Fran Drew and the Lucky Strikes - Trial by Fire (2024)

Connecticut by way of New Orleans band Fran Drew and the Lucky Strikes “weave a mix of rock, blues, and classic grooves”, putting together an explosive, dance-ready debut album, Trial by Fire (2024). The core band, featuring Gene Donaldson on guitar, Dennis Cotton on drums, and Max Samson on bass, craft a gritty, soulful, full-throated sound on the 12 track LP, fully composed of covers.

The Lucky Strikes are at their best when complimented by Rich Badowski on harmonica and Sax Gordon and Matt Parker on horns.

Saucy vocals, flashy guitar, and fiery horns open up the album, on “Neighbor Neighbor”, featuring a wailing saxophone solo that manages to be warm, harsh, and sexy. Drew, who grew up singing on the street corners of the New Orleans French Quarter, delivers soulful vocals, singing “Neighbor don’t worry what goes on in my home. Baby turn to your own business and leave me alone.” Gordon’s howling, screeching, saxophone helps the band achieve a gritty, grungy sound.

Gordon provides swinging, hot saxophone again on “Flamin’ Maimie”, which possesses a rocking, syncopated rhythm backed by Cotton and Samson. Drew’s voice carries a gravelly bravado that gives the track a seedy glory, while Donaldson and Steve Isherwood meander through mean guitar solos. Saxophone bursts out in shows of force as Drew sings “I’m hotter than the Chicago fire. I’m the hottest girl in town.” Drew’s incredible swagger and dominant persona is undeniable; she projects herself as a woman who knows what she wants, and how to get it.

Badowski introduces himself on harp with “Rock Me Baby”, and pairs sliding harmonica with catchy guitar riffs, traversing the scale and giving soul and gumption to the track. Drew calls out “Rock me baby, rock me all night long… I want your to rock me, rock me away from here,” as Badowski’s flavorful, energetic blues harmonica puts on a show.”

Upbeat, sunny instrumentation comprises the lush, romantic track, “Something You Got.” Cotton drives the song forward on drums, while Drew’s vocals are decidedly softer and sweeter than any other point in the album, inflected with a certain tone of love. Parker is strong on horns and Drew sings “Something you got makes me work all day. Something you got baby, makes me bring home my pay.”

The Strikes deliver a unique cover of Albert King’s 1967 single, “The Hunter”, flipping the gender of the lyrics to reflect a female perspective, with gritty, minor key blues-rock. Guitar shouts out in electric burst, showing Isherwood’s adept hands, in conjunction with exceptional drum playing from Cotton. Drew croons “They call me the hunter, that’s my name. A handsome guy like you, is my only game”, boasting of her love gun that does not miss.

Slow waves of guitar produce a more laid-back groove on “Roll With Me Henry”, while retaining the group’s gritty electric sound. Drew pleads for a lover to stay with her in periodic vocal outbursts, interspersed with fast, fuzzy guitar solos, like a heart in flux, full of a lover’s anxiety.

“I was a good girl for too long and it nearly drove me mad,” Drew yells out in the incendiary track “I Look Good in Bad. Slow simmering guitar, bass, and drums percolate as Drew’s vocals, full of emotion, strain with the effort, and she sings “I’ll find myself a bad boy, I might even learn his name… Being a good girl for too long, it can wear a bad girl out.” Brandt Taylor gives a blistering guitar solo that sounds like tangible pain.

“Pretty Good Love” is funky from the start, with gnarly horn contribution from Gordon, on the blues-rock tune with funk influences. Drew sings “Baby my love is deep. Deep as the bottom of the ocean. Pure as a newborn baby.” The absolute performance on horns beg the listener to dance while Drew professes a profound love.

Tasty harmonica and drums open up the playful “Chauffeur Blues”, a tale of jealousy with eerily upbeat vocals as Drew sings “I don’t want him riding other girls around. I’m going to steal me a pistol and shoot my chauffeur down.” The mixture of harp, guitar, drums, and vocals, is a good representation of the funky blues-rock, the band is capable of, and a solid closure to the album.

The band’s cover of “Breaking Up Somebody’s Home” falls short of both Ann Peebles’ and Albert King’s versions, coming off as ostentatious and forced. While the harmonica on “You Can Have My Husband”, is exceptional, Drew’s vocals lack the bluesy depths she achieves on other tracks on the LP.

On the whole, Trial By Fire represents a strong debut for Fran Drew and the Lucky Strikes, delivering uptempo, funky blues rock, aided by saucy harmonica and horns. The band offers a gritty, grungy take on 12 blues selections.