Artist:     Zac Harmon

Album:     Mississippi BarBQ

Label:     Catfood

Release Date:     7.19.2019

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Under almost any circumstances it was going to be difficult for blues master Zac Harmon to top his 2016 release Right Man Right Place, which featured topical subject matter and guests that included Bobby Rush, Anson Funderburgh and Mike Finnegan. So, Harmon, this time around, turned to a slightly different direction, signing on with the soul/blues label Catfood, home to Johnny Rawls, James Armstrong, and Dave Keller among others. Label president/ bassist/songwriter Bob Trenchard is practically a legend in soul-blues, as is producer Jim Gaines.

Harmon’s regular band plays on just four of the 11 tracks while the balance is from Trenchard’s house band, the Rays, including a four-piece horn section and four background vocalists. Harmon collaborated in writing with Trenchard and John Hahn (Shemekia Copeland), with Trenchard co-penning the title track and Hahn on “Make A Dollar Out of 15 Cents.” In addition Harmon covers the over-covered Dylan’s “Knocklin’ on Heaven’s Door,” but fortunately brings a fresh, creative interpretation to it. Hahn’s co-penned tunes, the title track and “So Cold” are all radio friendly tracks that hold promise for airplay.

Predictably, Harmon’s searing guitar leads every track, but somehow his rawness and grittiness is smoothed out by the many instruments and voices. Where an artist like Rawls or Armstrong seems natural in these environs, Harmon comes off as a bit of a force fit, even though his pedigree more than qualifies him for it. Listen to difference between his own band backing him on “Honey Pleez” and the five preceding Rays’ tunes. The contrast of sound on this seem disc is not only striking, it is telling.

Interestingly, the funky “Make A Dollar Out of Fifteen Cents” has his own band backing him and comes off as one the albums’ strongest soul/blues tracks. “Since You’ve Been Gone” is a hybrid, with contributions from his own band and the bevy of background singers; it’s a smooth R&B tune. In a similar way Harmon’s band and background vocalists propel the closing Dylan cover

Harmon was born and raised in Jackson, MS, in a linage of bluesmen from the city’s historic Farish Street district, home of Elmore James. Harmon’s mom played piano, and his dad, the city’s first state registered black pharmacist, played harmonica and tended to the needs of artists such as Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Ike and Tina Turner, Albert King, and Little Milton. As a result, Harmon grew up amidst blues royalty. He began his career playing guitar with Sam Meyers, and later with Dorothy Moore and Z.Z. Hill, where he clearly played in a R&B style. Now based in Los Angeles, he’s written for films, television shows, and national commercials. He’s written for the O’Jays and produced reggae band Black Uhuru’s 1994 Grammy-nominated Mystical Truth, evidence of his thirst to go beyond his signature style.

Casting no dispersions on the Rays, who are a top-shelf studio band, Harmon seems better—perhaps just because we are more accustomed to it—with his own unit. Next time out, perhaps the balance should be shifted.

—Jim Hynes