LZ Love & Lightning Red (BLUES FAMILY)

If you like history then you have to meet Lightning Red! The man is history himself! He saw many of the big Jazz names when he was a kid, befriended Luther Allison, performed at the Armadillo World Headquarters, played with Omar and The Howlers, Charlie Sexton and WC Clark and watched how Little Stevie Ray struggled with his guitar!

Now with the release of the Groovemaster, Lightning Red, almost a blues legend himself, is on the road again and ready to show the world that he is still a master at the guitar! Killer licks, ditto grooves and trademark vocals are the master ingredients for his recipe.

“Don’t Have to worry” is a fine example of his trademark vocals! The tune gives us his raw sound that is full and expressive! “Do The Revolution” is a great blues rocker that combines the burning hot guitar licks with the Texas blues style. “Lie No More” is all what the blues is about and on “Change is gonna come” (co-written with long time collaborator & guest vocalist LZ Love) we hear some nice slide guitar as well as LZ’s voice taking over the vocals in this duet! “The Shake” is wonderfully blending blues and soul in an instrumental groove that could fit on any seventies spy-fi movie! “No matter brings” back all the misery and trouble the blues has seen over the ages in this standard 12 bar blues tune. Closing down is a funky blues instrumental with a screaming guitar taking over the vocals! A very nice way to close an album that gave us 12 hot Texas blues tracks.
The passionate guitar playing combined with some nice lyrics on the Groovemaster makes from this offering by Texas guitar hero Lightning Red a much appreciated album. The low-down funky shuffles with rockin’ boogies and elements of funk-driven blues creates an experience that you simply can’t Keep quiet.

(rating - 5 out of 5)
- Rootsville Magazine (Belgium)

Well crafted pieces with great slide playing, creative songwriting, funky shuffles, and most of all with talent.....and with awesome playing and variation! - ROOTSTIME – Belgium 2009 - Rootstime Magazine (Belgium)

On his debut CD album, he sings all the vocals, plays all the guitars, including bass, and produces the CD of ten out of eleven of his original songs. Furthermore, he has a special feeling nnnnfor the blues and sings and plays them with talent and from his heart.
It also helps that his friendship with Luther Allison peaked his interest in blues in 1971 and that he has lived in Chicago and Austin.

There are special, intriguing things about his CD. His deep, baritone, sometimes rugged, vocals aften pleasantly contrast with his lyrical, vital guitar playing which is often several octaves higher and sometimes has a subtle counter melody. His arrangements add a dynamic dimension and pack their punch. His original songs are a well-written blend of blues, a boogie, a shuffle, and R&B songs which have an authenticity to them. Put these factors together and you have an exceptionally good CD.

Of special interest is his fine, gentle, lifting blues, “If You See Me,” which is the longest track on the album. It’s a tender love song to someone he still loves. His “Austin Boogie” is another special entrée. This acoustic instrumental contrasts his deep guitar playing with his delicate slide licks. His “Big City Blues” gently reminisces about the blues life in Chicago.

This CD is an exciting show by the versatile and talented Lightning Red. He writes, sings, plays, and lproduces blues and R&B songs with his own special flair. This is an album for your collection, to be enjoyed over and over again. while you keep discovering new dimensions of the album.

- Maria Bainer, Southland Blues Magazine, Long Beach, CA
- Southland Blues Magazine (Long Beach, CA)

Red on Guitar/Vocals
Steve Johnson on Drums
Jay Stevenson on Bass
Rick Peerone on Harmonica.

Red throws down with some tasteful guitar and vocals and Rick mops up with the icing on the cake harmonica.

Red has the voice that is seasoned from many bar gigs and living the life that he sings about.

I liken my view towards Red like John Lee Hooker, Red is not flashy but when he plays he means it and in turn you can feel it too! A (4) Harp cd!

- BluzHarp's Recommended Bluz Recordings - Bluz Harp (USA)

Lightning Red is a singer-guitarist from Austin, Texas, and a credible bluesman with an attractive gritty and downhome sound. His voice is strong, earthy and very deep, and moves easily up into the higher range. An expressive and flexible voice.

The sound is basic blues, a driving guitar-based quartet with an eclectic range of styles. So, while the basic sound is the same, it comes off to the ear as being varied and interesting.

