Jon Butcher

Jon Butcher - Positively The Blues - 1995 - Blues Bureau

If you like the blues rock style of Pat Travers, and Eric Gale, you will like this album. All the tracks are well written, and reminiscent of his early solo albums and his work with Barefoot Servants. Butcher's music has a great traditional blues/rock fee on this albuml, from grinding slow blues to intense shuffles. Buy his great "Stare At The Sun" album for more electric blues rock.

TRACKS

Cadillac Limousine
Clean-Up Time
Taxman Blues
Union Hall
Honey Bee
Here I Am
20 Years
I Hate Myself
At the Feet of the Master
Two Penny Nail
High Heel Shoes
Sail On

All tracks composed by Ben Schultz, Jon Butcher.

BAND

Ben Schultz (Keyboards), (Slide Guitar), (Guitar)
Jon Butcher (Dobro), (Guitar), (Vocals)

REVIEW

After contributing to two Blues Bureau compilations, Jon Butcher signed with the Mike Varney-led specialty label in 1955 and released Positively the Blues. As usual, Butcher sings and plays with supreme confidence and conviction on this, his first full-length foray into the blues genre. Energetic Chicago- and Texas-style numbers like the opener, "Cadillac Limousine," have a distinctive rock sheen that fans of Butcher's earlier work will recognize and enjoy. The swinging "Union Hall" almost matches the soul and dexterity of blues godhead Stevie Ray Vaughan, and the Hendrix/Vaughan-influenced "At the Feet of the Master" is probably the standout cut on Positively the Blues, as the track features some of Butcher's most incendiary guitar work on record. Listeners who are fond of the bluesy classic rock that Butcher specialized in during the '80s will definitely appreciate this powerful and emotive effort. © Vincent Jeffries, All Music Guide

SHORT BIO

Jimi Hendrix disciple Jon Butcher achieved some moderate chart success in the mid-'80s as the singer/guitarist for the Jon Butcher Axis. Coming out of the Boston club scene in the early '80s, the Butcher Axis (which also included members Chris Mann on bass and Derek Blevins on drums), issued such albums as 1983's self-titled debut, 1984's Stare at the Sun, and 1985's Along the Axis (Butcher dropped the Axis for such releases as 1986's Wishes and 1989's Pictures From the Front), opened for local Boston heroes the J. Geils Band in addition to other harder-edged bands, and issued a few singles that enjoyed some success on radio and MTV -- "Wishes," "Goodbye Saving Grace," and "Life Takes a Life." Butcher continued issuing solo albums in the '90s -- Positively the Blues (1995) and Electric Factory (1996) -- while a hits compilation (1998's The Best Of: Dreamers Would Ride) and an archival concert (1999's King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents) were also issued. In addition to his musical career, Butcher founded the Electric Factory Recording Studio, which focuses primarily on film, TV, and multimedia work. © Greg Prato, All Music Guide

MORE ABOUT THE ARTIST

Jon Butcher is an American singer and guitarist. He was born in Alaska. Jon Butcher cut a path through the Boston rock & roll scene when his Johanna Wilde band started making some noise as a terrific mainstream act. In the early eighties Jon formed Jon Butcher Axis, which consisted of Butcher (guitar and vocals), Chris Martin (bass) and Derek Blevins (drums). The band were requested to support J.Geils Band on their American tour. It led to a major label contract. In 1983 the band released their firsf album Jon Butcher Axis. The album reached #91 in Billboard Pop Albums chart and Jon’s video for Life Takes A Life was one of the first, by a black artist, to receive airtime on MTV. The following album Stare At The Sun (1984) managed to reach only #160 on the album chart. In 1985 Jon Butcher Axis moved to Capitol Records and released Along the Axis. A song on that album, The Ritual, earned Jon a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Singles and videos were released for The Sounds of Your Voice and Stop. Sounds of Your Voice was the only Billboard Hot 100 hit reached #94. The following releases, Wishes (1987) and Pictures From The Front (1989) were simply under the Jon Butcher name. Wishes was Jon’s most successful album reaching gold status. In 1991 the Jon Butcher Axis ceased to exist. Jon spent the 1990’s on several projects. In 1994, he led a group called Barefoot Servants, which released a self-titled album on Epic Records. The band included Leland Sklar (bass), Ben Schultz (guitar) and Ray Brinker (drums). Barefoot Servants 2 was released by ATOM Records in August 2005. Drummer Ray Brinker has been replaced by Londoner Neal Wilkinson. In the mid 90’s, Jon released two solo blues albums, Positively The Blues and Electric Factory. 1998 saw Razor & Tie issue The Best of Jon Butcher – Dreamers Would Ride. In November 2000, Jon released a CD via his web site - A Long Way Home. A Stiff Little Breeze was issued in 2001, Jon’s first project with the independent label ATOM Records. This CD resurrected the Jon Butcher Axis name. 2002 brought an additional Jon Butcher Axis release, An Ocean in Motion – Live in Boston 1984. Jon’s first DVD video release came in 2004. Live At The Casbah was filmed in December of 1984 at a club in Manchester, NH. It contains several songs never released on any Butcher album and songs from Jon’s first three Axis releases. Jon’s spends a great amount of his time scoring music for television and film. Some recent projects are doing music for the HBO series Deadwood & A&E’s The Life and Times of Wild Bill Cody. © www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Jon-Butcher