Change Our Ways
Root Doctor has it down cold. Name it: blues, funk, soul, they have it locked down tight with their latest release, Change Our Ways . The Lansing , Michigan based quintet has been knocking around the blues circuit for the better part of 15 years and has gone through several incarnations, but the driving force remains the group's two founding members, vocalist Freddie Cunningham and James Williams on bass. The band may have its strongest lineup for this outing, especially with Jim Alfredson's keyboard mastery driving nearly every track.
From the opening cut, Blues Will Take Care Of You , a funky hip-shaking nod to the blues masters (invoking greats like Muddy Waters and Freddy King), Alfredson's keyboard work melds flawlessly with the band's tight rhythm, while guitarist Greg Nagy knows when to fly with a solo and when to kick back.
Change Our Ways features six originals among its ten cuts, and the band shifts gears easily from the dangerous undertones of Roy Hytower's Root Doctor to the punchy, beat laden original cut, Keep Our Business Off The Streets (which is punctuated by the swinging contribution of the Motor City Horns). Even the band's version of the oft-covered Soul Shine gets fresh life from the Root Doctor.
Add [Rick Bole's] understated drum work - check out the original cut Big Blue Cadillac and the album's cover track - and Change Our Ways stands out as the best recording to date from Root Doctor.
-Dave Ruthenberg
Living Blues Dec 2007
<- BACK