Blues guitarist extraordinaire Ronnie Earl has recently announced a new album called “The Luckiest Man”. The disc, which was recorded with Earl’s longtime band, the Broadcasters, will be released November 17 via Stony Plain Records. According to Earl, The Luckiest Man is “a traditional blues album of remembrance, love and unwavering resolve to live with faith and gratitude.”
The album follows the sudden loss of Jim Mouradian, the band’s bassist (and a respected luthier), who died back in January. In fact, the album is named after something Mouradian said fairly often: “I’m the luckiest man you know—and I don’t even know who you know.” The band addresses loss on the tracks, “Death Don’t Have No Mercy” and “Jim’s Song.” On “Long Lost Conversation,” Earl is reunited with some of the earliest Broadcasters (current members of Sugar Ray and the Bluetones), including Sugar Ray Norcia (vocals, harp), Anthony Geraci (piano), Mike Welch (guitar), Neil Gouvin (drums) and Michael “Mudcat” Ward (bass). Earl also puts his indelible stamp on interpretations of “Ain’t That Loving You,” “So Many Roads” and “You Don’t Know What Love Is.”
Besides Earl on guitar, the Broadcasters include Dave Limina (keyboards), Diane Blue (vocals), Forrest Padgett (drums) and Paul Kochanski (bass). Other guests include Nicholas Tabarias (guitar), Mark Earley (baritone sax), Mario Perrett (tenor sax) and Peter Ward (guitar).
For those wondering what his rap-sheet is, Earl is a three-time Blues Music Award winner as Guitar Player of the Year, a DownBeat magazine winner for “Blues Album of the Year,” an associate professor of guitar at Berklee College of Music and has taught at the National Guitar summer workshop in Connecticut. In the words of the late B.B. King: “[Ronnie Earl] is one of the most serious blues guitarists you can find today. He makes me proud.”
Original Article by Damian Fanelli of Guitar World (guitarworld.com)