Rockin’ Johnny & Quique Gomez

Dos Hombres Wanted

Vizztone Label Group

Rockin’ Johnny Burgin went to The University of Chicago to become a writer but fell into the Chicago Blues scene. He found work as a guitarist with Taildragger, Pinetop Perkins, Mary Lane and Sam Lay, and recorded six albums under his own name for Delmark Records. He lived in Chicago for twenty-eight years before relocating to California and recording the 2017 critically acclaimed “Neoprene Fedora”; with an All-star cast of west coast musicians including Kid Andersen and Alabama Mike.

Quique Gomez is the Spanish harp sensation who recorded with Chicago bluesman Willie Buck in Madrid, and appears on his 2011 album “Willie Buck – Songs For Muddy”. Gomez also fronts his own band and in 2017 recorded “Quique Gomez & His Vipers – Dealin’ With The Blues” at the Funkameba Studios in Madrid; later mastered by Andersen.

In late 2018 Burgin and Gomez got together and toured the Western Territories. Most of this album was recorded at the Alnico Recording Studio in Austin, Texas with a band including Burgin, guitar and vocals; Gomez, harp and vocals; Christian Dozzler, piano and accordion; Eric Przygocki, bass; and Stephen Dougherty, drums. Guest musicians included Josh Fulero, guitar; Greg Izor, harp; and Faris Jarrah, trombone. Three tracks are from an earlier session recorded in Toledo, Spain with the rhythm section of David Salvador Fructuoso, bass; and Pablo Barez del Cueto, drums. The album is also mixed and mastered by Andersen at his Greaseland Studios in San Jose, Ca.

Eight of the tracks were written by Burgin including “Your Charm Won’t Help You” with Gomez’s harp and a passionate vocal from Burgin; “Everybody Loves My Baby”, and “Coffee Can Blues” written with Ilana Katz Katz. Burgin’s “Are You Ever” features Izor on harp.

Gomez contributes both “Take It Like It Is”, and “Otro Hombre” sung in Spanish; the former capturing Gomez’s intense harp and vocal, and some insane guitar from Burgin.

Burgin and Gomez also cover Izor’s “Livin Day To Day”, and two blues classics; Robert Lockwood’s low-down “Funny But True” showcasing the band, and the fabulous closer “Don’t Blame Shorty” from Hudson Whittaker a.k.a. Tampa Red with the lyric “you can blame yourself but don’t blame Shorty for that”.

This is a great introduction to the brilliant new partnership between guitarist Burgin and the harmonica wielding Gomez. Hopefully there will be a lot more to follow.

Richard Ludmerer