John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers – Road Dogs
{Released June 14, 2005 | Eagle Rock Entertainment}

John Mayall and his band excel on Road Dogs through a range of styles that’s good on the ears. Mayall, the Godfather of British Blues gives his loyal followers 15 new tracks that further highlight his effective straightforward approach to writing fresh new songs – listen to “With You (#13), you’ll see what we mean.

Personnel: John Mayall: vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica, electric piano, synthesizer, flute and brass section; Buddy Whittington: rhythm, acoustic, baritone and lead guitar, vocals; Joe Yuele: drums, congas; Hank Van sickle: bass guitar, upright bass; Tom Canning: electric piano, organ; Eric Steckel: lead guitar; Dale Morris Jr.: violin.

Track Listing:

1. Road Dogs – a rock, blues tune about the travelin’ blues with deep Mayall vocals.

2. Short Wave Radio – a bluesy standard.

3. So glad – a jazzy song with piano and great guitar snippets.

4. Forty Days – Yeule’s drum brushing is a sweet change as accompaniment to Mayalls harmonica and down & dirty soulful singing.

5. To Heal the Pain – Morris adds violin for more of a bluegrass sound.

6. Burned Bridges – a faster piano/harp boogie.

7. Snake Eye – a little over produced in my opinion and an excess of horn.

8. Kona Village – kind of a cool Jimmy Buffett like song, vocals didn’t fit as well as on other tracks.

9. Beyond Control – the backing guitar was well done.

10. Chaos in the Neighborhood – this is a hard song to classify in a blues genre, it was kinda’ catchy.

11. You’ll Survive – cool upright bass (Van Sickle) and piano boogie make this tops on the STLBluesometer.

12. Awestruck & Spellbound – fabulous! Loved this song.

13. With You – a soulful journey through the blues.

14: Brumwell's Beat – great bass, melodically a terrific instrumental.

15: Scrambling – a testament of Mayall’s bittersweet harp playing wail-ability.