The set opens with “Like An Angel,” a looping shuffle that has a good bottom-heavy sound. A Hookerish boogie follows, “East St. Louis blues,” followed by a rocking “Let Me Love You.” The band does a blues rhumba next, “Irene,” which stays in a loow-key mode, and then drops down into a Texas-style “Austin Boogie.”

A double punch comes next, a hard shuffling “Red’s Blues,” and a rocking “One Man’s Heaven.” A languid and simmering blues is next up, “If You See Mee,” sporting a Clapton’ish vocal, which moves on to another medium tempo blues, “Big City Blues.” The pace is changed with a swinging “How Much,” and the CD ends with the very electric, hard funk rocker “Got The Power.”

These days just about everyone plays some blues, but Red is one of those who sounds like he always has, and always will.

- Al Handa, Delta Snake Blues News (San Francisco)
- Delta Snake Blues News (California)

Warrington R&B Club, UK

Demonstrated his guitar mastery with a series of scintillating solos…. an excellent evening's entertainment…a superb guitarist and a talented songwriter.

- Lionel Ross, Blueprint Magazine (UK)
- Blueprint Magazine (UK)

Austin-based Lightning Red has a nice ragged guitar sound and equally embracing voice that encompasses everything from Slim Harpo Scratch My Back, slide guitar Rollin & Tumblin to the Doors (has any blues artist ever done "Riders on The Storm?") with equal aplomb. (Heroic) - BLUES ACCESS Magazine (USA)

He’s what most people would consider a “naturqal” guitar player, with a loose, light technique that seems almost effortless. Lightning Red’s fingers fairly skip over the frets as he plays tangy, twangy Texas blues and easily shifts from slide to finger picking.

There was no Antone’s when he first lived in Austin in 1975, and he remembers Stevie Ray Vaughan playing when there was no audience to listen. There was, however, another facet in his instrumentation that sounder very familiar. A little chat afterwards revealed that he was born and raised in Chicago and that Luther Allison and Buddy Guy were heavy influences on his developing chops. True readings were done on songs by Sonny Boy, Mussy Waters, Elmore James and Freddie King.

No one had to tell the crowd at Mohawk Place last May 26 that this string man with the sun-weatered face and long blond mane was well beyond the ordinary – they stayed put, unconsciously unaware of time passing.

Sharon, Blues Beat Magazine
- Blues Beat Magazine (Buffalo, NY)

Zoals zovelen in deze branche werd ook Lightning Red al op vroege leeftijd met de blues geïnfecteerd. Als 3-jarige was hij vaak op de eerste rij te vinden bij de blazers-secties van grote big-bands en nog voordat het eerste school-diploma binnen was werd menig lokaal podium ingenomen door Red en zijn band. Beinvloed door Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Mike Bloomfield, B.B. en Albert King ontwikkelde Red zijn eigen blues-geluid. Door een toevallige bijkomstigheid trok het bandje de aandacht van Luther Allison die hem vervolgens op sleeptouw nam voor een tour door de Midwest en Canada. In de jaren zeventig bleek Austin een prettige uitvalsbasis en bleken de Texas-invloeden aan Red goed besteed. De T-birds en de Vaughan-broertjes maar ook Johnny Winter vormen klaarblijkelijk een belangrijke inspiratie-bron en zijn tot op de dag van vandaag prominent aanwezig zoals ook te horen valt op ‘The Groovemaster’.
Op dit album horen we blues-rock, funk-blues en stevig jazz-blues gespeeld op akoestische, zwaar versterkte en slide-gitaar waarbij Red’s stemgeluid over het algemeen lekker rauw klinkt. In ‘Change Is Gonna Come’ doet Red het met LZ Love, een mooie donkere imposante vrouw met dito stem waarbij de akoestische slide-gitaar een prachtige rol vervult. Lightning Red wordt regelmatig geroemd vanwege zijn song-writers-capaciteiten maar op ‘The Meek’ wordt de plank toch behoorlijk misgeslagen in een semi- sociaalbewogen niemendalletje waar een verwoede poging wordt gedaan om Tony Joe White of JJ Cale te imiteren. Gelukkig wordt er in ‘Lie No More’ lekker ongecompliceerde blues gespeeld en krijgt Red hulp van Jimi Lee op de harp. Zowel ‘You Don’t Have To Worry’ als het instrumentale ‘The Shake’ verraadt de locatie waar het allemaal is opgenomen nl. Austin, Texas en op ‘No Matter What’ horen we een ingetogen Red met wederom Jimi Lee die een prima harmonica-partij blaast. Wanneer met een swingend ‘What It Takes’ het album wordt afgesloten heeft Lightning Red zich uiteindelijk toch prima gerevancheerd en aangetoond een blues-man te zijn met wie rekening dient te worden gehouden.
(Jeroen Bakker)

