Boston-based guitarist Peter “Hi-Fi” Ward has spent decades as one of the blues world’s trusted sidemen, so it’s a pleasure to hear him so comfortably out front on Hanging On to the Blues, released on Natural Records. Raised in Lewiston, Maine, Ward and his brother, bassist Michael “Mudcat” Ward, wore out blues records as teenagers and caught Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Taj Mahal and Hubert Sumlin whenever they came through. In Boston he went on to back the likes of Jimmy Rogers, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson and Lowell Fulson, and toured in the eighties with the Legendary Blues Band, the group that carried on Muddy Waters’ legacy.
That lifetime of friendships is what makes this record special. Across ten originals and about 38 minutes, Ward is joined by guitarists Ronnie Earl and Duke Robillard, singer and harmonica player Sugar Ray Norcia, saxophonist Sax Gordon Beadle, pianist and keyboardist Anthony Geraci, his brother Mudcat Ward on bass, and drummers Neil Gouvin and Mark Teixeira. Recorded at LakeWest and Wellspring Studios and mixed and mastered by Bo Brocken in the Netherlands, it is rooted firmly in tradition, yet it gives the songs and players room to breathe. Ward has said he looks for originality within the framework of traditional blues rather than copying records or solos, and that spirit runs through the whole album.
The record opens on a playful note with “You Take the Cake,” and the fun carries straight into “Bearcat Woman,” a character portrait of a woman and her police scanner, who sometimes hears more than she wants to. It’s a real fun number, with a wacky, whimsical edge, and it’s all about Ward’s own guitar work. “Kay Bee” is another story song, and it’s wonderful how these tunes serve that fundamental need of telling a story when you sing a song.
On “Small World,” Ronnie Earl and Sax Gordon Beadle team up beautifully. Sax Gordon’s saxophone is the cake, the foundation of the track, and Earl’s Stratocaster is the frosting on top. “Do You Have a Twin” is danceable music with that old light touch, a reminder that the blues aren’t always swampy and can be very catchy, the kind of tune that makes you want to get up and dance. “It’s a Good Thing” is classic wearable blues, a song any artist could put on and make fit in their own way. In Ward’s hands it becomes a chance to take inventory of a relationship that ain’t so bad, and the longer he takes inventory, the better it sounds.
“My Second Wife” is definitely humorous, with a nice punchy vibe, and it gives Sugar Ray Norcia on harmonica, Anthony Geraci on keyboards, and drummer Mark Teixeira a chance to step forward and do what they’re great at, which is jam. “Simone,” the longest track at nearly six minutes, is the down-home one: if you’ve been waiting for your gritty blues number, this is it. “The Sweeper” is quirky and offbeat, the kind of song that might turn up on an early John Waters soundtrack, a street sweeper rumbling down the streets of Baltimore.
The album closes with “Cee Cee Rider,” Peter Ward and company’s tip of the hat to an old blues favorite. It’s always gratifying to hear stellar musicians interpreting great material, and that might be the best summary of this whole warm, charming, and often fun album.
