Artist:     The Proven Ones

Album:     You Ain’t Done

Label:     Gulf Coast

Release Date:     4.17.2020

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This is the second installment for the blues-rock supergroup of sorts, The Proven Ones. You likely recognize these names: guitarist Kid Ramos, vocalist Brian Templeton, keyboardist Anthony Geraci, bassist Willie J. Campbell, and drummer Jimi Bott. They were all familiar names on the now defunct Delta Groove label. It’s the merging of Boston blues talent (Geraci, Templeton) with West Coasters. Collectively they are a well-decorated group of veterans, either as bandleaders or sidemen. This effort leverages their success with last year’s debut, Wild Again, which earned a 2019 Blues Music Award Nomination from the Blues Foundation for Best Contemporary Blues Recording and brought Campbell, Geraci, and Bott individual nominations as well.

This one is certainly equally as wild, maybe even a bit more potent. Drummer Bott produced, mixed, and engineered the recording, with assistance for Mike Zito as co-producer. Zito is also a co-owner of the label, Gulf Coast Records, and he lends his acoustic guitar to five tracks and sings on one. As if this isn’t enough blues royalty, other notable guests step in, including Ruthie Foster who duets with Templeton on “Whom My Soul Loves,” a clear standout. The two-piece horn section of trumpeter Joe “Mack” McCarthy and tenor man Chris Mercer grace some tracks as does background vocalist LaRhonda Steele. Bott, Templeton, Geraci and Ramos all contributed to the writing.

Commenting on the approach, Templeton offered, “We wanted to stretch the boundaries for this record” Templeton explains. “For the most part we are all known as blues musicians, and rightly so, but we love many styles and naturally want to indulge in them as well. I think we’ve accomplished that with this record. There’s rock, soul, country, some Latin influence, a bit of pop, and, dare I say a punk vibe in parts as well. I believe it’s going to break down a few walls.” Templeton contributes as a writer or co-writer on six of the eleven band originals with “Fallen,” “Get Love” and the title track among the strongest of his hard driving blues-rock style. It’s also worth checking out the anthemic singalong “Already Gone” for Geraci’s barrelhouse piano.

He’s right, depending on your mood approaching the album, it’s as much a loud rock album as a blues effort, in the first half. The second half, however, offers the rousing hymn with Foster, “Whom My Soul Loves,” the gleeful, tasteful “Milinoa” from Ramos and Templeton and the melodic “Nothing Left to Give” from Geraci, featuring one of disc’s longer solos, piercing guitar from Ramos as Zito’s background vocals help push the groove. Bott and Geraci’s “She’ll Never Know” is the album’s most emotive tune, based on a poem written by Bott’s sister to her infant daughter, reflecting a very personal experience and musically delivered very soulfully.

In supergroup efforts like these, the goal of being democratic will result in the whole being less than the sum of the parts. Although somewhat uneven due to the different writing styles of the band members, The Proven Ones have mostly avoided that trap with plenty of strong moments.

—Jim Hynes