In less than stellar times, there’s finally a good reason to sing the blues again.
With America polarized mostly by greed and selfishness, Cleveland based quartet Bad Hooks hit the nail right on the head with their debut single “Selfless Blues.”
It’s Swamp Rock that would sound great if they did a reunion movie for the phenomenal Timothy Olyphant show “Justified.”
I’d love to see Walton Goggins doing anything wicked as this song is playing, but it’s message is the opposite.
Calling out to the Chuck Berry classic “Promised Land,” which Bruce Springsteen has used as his secret weapon in live marathon performances for years, Bad Hooks gets down into the dirt with a beautiful harmony driven piece of funk that reminds me of the Everly Brothers fronting the Black Crowes if they had been born to Johnny Cash and June Carter.
“I’ve got a shattering desire inside my bones.”
Finally, in a time where people bicker and argue about almost everything and don’t seem very productive, some urgent music with the right idea.
The band is led by singer/axemen Nick Wagner and Matt Hertweck, while Chan Thompson and Bee Roberts ably handle a monster rhythm section.
In a time where it seems to be all words and no action, I know for a fact that Wagner has a long history of sharing and helping other artists. He walks the walk.
The song is pure, heat fused, passion, and a driving, yearning desire for a better world.
Check out their beautiful video by Mikhail Tout, and fire up your airboat to get out and see them live. It seems well worth racing through the crocodile filled muck to do.
Long like the muckrakers with ironically Bad Hooks.