Tracks:
01. One Man’s Heaven
02. Don’t Have To Worry
03. Do The Revolution
04. Voluptuous
05. Tortured Mind
06. Cavern Crawl
07. Change Is Gonna Come
08. The Meek
09. Lie No More
10. The Shake
11. No Matter What
12. What It Takes - Blues Magazine (Europe)

He tells me that they started calling him Lightning Red when he was younger because he would play his guitar as fast as he could. "GO RED" They would yell. "Play like LIGHTNING" they would say. Lightning Red does play like lightning...and thunder -- with style and grace - boogie and taste.

Guitarist extraordinare Lightning Red, who has picked and played with the best blues musicians all over the world, has moved from his long-time home of Texas to Vacationland - the state whose motto is steadily changing to, "Maine -Land Of The Blues." Lightning brings with him to Maine an arsenal of talent he has been exercising for the past twenty years. He was playing in Austin when Stevie Ray was still referred to as 'Jimmy's' little brother and prior to that Lightning Was living in Chicago - this was when B.B. was recording live at The Regal Theatre. Now, for us, Lightning Red will play all his blues.

Cradle: What sparked you to move to Maine?

LR: Things were pretty slow in Texas. My wife is a psycho-therapist and she was given this opportunity she couldn't turn down.

Cr: Were you living in Austin?

LR: Actually we were in Houston right before we came here.

Cr: Referring to Austin, what do you mean when you say its pretty grim?

LR: Well, other than Antone's, there really are no record companies in Texas. There really is no music industry in Texas, although people may be surprised by that. Everyone who has done anything has had to leave. And the one other label in Houston - Justice Records - isn't signing Texas artists. I had been talking to some music people up here - a promoter was setting up shows and I knew about the blues scene in Boston.

Cr: What had you heard?

LR: The Thunderbirds' drummer, Fran Christina, was from Nova Scotia and their bass player is from Rhode Island. The are some clubs and small labels -- Morganfield's and The Big Easy here in town - The Tradewinds up in Rockland...and the radio stations up here - that's another thing that drew me - I'm played now on WCLZ. Nick Seneca who does the 501 Blues says he really likes the disc and I'm played on many of the college stations throughout New England regularly.

Cr: Since you moved, who have you met?

LR: There's been some players I've met since I moved here. Ani Azoto went with me to Europe playing bass. He's excellent. He studied with Jeff Berlin in L.A. The drummer is the fellow who is playing with Jimmy & The Soul Cats. Maucheen Seoighe...he is a very young player but he has the blues down. He knows it. And Phil Veril with The Rhythm Gypsies - he's an excellent player. He can play anything. And then there's D.W. Gill...

Cr: Where did you grow up?

LR: Outside of Chicago. Growing up I was in and around the City. Then I moved to Ann Arbor for three years and then to Austin for the next seventeen years. This was in '76.

Cr: Did you move to Texas to play music?

LR: Yes I sure did. I put a band together right away with some cats from the Golden Triangle area - Beaumont - Port Arthur - around that area. We recorded a demo for Huey P. Meaux. He's the guy that discovered and promoted and took advantage of and helped all at the same time Johnny Winter and Janis Joplin and Doug Sahm. We sent a tape to him and almost got a package deal with Freddie Fender but this was right before Freddie declared bankruptcy.

Cr: Were you touring?

LR: There was a little circuit through Louisiana and eventually up the east coast - but not much.

Cr: This was in the seventies?

LR: Yea, there were a few clubs in Texas but not that many at that time.

