C.J. Hutchins may just be the F.P. Santangelo of blues-folk.<\/p>\n
Now that you’re officially asking “What the hell is he talking
\nabout?” allow me to explain. Most musical artists tend to find a
\nbasic groove and stay in it. Whether it’s guitar pop, hip-hop,
\ncountry-rock, blues-rock, whatever, once they choose a path, they
\ntend to stick with it. They may stray occasionally with a song here
\nor an album there (alt-rockers Gin Blossoms cut a couple of great
\ncountry tunes in their time, not to mention Eric Clapton and
\ncompany doing all those “unplugged” one-shots). But these ventures
\ntend to stick out from the rest of an album or catalog of work;
\nwhether they’re well-done or not, they’re bound to be
\nconspicuous.<\/p>\n
What singer-songwriter C.J. Hutchins achieves on this debut
\nalbum — produced and arranged by his friend, guitar legend Ronnie
\nMontrose — is to demonstrate that his storytelling skills defy
\nlabeling. This album contains folk, blues, rock and a hint of
\ncountry, in both acoustic and electric formulations, all on the
\nsame disc. And while rookie jitters show up here and there with
\nsome of his vocals, overall Hutchins’ performance comes off as that
\nof a wiley veteran whose essential class and heart shine through in
\nwhatever genre he touches.<\/p>\n
The disc opens with Hutchins’ sweet acoustic picking leading
\ninto “Face In The Mirror.” This gentle, contemplative tune shows
\noff Hutchins’ delicate falsetto and a taste of the Moody
\nBlues\/mystical renaissance flavor shared by “Mirror” and the next
\nsong, “Cannonball.” It’s an indescribably airy feel, as if these
\ntracks had been recorded in an ancient English castle. “Cannonball”
\nagain features wonderful low-key guitar work by Hutchins, as well
\nas very complementary harmony vocals from drummer\/percussionist
\nMichele Montrose.<\/p>\n
The first major stylistic shift on the disc comes with
\n“Cross-Leg,” a light- hearted little roadhouse boogie number (“I
\ndon’t mind if my chances \/ are no bigger than a splinter \/ And I
\ndon’t mind if you \/ keep me hungry all winter”) embellished by
\nRonnie Montrose’s rhythm guitar.<\/p>\n
The stylistic trifecta comes when Hutchins then segues straight
\ninto the lounge shuffle “Baby, We’re Through,” which sounds like a
\nlost Tony Bennett out-take. Funny thing is, Hutchins nails the
\nvocal and you’re left wondering whether this folk-blues artist’s
\ntrue calling might be buying a tux and playing Vegas (which, come
\nto think of it, the Moody Blues have done). Later in the album,
\n“Hello Friend” has the same slick blue-eyed soul flavor.<\/p>\n
After a couple of more acoustic numbers — including the
\ncountry-esque “A Man Like Me” — it’s back to the blues with a
\nvengeance. In addition to one of the best lyrics on the disc, “Rock
\nMe To Sleep” features Montrose on lead guitar, this time laying
\ndown some sweet blues licks, punctuating Hutchins’ vocals on the
\nchoruses and taking a pair of restrained but nonetheless stinging
\nsolos. The title tune takes the blues flavor to the next level,
\nadding a rock arrangement and harder-edged guitars, as the
\nharmonies by Alex Ligertwood (Santana) add a dynamic depth to
\nHutchins’ vocals on the choruses.<\/p>\n
Next up? A gentle acoustic number with more of Hutchins’s sweet
\nfalsetto vocals (“Here We Are”). The only real pattern here — and
\nthrough the rest of the 13-track disc — is that there isn’t one.
\nHutchins throws anything and everything he’s got at you all it
\nonce, with some hits, some misses, and some in-betweens with the
\npotential to grow on you.<\/p>\n
And that’s about it — wait. What’s that you say? I still
\nhaven’t told you who the hell F.P. Santangelo is? Well, then:
\nSantangelo is the multi-talented veteran utility-man my beloved San
\nFrancisco Giants signed as a free agent this spring. He’s about
\nfour inches shorter than your average baseball player and has
\nstruggled to hang onto a starting job during his three years in the
\nmajors. But he plays six positions — none of them at all-star
\nlevel, all of them solidly well — and when fans get the chance to
\nsee his hard-nosed, dedicated, heart-on-his sleeve approach to the
\ngame, they inevitably give the guy a hand.<\/p>\n
F.P. and C.J. Coincidence? I don’t think so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":25005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6104],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-36210","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-cj-hutchins","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36210"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36210"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}