Dwight Edwards CDs and Reviews

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Reviews

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Dwight Edwards

"Heart Of The Blues"

Review By Bruce Hibbs

Kansas City Blues Society

 Out of Indianapolis Indiana, come the sounds of late night, after the race is over-the soulful sounds of Dwight Edwards on his newest CD release, Heart Of The Blues.

  All of the nine tracks laid down for our enjoyment were written, arranged, produced, mastered and engineered by Dwight Edwards. The only musicians used are Tony Jessop on percussion and saxman Joe Ketterman on the intro to “Fat Meat Ain’t Greasy”.

   Edwards shows mastery of guitar, bass, keyboards, horns and strings. Oh, did I forget to mention the vocals? This man has about as much vocal range as I have heard. Kind of Al Green and Terry Evans combined into 40 years of blues and R&B music.

  The CD kicks off with a medium, powerful lap around the track with “Love Somebody.” A wonderful easy-going, rocking, bluesy feeling of a song about the importance of lovin’ somebody in spite of the troubles and hard times. “I’ll Always be around” features high and low ranges of Edwards voice, along with a solid, unobtrusive trumpet accompaniment, as well as strings and guitar work. All of the very talented Dwight Edwards is highlighted with his impressive tune.

   A lighter side is displayed with “Mama Blues” where Edwards provides both mama and son as they talk about the pros and cons of singing the blues. Lucky for us the son seems to win this particular discussion.

   “Stop Lovin You” slows way down with a nice guitar through the first few bars giving way to trumpet and trombone while Dwight explains how everything he does “seems wrong.” Again a wide range of vocals and real pretty trumpet are featured on “One More Time.”

    For contrast there’s what sounds fast as a title but slow in fact: “Runaway Train.” A heartfelt love song about stopping a train being tougher than stopping a mans love for his baby. “Fat Meat Ain’t Greasy” is another upbeat blues song with some nice keyboard work in the background.

   Slow down once again with the slow-burning “Don’t Lie.” A real soul-searching appeal for honesty. The last track,”Jelous Man,” is a fitting finale to a CD that I appreciated most for its original songs, performed just the way Dwight Edwards wants us to hear them-with respects to Bobby Bland and Bobby Womack and others who have laid the rock solid foundation for the bluesman Dwight Edwards.

                                         Dwight Edwards

                         "Heart Of The Blues" 

 2003 Dwight Edwards BMI

  By Marla Fitzsimmons

  The Walla Walla Blues Society

 I had not heard of Dwight Edwards until receiving this CD for review. By the looks of him on the CD cover I knew he must have charisma and soul. I think I was right. This CD is full of great straight blues. At first I was reminded of the Phillip Walker band with the smooth guitar playing, but with the horns standing out even more. Dwight has deep, strong and enthusiastic vocals, with enormous range. The keyboards fill in where the horns leave off. This is the third recording and apparently all have a variety of original songs. The other CDs are “out Of The Blue” and “Rivers Of Blues” (I think a review of each is in order!). On this recording Tony Jessop plays percussion, Joe Ketterman provides intro sax on “Fat Meat Ain’t Greasy” (nice walking bass line on this one), and Dwight does the rest! He plays guitar, bass, keyboards, horns, and strings and provides all the vocals, Imagine having that kind of talent! There are nine songs and each has a story of it’s own (and not just the lyrics) “Love Somebody” is upbeat, while “I’ll Always Be Around” has a slow soulful groove. “Stop Lovin You” and “Jelous Man” are slower tunes with great guitar licks, and the later really shows his vocal range. Most of the songs on this CD are slow blues style, but the faster ones would make for some good dancin’. This recording is mixed well and sounds like a 9 piece band. Solid blues lovers will like this CD, as will those that enjoy more horns and keyboard.

                Dwight Edwards "Heart Of The Blues

                         By,  Don & Sheryl Crow

                       Music City Blues Society

My name is Don Crow, and my wife's name
is Sheryl Crow.  (no, not THAT Sheryl Crow, the singer, they just have
the same name) and, together, we do CD reviews for the Music City Blues
Society in Nashville, Tennessee.  A few months back, our Editor, Ruth
Higley, gave us Dwight's CD to review, and we thought it was quite good,
and when we sent her the review to be published, we sent Dwight a copy
as well.  Each month, our Society puts out a "BluesLetter," with all
our news and reviews, and this review appeared in one of our
BluesLetters. 

Ruth…here is the Dwight Edwards,and Mr Edwards, if you read this, you ROCK!! We really enjoyed this one… a fine set of down-home blues. Here we go…

Indianapolis’ own Dwight Edwards is waaay more than your average bluesman. This CD, his third independent release, finds him handling not only the vocal duties, but the lead guitar, bass, keys and horns as well! Multi-talented, you say? Yes, Indeed!! With a rich baritone reminiscent of Big Bill Morganfield, Dwight smokes through nine cuts of originals that show off his vast songwriting abilities as well.