Cr: That's so hard to imagine. After living in Austin and traveling extensively throughout Texas, the image that I have is of barbecue and music - blues abundance. And you're saying blues was almost scorned as a viable music form?

LR: There was very little airplay and hardly any clubs playing it.

Cr: What strikes you about Texas music.?

LR: It's a certain feel that's different than Chicago or the East or West coast. It took me a while to get used to it. It's a little more hard edge. They tend to play straight on with not much dynamics - rather than Chicago- style's crashing crescendos. I've noticed here there's a lot of Jazz influence. In Texas it's more straight ahead - one volume and hard edge with the real back beat. When I first went down there I wanted to hear the band crescendo but now I can't help it - it's in me and I can't get it out, full tilt boogie!

Cr: What is it about Texas music - and musicians from Texas - that seems to have captured the intrigue of the contemporary blues and music culture in general: I see and hear so many aspects of Southwestern American music and culture. There's barbecues opening up on every corner in Portland.

LR: Texas music is appreciated because the players are expected to develop their own style...and you have to suffer to do that. You have to be able to say, "I do what I do" when people come up to you and say "You didn't play 'The Thrill Is Gone' just right." I would say, "Right!" It's a double-edged sword though - like Joe Ely for instance. That cat is a major talent but no radio station knows what to do with him. He's not exactly country and he's not blues - exactly. And he's not rock - exactly. In this country, it's very defined. The industry wants labels. Like Stevie (Stevie Ray Vaughan) for instance, the guy used to sleep in his van 'cause they couldn't afford motel rooms...until the key people saw him - outside of Texas.

Cr: Your CD. Red's Blues, did you record these songs in Austin?

LR: Yea, at Austin Trax with Gary Greer. He engineered and helped produce it with me.

CR: Your song, "Austin Boogie" is a passionate acoustic slide boogie blues. I really like that one. And "Big City Blues", what inspired this 1992 hit blues?

LR: I was just thinking back about Chicago - about driving up and down Wabash Street and all the funky blues clubs. Buddy Guy's moved next to the police station... Chicago's a unique place that's rich with music. All of those cats that moved up there from the south and created a music that in my opinion is our national heritage - it's music our country created.

Lightning Red will be headlining the N. E. Blues Festival in Whitefield N.H. August 26 as well as showcasing in theatres or clubs near you.

- Marc Mencher CRADLE Magazine - CRADLE Magazine (Portland, ME)

Lightning Red combines the blues of Chicago and Central Texas to create an energetic and gut-level sound. He has been recording and performing for two decades with such artists as Luther Allison and Milton Hopkins. His current CD is Red's Blues on Heroic Records. Look for Lightning Red and Thunder Blues around town.

One strength of a tradition as rich and deep as the blues is its accessibility. Anyone with a three-LP collection and an interest can pretty well take a stab at the vein and come up with something that more or less sounds like the blues.

From a consumer standpoint, it's also the genre's weakness, and you can see it manifested in dime-a-dozen players seven nights a week at blues jams all over the world. Image, unfortunately, is often the difference between who gets called a bluesman and who doesn't.

In the wake of Stevie Ray Vaughan's death, the Strat-slinger-in-a-poncho is in unfortunate vogue. Lightning Red's been playing different sort of schtick -- the part of the gimmickless itinerant bluesman. This disk lives up to the stripped-down image and comes across as appealingly genuine in the process.

Red's voice is a gruff instrument all its own, and when he applies it to songs like the Willie Dixon classic "Let Me Love You (Baby)", he comes up with a more convincing take than anyone has a right to expect. Originals make up the rest of the disk, and "East St. Louis" and "Austin Boogie" are just two standouts.

As a guitarist, Red plays in a Chicago-via-Austin vein that chugs and boogies and occasionally steps into the limelight with authority. Nobody ever claimed that a record can capture the essence of the live blues, so the best you can really ask from a disk is a sense of promise - some spark that drives you to the club to check out the real thing. - Houston Press (Texas)

Lightning Red's smoky slide blues come well-seasoned by his lengthy tenure as a guitarist and harp player...matchless acoustic style.

