Dave Thompson - Little Dave And Big Love - 1995 (2000)

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Dave Thompson - Little Dave And Big Love - 1995 (2000)

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Product Description: Promising singer-guitarist Dave Thompson's career seems mired today. He hasn't played much outside the Mississippi club and festival circuit for years. But when this CD was first issued, in 1995, he was the Fat Possum label's hot young firebrand–already a 10-year veteran of Greenville's tough Nelson Street blues scene at age 24. Thompson's songs, like the funky "Standing Up On My Own," the gritty shuffle "After Hours Bar," and his state-of-the-me report "Mississippi Boy," were pages in his diary. They sound even stronger now, and his guitar playing–while derivative of Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan–has yet to be equaled for pure soul or authenticity by the newer crop of young stars. Even when Thompson's making like a down-home Jeff Beck, his supple bends and sweet tone keep in touch with his true-to-the-blues economy and pace. May this album's reappearance prompt Thompson's long-overdue sequel.

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Dave Thompson - Little Dave And Big Love - 1995 (2000)

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Review: Little Dave and Big Love features a set of 11 original tunes with plenty of snarling guitar and good vocals. Styles include Texas shuffles, funk and straight blues, and the general tone is very upbeat, with only one slower soul/r&b type song and one straight blues. The predominant style is hard blues and blues-rock, but the feeling never ventures into the realm of heavy blues or straight rock. Dave plays and sings lead, and is backed by a well balanced band of rhythm guitar, bass and drums. But Dave's guitar leads are the highlight of this CD. His tone is nasty and biting, due in part probably to his preference of using a quarter for a pick.
The opening funk/blues-rock cut, "Standing Up On My Own", immediately sets the stage and gets the listener's attention with a guitar intro punctuated with a searing, sustained note of high intensity. "You Took My Baby" is an up tempo blues-rocker. Then things slow down a bit for the next couple songs. One of the mellower songs on the disc, "After Hours Bar" is a moderate shuffle featuring a little light slide work. Following that is the melancholy "I'm Having It So Hard"
After a couple more blues-rock/funk tunes comes "Instrumental #7", an excellent, rowdy guitar romp smoothered with SRV overtones. A couple of cuts later comes the obligitory slow blues grind, "I Don't Care What Nobody Say", and this is a good one on which Dave plays with considerable intensity and passion. The shufflin' "Mississippi Boy" closes things out on an upbeat note.
This is definitely a CD for blues guitar fans. The tone is nasty and biting and the style aggressive. Combine the excellent guitar work with respectable vocals, above average songwriting, and a good backing band, and you have a very enjoyable CD.