Billy Hamilton & The Lowriders - Pay Some Money (2016)

Now these guys are good! Based in the Cincinnati/ Dayton, Ohio area, leader Billy Hamilton has a fine voice and plays sharp, tight harmonica, his breaks concentrating on content rather than flash, and he writes some excellent
material with pointed and/ or humorous lyrics. The originals are in the majority, though there are
also some intriguing borrowings. His band, The Lowriders, is sympathetic and cool, providing a subtle but
often driving backdrop often based around Jeff Long's Hammond B-3 or piano. Their influences seem to
range from vintage Buddy Guy, Ray Charles and Chuck Berry through Professor Longhair and
the boundary leaping organ grooves of the likes of Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff and Brother Jack
MacDuff on to the likes of the funky R&B of Lee Dorsey and Robert Parker, the Stax sound and
seventies funk. They never stray into self-indulgent territory, preferring instead to maintain the groove, and solos are kept
short and sharp. Particularly worth noting, as it is such a rarity these days, is the excellent
straight-ahead production by Lynn Long, with tasteful guitar solos sometimes reminiscent of Anson Funderburgh.
The CD contains many tight, focused, self-written blues/R&B tunes. ----Blues Art Journal/Vienna, Austria