- Margaret Moser - Austin Chronicle (Texas)

Back in the Lone Star beat, Austin's Lightning Red has a good one in Texas Thunder Blues (Heroic 103). Don't be put off by the hat 'n' Strat, as things quickly get interesting. When he isn't playing funky, Red tends to be understated and introspective; "Riders on the Storm" sounds like a sensibly bluesy cover in his hands. Rick Perrone's harp offers a solid second voice to Red's guitar. - Blues Revue Magazine (USA)

Lightning Red is a guitarist extraordinaire from Texas.

Texas Thunder Blues, is the new CD released by the Austin Texas guitar slinger Lightning Red. I can tell you first hand this CD is appropriately named. On the first track of the CD, "Big Time", Red's apparent love of slide guitar shines through as he whines his way through this rockin' Texas favorite.

Or if you are interested in hearing classic blues licks played with stunning precision and feel, turn to track 11 the Don Nix standard "Goin' Down", and E. Boyd's "Five Long Years". Not lost in the excellent guitar work and soulful singing of Red are the superb performances of the many talented musicians on this CD.

Backed up by Steve Johnson on drums, Jay Stevenson on bass and Rick Peerone on harp this is one kick-ass band! Peerone's harp on "Five Long Years"" is pure electric! Tommy Narcisco sits in on drums on the most eery version of the Door's "Rider's On The Storm" I have ever heard.
Great Stuff!

And if you want to know why they call him Lightning Red just take a listen to Red's own "Endless Boogie". I was hoping it would never end! - BLUE MONDAY (Minneapolis)

"Mastery of the guitar...this is the REAL THING!"

They say some of the best Blues comes from Chicago in Cook County or from Austin in Central Texas -- and Lightning Red is a living example of how the two "schools of the blues" can blend to form an energetic and gut-level sound that makes you want to boogie your backbone. Whether he's screaming out a hot jumping shuffle or laying down a smooth mellow crawl, Lightning Red has got the "Feeling." If you love the old fashioned back-alley moan or the new blast-off boogie, he's got the new tunes that might just set the standard for the new boogie blues of the `90s.

His two decades of recording and performing experience have taken Lightning Red throughout the US and Canada where he has performed in clubs and concert halls with artists such as Luther Allison (Alligator Records), Milton Hopkins (bandleader for B.B. King for 12 years) and Kenny Acosta (New Orleans recording artist).

In his early years this protege of the blues via Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters wrote and recorded "New Nation" b/w "Chicago Blues" on Chicago's Bonnie Records followed by "Walkin' In East St. Louis" on the db Record label of Detroit.

After relocating to Austin from Ann Arbor, Michigan in the `70s he began recording and performing with his new band, the Lightning Red Band in Texas and around the southern US. The `70s and `80s saw Red on the same stages as Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Willie Nelson and a host of Austin R&B greats. He's jammed on stage with Omar (Omar & the Howlers), Marcia Ball, Charlie Sexton ( the ARC Angels), Doug Sahm and many other Texas legends, and now Lightning Red wants to show you what he can do.

With the release of Red's Blues, Lightning Red is beginning to get the type of recognition that has come to so many Texas guitar slingers before him. The songs that comprise this CD/album demonstrate his mastery of the guitar and a versatility that ranges from screaming "Austin style" boogie-blues to mellow, down-in-the-alley Chicago shuffles. And when he starts to sing, you know he's not a young, inexperienced kid trying to imitate a lifetime of living with the blues, this is the real thing.

As the dynamic vocal kicks off "One Man's Heaven," the sense of anticipation soon gives way to a unique blend of blues and R&B funk that is Lightning Red's musical trademark. Haunting slide guitar forms a backdrop to the razor-sharp guitar licks that bring together influences of the best of the early days of Chicago's Jr. Wells and Buddy Guy and the blues/rock/funk guitar of Stevie Ray Vaughan's night club gigs in the mid `70s music scene.

When questioned as to the origins of this sound, Red answered, "I guess I've been exposed to a lot of different types of blues. Jammin' to Buddy Guy back in Chicago was a big influence. And we heard Stevie and Jimmy (Vaughan) before anyone else did. Austin (Texas) was a small place back then and everybody knew each other and a lot of jammin' was goin' on.

