Robert Ealey

Robert Ealey - Turn Out the Lights - 1996 - Black Top

A good Texas blues album. Not a classic album, but the songs are very well written. The vocals and guitar are Grade A, and there is some terrific sax work by Johnny Reno, and Mark Rybiski. You will really enjoy this album. Check out Robert Ealey's "I Like Music When I Party" album, and you should really listen to any albums by Lightnin' Hopkins, and Aaron "T-Bone" Walker's who have greatly influenced Robert Ealey's sound.

TRACKS

1. Turn Out the Lights
2. One Love One Kiss
3. She's a Rocket
4. I Had a Dream
5. Tica
6. Havin' a Party
7. All My Worries
8. If You Need Me
9. The River
10. Please Mr. Johnson
11. Goin' to New York

All songs composed by Robert Ealey, &Tone Sommer, except "She's a Rocket" by Sumter Bruton, & Robert Ealey

MUSICIANS

Robert Ealey (Vocals)
Mike Morgan (Guitar)
Jim Suhler (Guitar)
Sumter Bruton (Guitar)
Coco Montoya (Guitar)
Richard Chalk (Guitar)
Tone Sommer (Guitar)
Paul Boll (Guitar)
Sharon Denton (Bass)
Carlton Powell (Bass)
Sonny Collie (Bass)
Joe Lively (Bass), (Trombone)
Johnny Reno (Saxophone)
Mark Rybiski (Saxophone)
Hash Brown (Harmonica)
Tom Loughborough (Marimba), (Tambourine)
Marc Wilson (Drums)
Fred Gleber (Drums)
Ty Grimes (Drums)

REVIEW

Turn Out the Lights is Robert Ealey's best album to date, not because he's tried anything new, but because he has his best set of songs and performances to date. Supported by such luminaries as drummer Ty Grimes and guitarists Mike Morgan and Tone Summer, Ealey storms through a set of originals making them sound like classic juke-joint rockers. A few of the songs fall a little flat, but Turn Out the Lights is nevertheless a roaring good time. © Thom Owens, All Music Guide

BIO

Dallas-based vocalist and songwriter Robert Ealey began singing in his local church at age 15 with a quartet group in his native Texarkana. Influenced by the likes of Lightnin' Hopkins, Lil' Son Jackson, Frankie Lee Sims and Aaron "T-Bone" Walker, he began singing blues professionally at 20 after he moved to Dallas. In nearby Fort Worth, he joined the Boogie Chillen Boys and became a featured vocalist at the Blue Bird Club there. After singing there for 20 years, Ealey bought the Blue Bird Club and ran it for another ten years. In 1990, Ealey hooked up with guitarist Tone Sommer and began touring outside of Texas. The band quickly found an audience for their authentic Texas urban blues in Europe, where they have toured more than a dozen times since 1990. Sommer and Ealey also did TV commercial work that made use of their music. Every September, Ealey performs in his own blues festival, held in Sundance Square, Fort Worth. After BlackTop Records purchased several master tapes from the Top Cat label in Dallas, they released Ealey's Turn Out the Lights. On the album, he is accompanied by a bevy of the D/FW area's best blues accompanists, including Mike Morgan and Sommer on guitars, Ty Grimes on drums and Mark Rybiski on saxophones. I Like Music When I Party followed in 1997. ~ Richard Skelly, All Music Guide