Polly O’Keary and The Rhythm Method

Black Crow Callin’

Independent

Polly O’Keary grew up in a log cabin with no plumbing or electricity. At the age of nineteen she had a husband in prison and an 8^th grade education. Twenty years later she was a bassist for touring blues bands including “Too Slim & The Taildraggers” and appears on their 2011 album “Shiver”; in fact she and her husband drummer Tommy Cook were with Tim Langford when he was still known as Seattle Slim.

Polly O’Keary and The Rhythm Method released their last recording “Compass” in 2014. O’Keary is a six time “Washington Blues Society Best Female Vocalist” and four time “Best Songwriter”. The Rhythm Method includes O’Keary, bass and vocals; Cook (who was the winner of the 2017 Washington Blues Society award for Best Drummer), drums and vocals; and David Miller, guitar and vocals. This is their fourth album overall.

O’Keary has written or co-written all of the songs with members of the band. Opening with “Hard Hearted World” she sings “I’m a soft hearted woman in a hard hearted world”. The band is great as Miller takes an extended guitar solo. Eric Roberts is sitting in on piano.

O’Keary’s songs are often about relationships. “A Man Who Can Stand” sports the lyric “I don’t need you to need me I want a man who can stand on his own”. On “Yours To Lose” O’Keary writes “you’re trying to give my man your number while I’m standing right here, Oh go on , I don’t mind…I keep my man because I know he’s only mine to lose”. Featured on the latter are the Powerhouse Horns; Rich Cole, baritone and tenor sax; and Pete Kirkman, trumpet.

The title track “Black Crow is Callin’, calling shame, shame, shame, you lost your man last night, you only have yourself to blame”; Jim McLaughlin is featured on harmonica. On “Red Light” Norm Bellas joins in the B-3. “Reconciled” features background vocalists Sheri Roberts Greimes and Christina Porter. “I Don’t Understand”, “you said you liked red heads so I dyed my hair red, you said you liked smart girls so I went back to school, yes, I made myself into everything you like, so I guess you must like a fool, because you stepped out with a blonde girl in a short dress…”

My favorite tracks include the reggae styled “One Life”. O’Keary’s bass is excellent as is Miller on guitar. Cook’s drumming is solid throughout the recording. “Plan B” , “the best thing I ever learned I learned at my grandma’s knee, you always got to have an ace in the hole and you always got to have a plan B”; featured again are the fabulous Powerhouse Horns. On “I Am The One” O’Keary comes across like a stalker; “I am the one who loves you more, I am the one waiting outside your door, I am the one who will keep you in chains, you can hide, you can run, but I am still the one”.

O’Keary is a great songwriter and The Rhythm Method is a great band.

Richard Ludmerer

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