Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
If you take nothing else from the latest double album released by Ruf Records in their Songs From The Road Series, then the fact that Coco Montoya is a musical genius, a work of art painting the picture that itself deserves framing, placing inside a gallery for all too see and adoring wistfully that if only you could have stuck at the lessons granted you, should be the thought that haunts you till the end of your days.
Live is the best way to which to appreciate somebody’s art. It is acceptable for example to sit back in a comfy chair, the lights taken down a notch and the thought at that any point you could find a small whisky making its way towards your trembling mouth. However live, the soul at the mercy of the oncoming storm, the sound of a thousand horses racing towards you ready to carry you into the thoughts of the guitarist or band and the dreams of a the crowd that join you in the stage light glare, that is when you experience the music properly.
Coco Montoya has that effect nailed down so well he could place a sheet erect in the middle and with a good prevailing wind make it sail clean across the ocean and still have enough left in him to serenade any passing freight ships that by pass his way. Ruff Records, as they did with arguably the greatest female Blues player of the last few years Joanne Shaw Taylor, have captured all the raw emotion from Mr. Montoya’s performances and have cast open the results for all to enjoy and it is an album worthy of both performer and of the series.
With tracks on the album such as Too Much Water, Don’t Go Making Plans, the glorious Fannie Mae, You’d Think I’d Know Better By Now and I Wish I Could Be That Strong all making a suitable appearance on the album, whether you can draw upon great concerts of the man’s illustrious past from your own well placed vantage point at one of his gigs or even as a first time listener, you will not be disappointed by what you experience as you listen to Songs From The Road.
The road is truly long but with Coco Montoya by your side, the journey becomes a pleasure.
Ian D. Hall