Ramblin’ with Ricks\u2026 the man is a singing nomad. He’s
\nlived all over the world, but presently makes his home in the
\nDelta. Combining blues, gospel, R&B and a hint of jazz, he
\nperforms the Delta Blues. He bears the name of “Philadelphia” due
\nto his birthplace, but the foundations of his music lie in the
\nSouth.<\/p>\n
In the late 1950s his love of the blues started to form.
\nLightnin’ Hopkins was a major influence. Ricks worked as a
\ndishwasher in his younger days at Second Fret Coffeehouse. But on
\nthe side, he would book blues players traveling through town. He
\nobserved their performances and his love for the blues grew, as did
\nhis desire to perform. “Born With The Blues” expresses his wish to
\nnot only play the blues but to live them as well. The blues are not
\njust his hobby but his life. And he says that he learned and
\ncontinues to learn from every player who crosses his path.<\/p>\n
Simplistically laid out, “James Alley Blues” exemplifies that
\nmeandering Mississippi rhythmic style. It is slow and free from
\nostentation. “Empty Bottle Blues” combines fragmented jazz and
\nsoulful blues. Neither are anything to cheer about. There’s not a
\nwhole heck of a lot of life in these tunes — however, they are
\nelementary and that raw form can be interesting. The blues are
\nabout pain and heartache and there’s nothing dull about that. In
\nthis case, though, the songs lack expressiveness and quality and
\nrate as tedious.<\/p>\n
Highlighting the gospel aspect, “Troubled Lord” announces the
\neffort to just stay alive and try to survive — “troubled to my
\nsoul” pretty much says it all. “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” is an old
\nstandard born from the fields of slavery. Evidently saving the best
\nfor last, he quietly and with soft expression performs this popular
\ngospel oldie. It is seemingly performed with minimal effort, and
\nyet it is more fluid than any of the other songs on this CD. Why
\ncouldn’t he have used that ability on the rest of the CD?<\/p>\n
It is basically an easy album to digest because it gives you
\nnothing, and therefore requires nothing of you. It doesn’t make you
\nwant to jump up and dance, or even empathetically bemoan your own
\nwoes and hardships. It is a lazy-ass sort of entertainment. I
\npersonally would like to see more energy put into the music, and
\nmore consistency. Perhaps Jerry Ricks is just streamlining his
\nmusic. He is an uncomplicated soul and his music is unpretentious
\nand simply performed. But unfortunately this often contributes to
\ndisjointed vocals that do not always flow in harmony with the
\nmusic.<\/p>\n
Deep down there is still that charm — the sympathetic nature of
\nthe blues that draws you with its sorrowful message. “Times ain’t
\nnothin’ honey like they used to be\u2026.I’ve seen better days.”
\nHaven’t we all? Maybe there are better days a comin’ for Jerry
\nRicks. This was not one of them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":27087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7172],"rating":[5616],"class_list":["post-38419","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-philadelphia-jerry-ricks","rating-rating-d"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38419","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\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38419"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}