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Release: REVEREND RAVEN - MY LIFE Februari 2018

Release: REVEREND RAVEN - MY LIFE  Februari 2018
LABEL: NEVERMORE RECORDS RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 9, 2018
DISTRIBUTION: CD BABY

Simply titled My Life , the new studio album from Milwaukee institution, Reverend Raven and the Chain Smoking Altar Boys, celebrates 20 years as one of the nation’s hardest working road band. The quartet of blues veterans, led by Raven, have played every tavern, gin joint and cool club in the Mid-West and Florida and enjoyed just about most of them. 


Their eighth album is a compilation of original songs from all four studio sessions remixed or rerecorded as a new version with a new lineup. The 16 tracks feature performances from Cadillac Pete Rahn, Madison Slim, Benny Rickun, Big Al Groth, Mickey Larson, Danny Moore and Westside Andy. The songs run the gamut of styles from traditional Chicago Blues, to swing, rhumba, roadhouse, delta and jump blues, all centered on Raven’s smooth-talking baritone, and tasty guitar work.

Choosing the best material from 20 years of work was certainly a daunting task as everything Raven and the Boys do is designed to burn up the dance floor. Several distinct masters of the blues harp stood proud as sidemen next to Raven through those years and so the collection begins by featuring Cadillac Pete Rahn on tracks 1 to 3 with him sparing on the cool blues ‘Handy Man,’ the smooth rhumba ‘Bee Hive Baby,’ and the jumping’ ‘Creature Of Habit.’ Madison Slim and his swirling style appears on one track ‘Bad Little Girls,’ then Benny Rickun continues the formula for several more tracks including the autobiographical title track, which also sees Danny Moore joining in on barrelhouse piano. Big Al Groth steps in on sax for the boogaloo ‘Looking For Love,’ and the double shuffle ‘Slow Burn.’ Current Altar Boy, Westside Andy Linderman, burns on the final four tracks like the flat tire swing of ‘Someday When I am Dead and Gone,’ then playing the foil to Raven’s dramatic hero on the slow blues ‘I Can Do You Right.’ 

The band’s bio accurately states “Raven and the Altar boys play original songs peppered with nods to Slim Harpo, Little Walter, Jimmy Rogers, Junior Wells and the three Kings,” and in twenty years of sweat and tears they have turned their passion for the music into high art and a singular mission to spread the gospel of the blues.

Tracklist
1 Handyman 4:14
 2 Bee Hive Baby  3:43
 3 Creature of Habit 2:57
 4 Bad Little Girls 3:42
 5 I Want to Love You 4:20
 6 Once the Women Start Talking 3:18
 7 My Life 4:20
 8 Here Comes My Baby 4:16
 9 Praying for a Princess 4:05
 10 Big Bee 3:17
 11 Looking for Love 5:15
 12 Slow Burn 4:44
 13 Someday When I'm Dead and Gone 3:48
 14 I Can Do You Right 5:02 
 15 She's Moving On 4:44
 16 I'm Your Honeyboy 4:06

BIOGRAPHY 
Bringing crowds to their feet at the hardest to please and sophisticated night clubs in the Midwest, Reverend Raven and the Chain Smoking Altar Boys play traditional blues, straight up with a big dose of passion. With smoking grooves, served up with hot harmonica and smooth stinging guitar they play original songs peppered with nods to Slim Harpo, Little Walter, Jimmy Rogers, Billy Boy Arnold, Junior Wells and the three Kings.

Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, the Reverend has been playing the blues since 1971 when he first saw Freddie King play at the Kinetic Theatre in Chicago. After a 15-year hitch in the Navy, Chief Raven moved to Milwaukee where he began a long friendship and collaboration with Madison Slim, long time harmonica player for Jimmy Rogers. 

Over the last three decades, Reverend Raven has opened for B.B. King, Gatemouth Brown, Pinetop Perkins, Koko Taylor Band, Junior Wells, Billy Branch, Magic Slim, Elvin Bishop, Sugar

Publicist: 
Betsie Brown, Blind Raccoon, betsie@blindraccoon.com, 901.268.6065