D.K. Harrell

The Right Man

Little Village

It’s refreshing to find a youthful talent that embraces the blues tradition. The Right Man is the debut for 25-year-old D.K. Harrell of Ruston, LA.  As a blues singer/guitarist/songwriter Harrell has somehow absorbed not only the history of the blues but its nuances too. While he is still forming his own style, he has impressively written 11 original songs, and you’ll hear the influence of B.B. King, Guitar Slim, Magic Sam, and others in Harrell’s guitar licks. Harrell prides himself on being a storyteller and lacks no confidence, delivering his songs crisply, with feeling, and without unnecessary adornment. In short, he gets it. Now, to be fair he has the best accompaniment an emerging blues artist could hope for in Kid Andersen and Jim Pugh’s Little Village session players at the vaunted Greaseland USA.  The assembled musicians are bassist Jerry Jemmott (Aretha Franklin, King Curtis, B.B. King), drummer Tony Coleman (three decades with B.B. King), and keyboardist Pugh (Etta James, Robert Cray). Andersen produced the album and played rhythm guitar. In addition, there is a six-piece horn section led by Mike Rinta, string arrangements by Don Dally and four background vocalists.

Harrell is the epitome of this generation of artists who benefitted by accessing unlimited amounts of videos to absorb favorite players, soak in history, and develop on stage persona and bandleader skills. Harrell also has a church choir background, which is always an asset.  Yet, this was not an easy path to forge.  As he says, “I’m Black, I’m young and the music I like is blues. How much do you think I have in common with people my age?” Harrell finds it difficult to find players who play the authentic blues in northern Louisiana, claiming that he often has to drive 3-5 hours to do so.  He’s already shared the stage with Bobby Rush, Gary Clark Jr., Mr. Sipp, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks. He finished in third place in the 2022 IBC. His natural talent will immediately grab the listener and seemingly defy logic that one so young could be this advanced in the idiom.

Excerpting a couple of quotes from Michael Liminios’ Blues. Gr. blogpost, here is Harrell on describing his guitar style, “My sound now is a gumbo of Guitar Slim, BB King, Buddy Guy, Magic Sam, Freddie King, Grant Green, Django Reinhardt, and a few others. The foundation of my playing and tone is BB King style, I feel many players can hit B.B. King licks but getting that warm but bright tone and vibrato can be a challenge even for myself.”  Commenting on the blues of the past and his hopes for its future, he offers this, an astute observation that synchs with this writer’s opinions – “I miss the authentic sound, blues to me now is too rock-ish. I miss when the guitar wasn’t overpowered with gain or distortion and bands had horns and every man shined on stage in a nice suit and uniformed. I also miss the showmanship, the new players like Toronzo Cannon and Eric Gales have that showman ship cause they move and dance a little when they play. You can’t be so technical, be more spiritual.”

His debut commences with the title track, a horn slathered shuffle that echoes B.B. King with its heated vocals, spot on phrasing, and stinging guitar that belies his youthful stature. “You’re a Queen” brings in a funky, soulful Joe Tex-like vibe, replete with call and response background vocals and punchy horns, as Harrell’s guitar soars above the aggregation of some 15 musicians and singers. “Get These Blues Out of Me” is a slow blues, with punchy horns and a terrific heartfelt vocal. “You’d Be Amazed” is a fast-paced shuffle, not unlike the kind found on B.B.’s albums from the ‘70s and at six minutes gives the youngster a chance to stretch out on his hollow bodied Gibson (the same one that B.B. played on “The Thrill Is Gone” according to Jemmott). The centerpiece of the album is “Not Here for A Long Time” in Parts 1 and 2, as Harrell states his blues philosophy along the lines of the aforementioned quotes in both the lyrics and his guitar lines.

“While I’m Young” is a flowing blues with a charming Sam Cooke-like vocal while “Hello Trouble” depicts his grittier side. Although Harrell doesn’t cite Albert King in his list of guitar influences, those strains imbue “Honey Ain’t So Sweet.” Harrell moves into celebratory mode with “Leave It at the Door,” buoyed by blaring horns and a full chorus of vocalists and closes “One For the Road” which begins with Jim Pugh’s church-like organ intro and morphs into Harrell’s favorite style, the infectious shuffle, as he and Pugh drive hard.

Too many young guitar slingers think it’s about playing fast, loud, or cool when the real barometer is the quality of the songs. Remarkably Harrell has nailed the hardest part, the songwriting. To these ears, his guitar style is still emulative but is solid and will evolve. Sit up and take notice. D.K. Harrell promises to not only keep the blues alive but real too.

• Jim Hynes

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