Buddy Guy's Legends and the force of habit

Buddy Guy’s Legends, Chicago: Singer Tommy McCracken brought his Force of Habit Band to the to Legends. Band leaders and singers in this genre frequently bring an instrument to the stage. Usually, it is a guitar, but many times it is a harp, keyboard, or drums. If Tommy McCracken plays an instrument other than his voice he didn’t bring it on stage. McCracken is a very good singer who happens to be in the blues genre. With only a microphone as his prop, McCracken’s voice is sometimes sweet (Bobby Bland) and sometimes a bit edgier (James Brown), but always good. Tommy’s voice is a very capable medium for all the expression blues music needs, whether is clean vibrato or pops and growls. The audio part of the night was backed by his long-time bandleader/singer/guitarist Bob Johnson, drummer Eric Bradshaw, bassist Nick Straff and guest guitarist Tom Crivellone (Two For The Blues Band). The night had a visual component as well. McCracken keeps his tall frame in motion cutting Elvis-like silhouettes and doing James Brown spins. He may just stand tall with long arms and fingers heaven-ward, pause in a deep bow, or test his band’s dynamics with a conductor’s arm movements as if he were playing with their collective volume knob. The band must be alert because there are no regular endings to his songs. I found myself appreciating not only his singing voice, but his obvious desire to entertain. He can shout like the others when the song calls for it, but he can sing better than most, and delivers top-notch professional entertainment.  Check out the gallery for this event.

Gallery Link: http://lordy.smugmug.com/Chicago-Blues-Beat/091209/10036247_HvyzP

On Lordy’s CD Player: 190 Proof Blues (Tom Holland & Marty Sammon), Austin to Chicago (Dave Herrero) and Chicago Blues, A Living History (Arnold, Primer, Branch, Bell).