Title - Along The Avenue
Artist - Ric Harris and The Heat Merchants
By moving from North Carolina to Chicago, Ric Harris pursued a desire to play music and went from learning jazz to playing the blues. Along the way, Ric found the joy of writing songs more rewarding, allowing him to complete the thoughts that he started while improvising. The music of Robben Ford, Matt Schofield, and Tommy Castro influenced Ric, not only in his guitar solos, but also his vocals.
Every song on this brand new CD that Ric is releasing on October 22nd, 2024 is entitled Along The Avenue is based on the classic blues format. Some of the songs have a bridge, others have what some will consider a commercial feel, and few of the lyrics will be mistaken for a standard blues song. Regardless, Ric composed nearly every melody before he wrote the lyrics, and although the solos were improvised, none of the arrangements were.
1. Along The Avenue
2. Keep Rambling On
3. And Left Us Alone
4. The Rest of the Night
5. So Tell Me
6. Before the Sun Up Above
7. A Room With A View
8. Gotta Find A Way
9. Just Another Fool
10. I’ll Be Outta My Mind
11. What Is Left For Me Anymore
12. One I Can’t Deny
13. You Walk Away
14. From Heading Out the Door
This wonderful, all-encompassing new recording, opens on the rhythmic rocker title track Along The Avenue and the melodic blues of Keep Rambling On and then they bring us the low slung And Left Us Alone, the gently frenetic The Rest of the Night, the organ/guitar-led AOR of So Tell Me, before both the flourishing Before the Sun Up Above and the piano balladry of Room With A View are brought into view.
Along next is the foot-tapper Gotta Find A Way and the tuneful, mid-tempo AOR of Just Another Fool and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the rhythmically-sewn I’ll Be Outta My Mind, the soulful blues of What Is Left For Me Anymore, the album rounding out on the piano blues of One I Can’t Deny, the guitar-fed You Walk Away, closing on the robustly playful From Heading Out the Door.
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