This is my very first review of the new year and from the looks of the way the CD's are piling up, these chubby little fingers of mine are going to be getting a lot of exercise in 2005. I just hope that the rest of the material I receive is as good as "ROADHOUSE RHYTHM" by MIKE GULDIN & ROLLIN' AND TUMBLIN'. That would make this a real nice blues year.

The 'Tumblers' as the band members are referred to consist of: MIKE GULDIN on lead vocals, acoustic and rhythm guitars; C J CLARK on bass; TIM HOOPER on piano; ALAN HOWE on lead guitar; KARL FRICK on Hammond B-3; and BILLY WEAR on drums. This particular project also included a slew of special guests: TERRY TOWSEN, trumpet; DON WISE, tenor sax; JAMES PENNEBAKER, tremolo and slide guitars; RON BURNS, lead guitar; SHAWN APPLEBY, Dobro Resonator Guitar; DENISE NEJAMME, background vocals; TOMMY CASTRO, lead guitar; and my very dear friend, the lovely Miss E G KIGHT on lead vocal.

On "ROADHOUSE RHYTHM", about fifty percent of the thirteen tracks are MIKE GULDIN originals, however one hundred percent of the tracks are very well done, good ole Memphis, New Orleans and Delta blues.

"MEMPHIS WOMEN AND CHICKEN" is a hot and funky Delta blues number. MIKE, with his tailor made blues voice, kind of a mix of Leon Russell and Dr. John, is really sharp. The horns are hot, the piano is perfect and the guitar work is excellent. DENISE'S background vocals add a nice touch to this one. As Mike describes starting from the bottom with the legs, then the thighs and saving the plumpest part for last you have to wonder is he talking about the chicken or the women?

"THE COST OF GOIN' BROKE", one of MIKE'S originals, has some very humorous lyrics. On this one MIKE sings of losing all his possessions, unscrupulous lawyers and the women his wife now calls honey. Definite topics for a blues song, I'd say. TERRY'S trumpet work gives this one a nice taste of Dixie.

"I WANNA LOVE YOU", is one of several tracks that feature C J on lead vocals. This one is a very nice slow, soulful mix of soft jazz and light blues. If slow, sexy, swaying and squeezing dancing is your style, this is the song you'd want to do it to.

The title track "ROADHOUSE RHYTHM" describes the song perfectly. This is an ideal blend of several styles of blues. On this one everyone's on the mark. DENISE sharing the vocals made this one quite enjoyable.

"SOUTHERN WOMAN AND A NAWTHERN MAN" is an acoustic duet written and performed by MIKE and E G KIGHT and featuring SHAWN on Dobro. This is acoustic, country blues at it's best. The contrasting vocal styles seem to blend very nicely on this one. My only problem with this track was it's short length. It only lasted less than four minutes and I could have easily listened to at least ten more. Hopefully these two wonderful vocal talents will collaborate more some time soon and hopefully I'll get to write about it.

Although here at www.mary4music.com, we have yet to pick the winner of the 2004 BLEWZZY award, and the 2005 winner is still 13 months away from being decided, come this time next year "ROADHOUSE RHYTHM" will be on my mind.