Willie J. Campbell

Be Cool

Blue Heart Records

       Sadly, the celebrated blues bassist Willie J. Campbell passed away last December from ALS while making this album, ultimately titled Be Cool for the phrase the affable musician often used and lived by. Recorded at Dockside Studio in Louisiana, the recordings were completed by the core band assembled for the sessions and a large gathering of guests, all of them Campbell’s good friends.

Willie J. Campbell was the bassist in harmonica wizard James Harman’s classic band. He then linked the rhythms together in the Fabulous Thunderbirds with the equally wizard-like harpist Kim Wilson, in lineups over nine years comprised entirely of Harman Band alumni. Later he was with the blues collective Mannish Boys, and most recently The Proven Ones. Campbell enjoyed quite a career and Be Cool includes players from all those bands. The love for Campbell and the blues he relished—a mix of California, Texas, and New England flavors—bursts forth in fifteen impassioned performances.

Campbell—thumping all the way through from the heart—enlisted singer Brian Templeton (Radio Kings, Proven Ones), guitarist Kid Ramos (Fabulous Thunderbirds), drummer Jimi Bott (Harman Band, Mannish Boys, Proven Ones), and keyboardist Brooks Milgate to help him lay down the tracks. Half the songs were written by Templeton, the rest split between covers and songs brought in by the guests.

Templeton proves his blues mettle right off in “No More,” a mean, piano-pumped number featuring guitar solos by Ramos and guests Mike Morgan, Anson Funderburgh, and Shawn Pittman, in addition to one by Jimmie Wood of the Imperial Crowns on harp. All are economical, but bite like rivets driven, holding the listener in place for the duration. Los Lobos’ “This Time,” featuring its author David Hidalgo singing and playing guitar, and Kim Wilson blowing torrents of harp, lightens the mood, the elastic blues groove of it entirely different from the spacey original. Perhaps Hidalgo and Lobos partner Louis Perez had this highlight arrangement in mind when they wrote the song?

“Drone” then rises on a military drumbeat, setting up a lowdown vibration that Templeton rants melodically over, and that harp player Jason Ricci careens around hairpin turns in. “Standby,” a fat slab of old-school, horn-blasted rhythm and blues with Sugaray Rayford in commanding voice, makes as big an impact as the show-stopping “She’s a Twister,” featuring the core quintet ripping on old-time rock ‘n roll. Other standouts include a take on the Faces’ “My Fault,” which shows the cross influence between that band and the Rolling Stones, and the album-closing rendition of Peter Green’s early Fleetwood Mac beauty, “Albatross.”

This variety-packed album never ceases to entertain. Campbell and his blues brothers from all corners of America convened in the Louisiana swamp and laid down a blues music experience that includes something for everyone. Award worthy to be sure, Be Cool touches with its sentiment and electrifies by its music.

Tom Clarke for MAS

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