Rhett Tyler & Early Warning

Rhett Tyler & Early Warning - Live at Manny's Car Wash - 2001 - The Orchard

A good live album from Rhett Tyler, the Texas born blues harpist, guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist, who now calls New York his home. When he is not performing, Rhett owns and operates Beefield Studios in Hudson. For quite a while Rhett used to be the Wednesday evening artist in residence at New York's famous "Terra Blues" club. He played with Steely Dan's session drummer, Keith Carlock (playing on this album), and Sly Geralds on bass guitar, and the band became known as "Rhett Tyler & Early Warning".The trio regularly played late shows, sometimes lasting four or five hours, and usually "blew the roof off the house". Rhett Tyler has shared the billing with many famous Blues artists including Johnny Winter, John Mayall, Ronnie Earl, Elvin Bishop, Lonnie Brooks, Jimmy Thackery, John Hammond and many others. A very experienced guitarist, Rhett and his band play a great mix here, of Blues, R&B, jazz, soul and Gospel. Rhett spent a great part of his life in the Mississippi, Ohio, and St. Louis areas, and many of these influences pervade his powerful modern electric guitar driven music. If you like SRV, you may like this album. The vocals could be stronger on this album, but this is live "rough and ready" blues with no studio enhancements, and the playing can't be faulted. The now defunct Manny's Car Wash, in Manhattan played host to many world class musicians, and this concert was held during the venue's last days. Rhett Tyler like so many artists on this blog deserve a much wider audience. Buy his great Get Tough" album.

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

CD 1
1 Get Tough
2 Keep Your Business to Yourself
3 Cold Wind Blowin'
4 Be Careful With a Fool - Josea/King
5 Crossroads - Johnson
6 Barefoot Rock - Harper
7 Build Me a Levee
8 Power of the Blues
9 Slow Down Baby

CD 2
1 Walkin' by Myself - Lane
2 Slow Down Baby
3 Hell Hound
4 Boogie Own to Texas
5 My Passion
6 Walkin' in the Spirit
7 How Long Blues
8 Devil Got Hold

All tracks composed by Rhett Tyler, except where stated

BAND

Rhett Tyler - Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals, Guitar (12 String)
Bill Sims - Guitar
Grant Green - Guitar
Jimmy Vivino - Guitar
Keith Carlock - Drums
Lenny Post - Organ

ABOUT RHETT TYLER

Rhett Tyler, guitarist, songwriter, vocalist, and producer, is best known for his explosive style of scorching modern blues guitar and high-octane, house-rocking live performances. Born in San Antonio, Texas, and raised in Mississippi, Ohio, and St. Louis, Rhett grew up listening and learning about music and the blues from his father, an Air Force officer and talented classical, boogie, and blues pianist, and about writing from his mother, a published poet. He discovered his own God-given musical talent at the age of 15 when his parents gave him his first electric guitar.Rhett attended both Mannes College of Music (he had been accepted by Juilliard, but there was no guitar program) and the Berkley School of Music in the early 70s, where he feverishly worked at honing his skills as a player, performer, and writer. He soon found himself on tour as bandleader for R&B recording artist Ruth Copeland that climaxed at the Baltimore Civic Center, where Rhett received a standing ovation for his electrifying featured guitar solo. During the latter part of the 70s and early 80s, Rhett had the pleasure of working with a range of notable artists on numerous projects both live and in the studio.In the mid-80s Rhett formed the band, Early Warning. After undergoing a period of stylistic exploration and soul-searching, he brought the band's focus back to his first true musical love, the blues. His music is certainly rooted in the tradition of blues, but Rhett also incorporates his jazz, rock, and gospel influences to create an innovative modern musical bland with his signature guitar style. Rhett Tyler has independently recorded and released three CDs with Early Warning, "Total Package" in 1992, "My Passion" in 1997, and most recently, "Live at Manny's Car Wash" in 1999. Two of these recordings have been licensed to the German-based Herman's label for European distribution. "Total Package" was released in Europe as "Get Tough" in 1996 and "My Passion" was released under the same title in 1998. Rhett is presently writing songs for his next studio CD and preparing for a future European tour. He performs both with his band, Early Warning, as a power trio (guitar, bass, and drums) and as a solo artist on the acoustic 12-string (along with his harmonica). Rhett has performed at many prominent festivals and venues, including the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival, Davenport, IA, Fleet Blues Fest, Albany, NY, Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Festival, Redbank, NJ, and Treasure Coast Food Bank Blues Festival, Ft. Pierce, FL. He has also shared billing with many distinguished blues artists, including Johnny Winter, Lonnie Brooks, Elvin Bishop, Delbert McClinton, and John Hammond, to name a few. Critically acclaimed by John Swenson of Rolling Stone as "a powerful front man, in the tradition of Johnny Winter [and] Jimi Hendrix. Rhett Tyler is the certain face of future blues." © Wildfire Promotions