Marty Richards also play traps, Willie J. Campbell plays bass on some tunes, and Gordon “Sax” Beadle and Doug Woolverton add horns.

Geraci says, “The recording process can always be a daunting experience. Being surrounded by musicians that are your friends is a very special feeling. I played music with many of these musicians for almost 40 years, others more recently…I chose each musician for their individual talents that I knew would sound awesome on the songs they were singing and playing o….I try to tell a story with each song….a short narrative that people can relate to.”

Geraci plays mostly piano, covering several distinct styles. There’s the New Orleans styled R&B in “Long Way Home,” West Coast swing in “Angelina, Angeline,” Chicago blues on “My Last Goodbye,” and rollicking boogie woogie with “Hand You Your Walking Shoes.” Even though “Don’t the Grass Look Greener” is done with a sextet, it has the feel of a Texas organ trio. The closer, “A Minor, Affair,” moves into jazz. The “Sugar Rays” are the two most prominent vocalists with Geraci’s bandmate Norcia handling four tunes and big West Coast blues belter Sugarray Rayford three of them. Among the highlights are the smoldering, epic “My Last Goodbye” and the up-temp shuffle“Time’s Running Out,” both featuring the original Sugar Ray and the Bluetones lineup with Ronnie Earl in the lead and Monster Mike Welch on rhythm guitar. Another standout is “Baptized in the River Yazoo,” a duet with Geraci’s Delta blues piano and Texas bluesman Willie J. Laws belting out the vocals.

This is pure blues, rendered by the many of its best players, It’s every bit as good as Fifty Shades of Blue. That’s saying plenty. This is as good as the blues gets.

—Jim Hynes