"Like An Angel" takes the listener directly to Austin. One can hear that signature heavy backslap and screaming guitar lead combined with vocal harmonies reminiscent of Willie Nelson or Asleep At The Wheel. And when the Audiences start to sing long with the chorus, Red says he knows "Like An Angel" is really going to catch on.

"East St Louis" is a show-stopper. John Lee Hooker's classic boogie beat is transformed into an electrifying pulse that forms the framework for what could become a 'classic' of the `90s. Audiences are surprised when they learn that "East St. Louis" isn't a vintage boogie that Red has resurrected. If it weren't for the modern studio recording quality and precise slide and high-charged guitar work, you'd swear the lowdown guttural moans of "East St Louis" have transported you back to that southern Illinois ghetto circa 1956.

"If You See Me" is a classic slow-drivin' Chicago blues. Red's experience performing in the back-alley blues bars of the Midwest shine through in this original number. Like his early mentors, Luther Allison and Buddy Guy, Lightning Red knows exactly how to coax the most intense emotions from his guitar. A generous helping of subtle vocal lines and guitar phrasings give way to the intense explosions of feeling in this extended outpouring of the blues.

Throughout Red's Blues a myriad of influences can be heard on these original tunes. "Austin Boogie" conjures up the image of the lone bluesman lounging on his back porch on a steamy summer afternoon with his acoustic guitar and bottleneck slide.

Dedicated to Willie Dixon, "Let Me Love You" is high energy version of the song penned by the late great composer and blues artist. Red's audiences respond instantly to the powerful rhythms and familiar phrasings of this timeless piece.

The title song, "Red's Blues" is a fast-moving Texas swing shuffle that combines the best of his lightning-fast guitar work and contemporary lyrics. "How Much?" is a 'countryfied' Rhythm and Blues at its finest. Dynamite lyrics and a memorable vocal chorus provide additional spice to the smooth flowing slide work that is patented Lightning Red. And, last but certainly not least, that unique brand of funkyness forms the framework for "Got The Power." With strong vocals and intelligent lyrics, Red's Blues culminates in grand style.

Having flirted with major success on several occasions, Red decided to get back on the track of performing with his own band in the late `80s and was subsequently encouraged to return to Austin and record a CD demonstrating his unique interpretation of this classic music. After attending performance s and hearing the original songs in between superb renditions of traditional blues and R&B numbers, his supporters decided that Red's Blues should be comprised primarily of compositions written by this prolific songwriter. Negotiations are currently underway for European release and touring, and the future looks especially bright.

Publishing rights for songs released in Europe will be through Helan Kummunikation of Sweden -- and the CD is presently receiving airplay in Europe as well as in the northeastern US and even in Russia. At Press Time, Lightning Red is proud to announce the formation of his HOT new R&B band from Texas, Lightning Red & Thunder Blues.

Folks are always telling Red, "Man, you're one hell of a guitar player!" Come see for yourself. You'll be very glad you did.

- Mean Gene Kelton - Texas Blues Magazine (Houston)

LZ Love & Lightning Red
Recorded with LZ Love's longtime guitarist,
the estimable Lightning Red,
GBB could be one of the sleeper hits of the year.

- Margaret Moser Austin Chronicle - Austin Chronicle (Texas)

He is a master of both acoustic and slide guitar.
…combines the electric grit of urban Chicago blues
with the unplugged, back porch pickin’ of Delta blues.
His guitar playing never fails to impress.

- Roger Gatchet - Austin Sound (Texas)

Killer licks, with killer slide, and trademarked vocals to match.
Red is yet another Texas treasure to discover. - Hill Country Happenings (Texas)

Lightnin' Red is a versatile Austin-based blues guitarist who mixes Chicago and Texas Styles. He's drawn rave reviews and radio airiplay in Scandinavia and, of all places, Russia. As far as you're concerned, though, a passport isn't required on Saturday at the Moon Room. - Creative Loafing (Charlotte, NC)

Red is not your everyday professional...offers an authentic slice of Texas...gritty shuffles and string-busting solos...a seamless blend of Chicago and Austin...clever contemporary, but steeped in a scrappy Texas tradition. - Sunday Telgram (Worcester, Mass)

