John McNamara Rollin’ With It

May 8, 2017

John McNamara

Rollin’ With It

Bahool Records/Black Market Records

John McNamara is an award winning soul blues singer from Australia. He released his debut recording “One Voice, One Guitar” in 2014. In 2015 he competed in the International Blues Challenge and was a semi-finalist. This is McNamara’s follow-up recording.

In order to “roll with it” McNamara traveled back to Memphis and enlisted some of the soul/blues genres very best. The album was recorded at the Ardent Studios and co-produced by McNamara and Lester Snell. The band includes McNamara, vocals and lead guitar; Snell (a veteran Stax Records songwriter and producer who was a member of the Isaac Hayes Movement throughout the 1970’s), piano and organ; Steve Potts (Booker T. & The MG’s), drums; James “Jimi” Kinard, bass; Michael Toles (Bobby “Blue” Bland and The Bar-Kays), guitar; and the fabulous horn section of Mark Franklin (Aretha Franklin, Solomon Burke, B.B. King and currently with both The Bo-keys and his new Love Light Orchestra), trumpet and flugelhorn; and Lannie McMillan (from The Royal Horns), tenor sax; and Jim Spake (also from The Royal Horns), sax.

McNamara is also an accomplished songwriter. He has written six new songs. Opening with “One, Two of a Kind” one is immediately impressed with McNamara’s vocal timbre and the overall production. “Bad Reputation” contains the lyric “I’m all about lovin you”. My favorite however has to be “Wild Out There”.

There are also four well selected covers. Otis Redding’s “Security” is given a wonderful treatment. Both “Blind Man” and “Ask Me About Nothing (But The Blues)” were recorded by Bobby “Blue” Bland; the former was a 1965 single on Duke Records. The closer on the album is “Suffering with The Blues” which was a 1956 single for Little Willie John on King Records.

All of the arrangements are by Snell. This is a great introduction to the talented McNamara whose future shines brightly.

Richard Ludmerer