Artist:     Big Joe and the Dynaflows

Album:     Rockhouse Party

Label:     Severn

Release Date:     02.15.2019

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BUY DIGITAL

BUY PHYSICAL

A torque converter that transfers rotating power: that was the main component of the Dynaflow transmission which drove Buick automobiles from 1947 until 1963. That description could also apply to D.C. native Joe Maher and the way he drives his Dynaflows right now, by his beat-steady drumming and huge, velvety voice.

Big Joe and the Dynaflows began transferring heartfelt energy into cool-moving, hot-as-hell rhythm and blues 32 years ago, but Maher’s fascination with blues, jazz, and swing music traces back to his high school days, around about when those Buicks stopped rumbling the roads.

The Dynaflows have covered a lot of ground on eight previous albums. The title Rockhouse Party describes this one perfectly. Its baker’s dozen of blues—originals and neat covers alike—reflects the high heat of a roomful of beaten skins, pulled and hammered wire, and sweat. A romp through Roosevelt Sykes’ “Driving Wheel” sets the pace and tone, thrusting on a mix of everything that made men like “The Honeydripper” and Big Joe Turner, on through to The Fabulous Thunderbirds, so irresistible.

Besides Maher, Kevin McKendree’s production and piano and organ expertise were instrumental to the affair’s completely soulful shimmer and shake. An esteemed Nashville musician, McKendree began his career as a teenaged Dynaflow. Now he’s back with his teenaged son in tow. Yates McKendree plays guitar throughout the album with retro-sting, and age-old confidence and flair. Together with the equally first-rate guitarist Robert Frahm, they afford songs such as the sultry, Michael Bloomfield-like “World Gone Wrong,” and the rollicking “Go with the Flow,” the ignitions to some particularly crackling and searing fires. Each of those Maher compositions, the former about today’s widespread dysfunction, and the latter relief from it, approach the lofty level of the classics they emulate.

Veteran bassist Tom “Mookie” Brill deserves special mention. Not only does he ensure a smooth roll on the low end, but he sings nearly half the songs. The way he pleads in “So Mean to Me” alone places him squarely in the same preeminent category that Big Joe occupies. This style of music will thankfully be around forever, so long as players and singers such as these continue hold these serious, splendid rockhouse parties. Blues award-worthy.

—Tom Clarke