THE MANNISH BOYS "LOWDOWN FEELIN" Source: Blues Underground Network 2 Date: 09/2008 Writer: Don Zelazny

If you are a fan of high energy blues performed at a very high level you definitely need to check out Lowdown Feelin’, the new CD from The Mannish Boys. No fewer than 20 artists (the core Mannish Boys group and assorted musical guests) combine to deliver a CD stuffed with 17 tracks and over 70 minutes of great blues. The appeal of this ever-evolving blues super-group is the mix of blues veterans with countless years of performing and new players adding youthful energy, a recipe that has worked for years for Roomful of Blues. The current incarnation of the band is Kid Ramos and Franck “Paris Slim” Goldwasser on guitar, Richard “Big Foot” Innes on drums, Ronnie James Weber or Tom Leavey on bass, Randy Chortkoff, harp and vocals, front-man Finis Tasby on “vocal cords” and very special guests, Kirk “Eli” Fletcher on guitar, and Chicago legend Bobby Jones, vocals. This is “full-bodied” blues with powerful and plentiful instrumentation, not stripped down “blues-light” (not that there’s anything wrong with that..). 

Among the many highlight are “Low Down Feeling” and “If the Washing Don’t Get you, The Rinsing Will.” The band prides itself on delivering tunes that haven’t received a lot of attention. Randy Chortkoff says, “There are just so many great blues songs out there that almost no one has ever heard, that no one ever plays...I feel part of keeping the blues alive is keeping some of those great songs alive too.” One you will recognize and enjoy is the lengthy “Rude Groove,” which is basically built over “Green Onion's” Also check out the pounding instrumental “You Don’t Love Me.” Hopefully the Boys will be able to continue on with this stellar group. Rarely do we find such a great mix of players and tunes!