Sunday, May 17, 2020

Under The Influence: Johnny Diesel & The Injectors



Staring at me right now is a 7-piece set of Hohner Piedmont Blues harmonicas on my DVD shelf in my office.  I really do need to spend some time with them soon.  You see, I had a cheap little harmonica that I would carry in my black leather jacket during high school.  Now, I could barely play a blues riff on it but I loved it.  During that time, I had a rotation of cassettes for my VW in a storage case usually under the passenger seat.  1989's eponymous debut Johnny Diesel & The Injectors would become my blues fix.  I caught a video for, "Don't Need Love," their first single from the album on MTV late at night and was drawn in.  This album would send me off to shop later for Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, Eric Clapton and the Robert Cray Band.

The album has my favorite rendition of "Since I Fell For You" on it as well as a few other standards.  But, the originals like "Don't Need Love," "Cry In Shame," "Fire Without A Flame," "Lookin' For Love" and "Soul Revival" kept me going back.  Mark Lizotte is still one of the most underrated guitarists out there to this day.  He makes his instrument cry all over this album.  The sax really holds its own on these tracks while the rhythm section is solid.  I'm probably going to listen to it again, right now.

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