Wednesday, January 10, 2007

You should go and see these guys...really, you should.

Paul Green & Straight Shot - December 29, 2006

Paul Green & Straight Shot

Left to right: Al Kaatz, Paul Green, Les Merrihew, and Howard Hooper

I was fortunate to see the last set of Paul Green & Straight Shot's gig at the Highway 99 Blues Club on December 29th. This was the "rehearsed" version of Paul's band - by this I mean that there were no pickup players on the gig, so the band was able to play both the blues and the soul-blues tunes (think "Body And Fender Man") that Paul sings so well. Besides Paul on harp and vocals, the band included the fine guitarist Al Kaatz, drummer Les Merrihew, and bassist Howard Hooper. This is a great rhythm section, kids!

All the tunes I heard sounded terrific, especially (the Meters'?) "Just Kissed My Baby," which featured Kaatz's soulful and funky wah-wah guitar. Note to gearheads - Paul is one of the few harp players that I've seen blowing through a Peavey amp, and it sounded just fine, thank you very much. I was sorry at the end of the night that I didn't show up at the club earlier. You can bet that I will next time. I recommend checking these guys out - you can sign up to get on their e-mail list here.

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