Artist:     Beau Weevils

Album:     Songs In The Key Of E

Label:     Blue Hat

Release Date:     10.26.2018

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Beau Weevil, pronounced boll weevil, is usually something no one wants hanging around. In the case of this Beau Weevil, music lovers will definitely want this new quartet hanging around for a very long time.

Led by music veteran Charlie Daniels, the group consists of friends James Stroud on drums (Bob Seger, Paul Simon), Billy Crain on guitar (Allman Brothers, ZZ Top) and Charlie Hayward on bass (Charlie Daniels Band, Allman Brothers) who all pull together to offer Beau Weevils: Songs in the Key of E.

Daniels says he and Stroud have been looking for a project to work together on ever since the drummer produced “Homesick Heroes,” “Simple Man” and “Renegade” for the North Carolina native. When the fiddle virtuosos wrote “Mudcat,” a third-party take on the legend of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil way down South in Mississippi one fateful night, he thought he might have landed on a good place to start with that new project. He called Stroud, who immediately loved the tune, and it wasn’t long before the project was underway.

With the diversity of music between the members of the new group, and with the idea that they would not be in a hurry to finish the project, the result is an album of songs that the listener just knows were recorded in an atmosphere of fun. The players combined a swampy rock sound with funk and jazz, then stirred in a little taste of southern Delta blues style to make magic in the studio, giving the music fan an album that plays beautifully from start to finish.

All group members agree there was never any pressure when they were in the studio — in fact the songs generally turned into jam sessions among the quartet of talented musicians. Daniels wrote or co-wrote all the tunes, offering fresh and innovative stories, including “Geechi Geechi Ya Ya Blues,” a Louisiana swamp number, and a remake of “Juanita,” which Daniels says they recorded it the way it should have been the first time he did it. It’s all good and fun music from a group of guys who know everything there is to know when it comes to creating fun.

—Vernell Hackett