Doyle Bramhall

This may be the best roadhouse-rock-and-blues-guitar album a drummer's ever made. But then again, this 40-year-veteran Austin songwriter's always had an affinity for guitarists. His first band, the Chessmen, featured Jimmie Vaughan and opened for Jimi Hendrix. Bramhall co-wrote nine tunes with Jimmie's brother Stevie Ray. And his own son, Doyle II, is a six-string star who tours and records with Eric Clapton. So when the disc opens with charging chords and tremolo riffs atop a big Bo Diddley beat and closes with a prickly Texas Stratocaster serenade from Bramhall's fellow former Chessman, that's not surprising. Producer C.C. Adcock, Dylan guitarist Denny Freeman, and the junior Bramhall also get their licks in. What's unexpected is how far Bramhall stretches the genre's limits, setting “Tortured Soul” to an ambling drumbeat and atmospheric slide guitar arrangement that wobbles amiably into Tom Waits's turf. And “Chateau Strut” is a flat-out fusion instrumental, while “Cryin'” sounds like a lost doo-wop classic pinched from David Lynch's jukebox. Bramhall directs all this with his authoritative punch on drums and a dry, unadorned singing style that keeps his third solo disc direct and soulful all the way through. -Ted Drozdowski