Dec 8
Sleepy Eyes Nelson – A Bottle of wine at the Bellgrove Hotel
Mention the blues to most Glaswegians and they’ll think of that awful boogie down blues Geography teachers like to ‘jam’ on in their spare time. Tales of cotton pickin’ and hard drinkin’ set to a shambling electric guitar don’t do much to keep the flame of Skip James et al burning bright, but thankfully one guy is doing the right thing.
This is Sleepy Eyes 2nd album on the devils ruin label, though he self released it earlier in 2009. It’s a credit to Sleepy Eyes that he has managed to build and improve on ‘Dirty with the Blues’ and take it up a notch in tempo, production and content.
The production retains a scratchy retro feel, but is more punchy this time round. He has an eye for detail and on a few tracks, notably ‘I’m gonna get my Knife’ it really adds to the brooding atmosphere. His playing is top notch too, the aforementioned track giving a nice example of picking a heavy bass and filling in the detail at the same time. I love it when one guy sounds like two! ‘Cheap Wine Blues’ plays this out to great effect, with Sleepy pining ‘I gave the devil all my money, devil all my blues, and my good girl she took my heart’ over the strutting bass notes. It really is quite something to hear this quality of picking and sliding from a hometown boy. There ain’t many guys doing authentic acoustic blues about these parts and it may seem a strange choice but i read an interview in which he commented ‘… most of my numbers are about gambling, death and drinking so i reckon Scotland is the perfect country for the blues. There’s so much sadness here….how many happy people do you see walking round? Scotland knows all about it…’ And to that end he’s right, I suppose what is surprising is the amount of mousy, lightweight twee garbage Scotland has shat out over the years. Certainly, Sleepy’s credo is evident on the final closing tracks, Pinebox Blues and Bellgrove Hotel. The latter in particular is an excellent tune, and does the job of hammering the blues firmly to Glasgow’s creaking door.
The production retains a scratchy retro feel, but is more punchy this time round. He has an eye for detail and on a few tracks, notably ‘I’m gonna get my Knife’ it really adds to the brooding atmosphere. His playing is top notch too, the aforementioned track giving a nice example of picking a heavy bass and filling in the detail at the same time. I love it when one guy sounds like two! ‘Cheap Wine Blues’ plays this out to great effect, with Sleepy pining ‘I gave the devil all my money, devil all my blues, and my good girl she took my heart’ over the strutting bass notes. It really is quite something to hear this quality of picking and sliding from a hometown boy. There ain’t many guys doing authentic acoustic blues about these parts and it may seem a strange choice but i read an interview in which he commented ‘… most of my numbers are about gambling, death and drinking so i reckon Scotland is the perfect country for the blues. There’s so much sadness here….how many happy people do you see walking round? Scotland knows all about it…’ And to that end he’s right, I suppose what is surprising is the amount of mousy, lightweight twee garbage Scotland has shat out over the years. Certainly, Sleepy’s credo is evident on the final closing tracks, Pinebox Blues and Bellgrove Hotel. The latter in particular is an excellent tune, and does the job of hammering the blues firmly to Glasgow’s creaking door.
The Nelsons (Sleepy Eyes & JB) are by far the best thing happening in Glasgow just now. But the blues is a lonely path to tread through the pseudo indie scenester jungle…. I just hope Sleepy can keep marchin’ on.