Billy Thompson - A Better Man

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:28
Size: 133.9 MB
Styles: Modern electric blues
Year: 2011
Art: Front

[4:18] 1. Are You Ready
[4:37] 2. A Better Man
[3:33] 3. Johnny Is A Cloud
[4:30] 4. Noreen
[4:59] 5. Born Again
[4:42] 6. No More Goodbyes
[4:22] 7. Met My Match
[5:23] 8. Who Knew
[3:33] 9. Downside Up
[4:05] 10. Oneness
[4:46] 11. Bleed
[5:25] 12. As If
[4:08] 13. Up In The Morning

There’s no way of knowing for sure if, since leaving his native San Diego in 2006, Billy Thompson has truly become “A Better Man” (to invoke the title of his fifth album). But the expertly crafted 13-song collection suggests this blues-rocking guitar and vocal dynamo is an even better musician than before.

Thompson rose to prominence in San Diego in the late 1970s as the lead guitarist in The Fingers, the excellent New Wave rock band that caught the attention of former San Diegans Frank Zappa and Kim Fowley. After a brief stint working with (of all people) Gary Puckett, Thompson formed The Mighty Penguins in 1987. (Future Eagles' touring member Al Garth, a veteran of Loggins&Messina, joined the band on sax in 1989.) Specializing in vintage blues, soul and R&B, the Penguins also created a memorable body of original songs, the majority penned by Thompson. By 1991, he and his high-flying group had become the touring band for Southern blues great Larry “Arkansas” Davis. Their work with Davis led to shows backing Albert King and New Orleans music greats Art Neville and Earl King, while Thompson earned praise from such fleet-fingered guitar stars as Albert Lee and Steve Morse.

Since moving to Virginia four years ago, Thompson — once memorably described as looking “like a cross between Roy Clark and a fist” — has toured nationally in the blues musical “Thunder Knocking On the Door” and in Europe with Queen Esther Marrow & The Harlem Gospel Singers. Along the way, Thompson has become an even more accomplished singer, songwriter and guitarist, especially on slide, as “A Better Man” makes vividly clear. This album was produced by veteran Bonnie Raitt/Robert Cray drummer Tony Braunagel, who plays on every song. It also features such luminaries as Little Feat bassist Kenny Gradney, ex-Crosby, Stills & Nash keyboardist Mike Finnigan and San Diego piano mainstay Mike Peed.

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