Categories : Jazz + Blues, Music Reviews.
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Rating: 4 / 5 Reviewer: Trent Depue |
Coming a little over a year after his passing, Songs from the Road is the second posthumous release from Jeff Healey, following 2008’s Mess of Blues. Almost all of the live recordings compiled here are covers that find him putting his own personal spin on tunes from the likes of Mark Knopfler, The Beatles, Cream, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Elvis Presley.
Covering material spanning more than 50 years of popular music, he touches on early era blues with the Muddy Waters (Willie Dixon) classic ‘Hoochie Coochie Man’ and a version of Robert Johnson’s ‘Stop Breaking Down’ that would make Eric Clapton jealous. Moving to the late ‘60s, The Beatles’ ‘Come Together’ and ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ make the cut, along with Cream’s ‘White Room.’ And while there is plenty of material from others here, it’s worth noting that the sole number on the record that Healey himself made famous is ‘Angel Eyes.’ Released in the late ‘80s, it’s the newest song on the record, and yet manages to feel right at home alongside all of the time-honoured classics it joins. Finally of course there is Healey’s guitar work which, through it all – any genre and any era of music interpreted, stands out above all else.
On the records inside cover is a statement from Healey’s wife, Cristie, who says “Songs from the Road is the way we all want to remember him: Smiling, laughing and playing and singing from his heart.” For anyone who ever saw him perform live you know this to be a true interpretation of his demeanor on stage, and Songs from the Road captures perfectly that musical image of the Canadian legend. And as a final testament, the last words spoken by Jeff Healey on the record are appropriately “that was fun, and that’s what it’s all about.”