A blues veteran of some 40 years, Dwight’s talents really come out on this set. Check out the autobiographical “Mama Blues,” where he’s promised his mother all his life that he would “grow up and play the blues,” even though it didn’t QUITE always meet with her approval! I’ll Always Be Around” is a good shot of soul-blues in the B. B.- or Bobby Bland vein. We had three favorites. We just couldn’t get enough of Dwight's slow-blues lead guitar and impassioned vocals on the slow-burners “Don’t Lie,” and “Stop Loving You.” On the humorous side, in “Fat Meat Ain’t Greasy,” he uses everything from mojo hands to some John the Conquer Root to win a lady’s affections! As he so aptly puts it “One More Time,” “everybody’s gotta die, but not eyerybody knows how to live. ”So we urge you to go for the gusto and grab a copy of Dwight Edwards “Heart OF The Blues,” and let the good times roll!! Until Later… Sheryl and Don Crow.

BLUES NEWS June/July 2005
THE NEWSLETTER OF THE KENTUCKIANA BLUES SOCIETY
“...PRESERVING, PROMOTING AND PERPETUATING THE BLUES.”
Louisville, Kentucky Incorporated 1989

                                              
                                                  Heart of the Blues           
                                                  Dwight Edwards 

                                                               by Shelly Fu

                                                www.dwightedwardsbluesband.com

At a time when most blues artists are content to rehash classics by Muddy Waters,
Jimmy Reed, and other great songwriters of the past, Dwight Edwards is a breath of
fresh air. This Indianapolis-based artist is quite possibly one of the most under-rated
bluesmen alive today. Mr. Edwards has achieved a tour de force with his 2003 album
Heart of the Blues, which showcases his talents as a singer, performer, arranger, pro-
ducer, masterer, and engineer, but most impressive of all is Mr. Edwards' songwriting ability. Not many bluesmen
these days write new songs, and this sad fact has contributed to the opinion of many that blues is dead. In Heart
of the Blues, Mr. Edwards has managed to write an entire album of original songs that still have an unquestiona-
bly traditional blues sound. As if that weren't enough proof of Mr. Edwards' talent, he can play! And we're not
just talking guitar either. On Heart of the Blues, Mr. Edwards sings and plays guitars, bass, keyboards, and
horns. In fact, the only sound on the album not made by him is a brief saxophone introduction on the song "Fat
Meat Ain't Greasy."
If you're a fan of horns, you'll like "Love Somebody," the first song on Heart of the Blues. This song features a
catchy keyboard solo as piquant as a good barbecue sauce. Mr. Edwards' impressive vocal ability is first high-
lighted in the second song, "I'll Always Be Around." This soulful song has the mellowness of a Ray Charles ballad,
and Mr. Edwards manages to easily hit the falsetto high notes in one phrase and then evoke a deep tender growl
the next. Track three is "Mama Blues," a humorous song about a mother chastising her son for pursuing the life
of a bluesman and his joyful response that it's "the one thing that I can do." "Stop Loving You" is a heartfelt love
song with a 50s flavor. The vocals on this song are truly amazing. "One More Time," a joyous song with a carpe
diem theme, shows off Mr. Edwards' smoky, volcanic guitar playing. "Runaway Train" opens with a stately,
mournful guitar solo and further demonstrates Mr. Edwards' impressive vocal range. "Fat Meat Ain't Greasy"
contains a resonant saxophone introduction by Joe Kellerman and lots of background horns. The keyboard
lends a nice subtle juiciness to this song, and the lyrics evoke classic blues themes. "Don't Lie" begins with a
smooth guitar introduction, and keyboard, horns, guitar, strings, and vocals all blend together seamlessly, result-
ing in a pleasant dreamy sound. "Jealous Man," a well-mixed song, ends the album with a heartfelt wail by Mr.
Throughout the entire album, Mr. Edwards' guitar playing unrolls effortlessly like a silk ribbon, sometimes intri-
cate, sometimes elegant, sometimes wailing, but never out of place. It's obvious that he has completely mastered
this instrument in the off-hand way he tosses off fills and in his sometimes jaw-dropping solos. The album's only
drawbacks are that the string sound is sometimes a bit overpowering, and the horns sometimes sound dull n-
stead of bright. But these are minor defects. Heart of the Blues is a must-have album. Its joyous sound and
originality are as exciting as a night at the blues clubs and should silence the most skeptical and jaded blues crit-
ics who claim there's nothing new under the sun.
                                                                                          Shelly Fu