Definitely not belonging to the immediate families of Lightnings Slim and Hopkins or Louisiana Red, this white rockin' blues guitarist from Texas turns in a good performance on an album displaying ten originals and Willie Dixon's "Let Me Love You." HE HAS HIS WITS ABOUT HIM , whether employing slide or pick, avoiding pretense and overstatement in his playing. - BluesWire - Boston Blues Society

Growing up in Chicago before moving to Austin, Texas, Lightning Red soakd up the blues from the two cities on his CD “Red’s Blues.” A Streat-weilding rocking bluesman fronting a trio, he offers a tasty dose of Chicago shuffles and Texas-style boogie.

Red relocated to Austin in 1975 to join the proliferation of blues musicians in that region. Had it not been for simply bad luck (stolen guitars, clubs burning or closing, etc.) , he might have made his mark earlier. A short stay in Maine in the early nineties gained him a new following in the New England blues scene.

His albums are recorded in Texas, and his raw guitar sound is well captured. Clever writing and and fluid leads make this a genuinely authentic blues offering. “Imagine Howlin’ Wolf backed by the Fabulous Thunderbirds,” is a reference by writer Scott McLennan to Red’s tune “East St. Louis,” an accurate description. “Austin Boogie” on his recently-recorded CD “a way back home” is a lonesome acoustic number boasting great slide playing on a track that runs far too short.

Let Lightning Red strike you with his Texicago Blues. You will be impressed. They flock to see him up in New England and it is easy to see why.

- Bill Camp, Bluesrag, Baltimore Blues Society
- Bluesrag - Baltimore Blues Society

The best two places for electric blues music are Chicago, Illinois and Austin, Texas, so Lightning Red must be something really special. Lightning Red grew up in Chicago, soaking up the influences of blues giants like B.B. King. A move to Austin put him in close proximity to more modern blues legends like The Fabulous Thunderbirds and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Thirty years of performing have seen Lightning Red striking out across America and Europe, performing with Luther Allison, Kenny Acosta, and Milton Hopkins, and back home in Austin with SRV, Omar & the Howlers, Marcia Ball, Doug Sahm, and Charlie Sexton. His albums are full of smoking, thunderous blues and boogie tunes.

- EO, Free Times, Columbia, South Carolina
- Free Times (Columbia, SC)

Stratocaster slinger Lightning Red will slide into Morganfield's tonight for an evening of Chicago shuffles and Texas-style boogies. Many blues players and fans divide themselves into Chicago and Texas blues camps, but Lightning Red draws evenly from both traditions.

He spent his youth in Chicago watching Junior Wells and Buddy Guy. He moved to Austin in 1975, when Stevie Ray Vaughan and his brother Jimmie were playing to an empty room at Antones. A self-proclaimed blues purist at the time, Lightning grew to like Stevie Ray and the Texas sound.

But he never made it as big as Vaughan. His favorite axe was stolen, and clubs he was scheduled to perform at burned down and went out of business. Lightning kept playing though. His CD, “Red’s Blues” got rave reviews in Texas and helped the Chicago transplalnt achieve more farflung notoriety. “Red’s Blues” was played by radio stations in Scandinavia and Russia.

- Patti Lanigan Horvat, NIGHT NOTES
- Portland Press Herald

LZ Love has an impressive list of artists that she has sung and toured with including Joan Armatrading and Luther Vandross but she has returned to her blues and gospel roots to team up with guitarist Lightning Red. The opening Been Lonely is drawled out and LZ has such a soulful voice. Red strums away in the background and adds some background vocals towards the end. You can feel her pain with every syllable. Wang Dang Doodle is the famous old Willie Dixon song with Howlin’ Wolf’s version being the best known. This version is earthy and highlights LZ’s powerful voice. Live No More is a pleasant Country blues with Red taking the lead vocal but LZ returns for the plodding Something Good. The title doesn’t really fit the song as this is nothing special.

