Sunday, September 28, 2025

The Juke Joints - Going To Chicago

Album: Going To Chicago
Size: 120,3 MB
Time: 51:33
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2010
Styles: Harmonica blues, rocking blues
Art: Full

1. This Is It (3:05)
2. Magic Shoes (2:54)
3. Stax Sound (3:20)
4. Goodbye Baby (4:22)
5. Two Hearts (4:35)
6. Hard Times (3:46)
7. Bad Bad Feeling (5:50)
8. Time Will Tell (4:13)
9. Strollin' On Lincoln Av. (4:20)
10. Addicted To The Blues (3:17)
11. Rock My Soul (3:18)
12. Make A Stand (Feat. Ana Popovic) (3:03)
13. Going To Chicago (Feat. Ronnie Baker Brooks & Eddy 'The Chief' Clearwater) (5:24)

When Juke Joints' lead singer and drummer Peter Kempe visited the 2008 Chicago Blues Festival, he was so impressed with Eddie "The Chief" Clearwater's performance there, that he simply had to have a word with him after his show. This resulted in an invitation to their Kwadendamme Blues Festival in 2009. Eddy fired on all cylinders and The Juke Joints excelled as his backing band. This cooperation led to mutual enthusiasm, more shows around Europe and the determination to record together as soon as possible.

The contact with Eddy Clearwater, whose latest album "West Side Strut" was recorded in the Rax Trax Studios with renowned producer Ronnie Baker Brooks, opened up the doors to that same studio for The Juke Joints and in June 2010 they made the long-awaited trip to the home of the blues, Chicago. There they recorded what surely must be The Juke Joints' magnum opus, with a collection of songs that of course includes plenty of the high energy rhythm 'n' blues, and shuffles and boogies that have earned them so much praise. However, there are also ventures up, until now, un-trodden paths.

Stand out tracks include "Stax Sound", which has that inimitable Stax soul groove that Peter Kempe experienced when visiting the legendary Stax studio. There is a heartbreaking ballad, "Goodbye Baby", with some beautiful acoustic guitar and driven on by a massive Hammond organ sound, a track that will no doubt enthuse large, lighter-toting audiences. Guitarist Michel Staat shows his wizardry in the enthralling slow blues "Bad Bad Feeling", and "Strollin' On Lincoln Avenue" is a jazzy instrumental, highlighting Sonnyboy van den Broek's awesome talents on the chromatic harp.

Female blues guitar slinger Ana Popovic shines on slide guitar on "Make A Stand" which evokes fond memories of John Lee Hooker. Absolutely top-notch is the closing track "Going To Chicago", written by Ronnie Baker Brooks especially for this album, with Eddy Clearwater really letting loose on electric guitar. Producer Ronnie Baker Brooks belts out some great guitar solos here as well, and provides solid support on vocals and rhythm guitar. A highly diverse album it has become indeed, which should win The Juke Joints global recognition as one of the most energetic rock rollin' blues bands around.

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

Going To Chicago mc
Going To Chicago gofile