Backyard Boogie is a bit more like it. A slide blues instrumental and well played by Lightning Red. Baby, What You Want Me To Do is a Jimmy Reed song and Red deals with it is a suitably stand off manner. Can’t Help Myself tends toward Delta blues – a good track with an ethereal feel. Cotton Pickin’ is another slide instrumental and Red keeps up the high standard. He takes the vocal again on Gates Of Heaven, a Southern blues rocker which could easily be a big Lynyrd Skynyrd style song given the correct production. - Flying Shoes Review (UK)

Groovender Blues Rock ist das Markenzeichen von Lightning Red. Damit gewinnt er keinen Innovationspreis und es werden ihm wohl auch keine Massen Altäre bauen. Gut gemachte Gebrauchsmusik mit einem erfreulichen positiven Abwechslungsfaktor stellt The Groovemaster dennoch dar.

Das klingt mal nach den Blues Brothers, mal nach ruhigen ZZ Top. Auch eine Prise Country hat Raum auf diesem Album. Der Wechsel zwischen weiblichen und männlichen Vocals bei „Change is gonna come“ oder die prominent gesetzte Orgel im „Cavern Call“ bringen Abwechslung in Spiel

Ein recht konservatives, aber unterhaltsames Album! - musikansich.de (Germany)

'Lightning Wer?' Lightning Red! 'Ach so, ja, der, hmmm, was fällt mir denn zu Lightning Red ein?' Hat mit Willie Nelson, Bob Seger, OMAR & THE HOWLERS, MC5 und anderen gespielt. 'Nein, s'ja toll.' Hmmm. 'Und?' Hat 'ne neue CD draußen, seine achte oder so, "Groovemaster". 'Das so?' Ja. 'Hmmm, und?' Macht Texas Blues. 'Nein.'

Hier verlassen wir unsere Freunde Robert 'Schmucki' Zottel und Phil 'The Pill' Drowser bei ihrer Fachsimpelei, denn bis die bei einem Ergebnis angekommen sind kann das noch dauern, und ihr habt es ja einfacher: Weiterlesen, und ihr wisst am Ende des Artikels folgendes:
Lightning Red Der Lightning ist in Blueskreisen in den südlichen USA durchaus angesehen. Sein Gitarrenspiel erfährt hohes Lob, und wenn er singt klingt das teilweise wie Tony Joe White. Er hat eine gute Backing Band und eine Sängering namens LZ Love (!), die eigentlich mal LiL hieß, aber das war zu kurz, und dann… zurück zum Thema.
Herausragende Tracks auf der CD sind der langsame Blues The Meek (… shall inherit the earth, no those drums of war won't be here anymore...), mit wunderbarem Chor in der Mitte, so richtig zum Mitsummen und der Akustikblues Change Is Gonna Come - Blues ist dir ja nie näher als wenn er vor deiner Nase akustisch dargeboten wird, und Red und LZ singen so schön im Duett - cool.
Lie No More ist ein Midtempo-Rocker mit Bluesharp, kräftigem Rock-Riff à la STONES, schöner Slide in der Mitte - ja, da blitzt der Lightning auf.
The Revolution … do the revolution at night … ist ein tanzbarer Rocker über einem Tribe Chant und wieder mit treibender Slide.

Stellt euch eine gut gemachte Bluesplatte vor, wie es sie zu Dutzenden gibt, und ihr habt's. Nicht mehr, und nicht weniger. Red ist keine Stevie Ray Vaughan, kein Eric Clapton, aber ein Blueser der alten Schule - what you see is what you get.
Man hört sich das an, denkt: was soll's, alles schon mal gehabt, und fängt an zu arbeiten, putzen, lesen… und das hört sich gut an, da im Hintergrund. Wenn Red zur Lead Gitarre greift, ist er zwar nicht spektakulär, aber gut. Das ganze hat den Charme des armen Verwandten. Jeder kennt das: man liebt eine CD, ohne dass man wirklich sagen könnte warum, und alle anderen erzählen dir, dass die eigentlich der letzte Mist ist. Trotzdem. Die sehr direkte Produktion tut das ihre, um den Armer-Verwandter Status zu unterstützen. Nix modernes findest du hier nicht.
Nächster Verwandter im Geiste hier ist John Nitzinger, und all die anderen Texas Blueser. Könnte gefallen - bitte mal anhören, wenn man Texas Blues mag und den Stetson vom Kopf bekommt. - Home Of Rock (Germany)