The Stoney Curtis Band: Track by track

“Critic’s Choice” goes to “When the Sweet Turns to Sour”.  Co-written with producer Mike Varney, this one further reveals Curtis’ love of the blues.  Curtis recalls his roots noting “It was when I saw BB King at Chicago Fest many moons ago that I totally fell in love with the blues.”    The third cut is “American Lady”.  This is another example of how the tuneful trio is so obviously influenced by such famous acts as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream and Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble.  Their live gigs are always focused on Curtis’ guitar and vocals.   This is also an original composition.  The second selection is yet another original tune titled “Evil Woman”.  This is the shortest song on the disc with a running time of 4 and a quarter minutes.  Not to be confused with the Electric Light Orchestra’s 1975 hit, this is a moving rocker complete with some significant six-string blues-rock riffs by Curtis.View the list »
"The Stoney Curtis Band Live"

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The Stoney Curtis Band (ahem) “rocks”. Named after a cartoon character from the animated series The Flintstones, this L.A.-based psychedelic blues rock power trio has been touring internationally for almost a decade. The band roster includes: Stoney Curtis (guitar and vocals), Aaron Haggerty (drums) and Steve Evans (bass).

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Their newest Shrapnel Records release, Stoney Curtis Band Live, is a live CD/DVD combination on which they try to capture the excitement of their live shows. (Actually only the first 1000 discs include the DVD.) The album opens on the thumping “Last Train to Chicago”. The song takes off just like a runaway locomotive complete with a Freudian reference to trains and tunnels.

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  • The second selection is yet another original tune titled “Evil Woman”.  This is the shortest song on the disc with a running time of 4 and a quarter minutes.  Not to be confused with the Electric Light Orchestra’s 1975 hit, this is a moving rocker complete with some significant six-string blues-rock riffs by Curtis.
  • The third cut is “American Lady”.  This is another example of how the tuneful trio is so obviously influenced by such famous acts as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream and Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble.  Their live gigs are always focused on Curtis’ guitar and vocals.   This is also an original composition. 
  • “Critic’s Choice” goes to “When the Sweet Turns to Sour”.  Co-written with producer Mike Varney, this one further reveals Curtis’ love of the blues.  Curtis recalls his roots noting “It was when I saw BB King at Chicago Fest many moons ago that I totally fell in love with the blues.”   
  • “Headin' for the City” follows here.  This, too, is a collaborative cut between Curtis and producer Varney although Curtis’ plainly makes it his own with his hard rock-blues signature sound.  It is, however, perhaps all too quickly forgotten once the band breaks into the next number by Curtis titled “Behind the Sun”.   
  • “Behind the Sun” is the lengthiest track running close to 10 minutes.  This is one of the obvious results of Curtis’ penchant for prolonged jamming.  It also reveals the band’s liking for classic Robin Trower.  This is metal heavy with spacey psychedelia inspired by the sounds of the 1960s and 70s.
  • The seventh selection is titled “That's Right”.  While this Curtis cut might not be as strong as some of the other songs here it still manages to stand on its own during a live performance.  Perhaps it just appears to fade quickly due to the particular placement of the piece on the playlist.   
  • “Blues Without You” comes next on the playlist.  Stoney’s prolonged playing pushes the piece past nine and a half minutes.  Complete with some noteworthy, slow-burning guitar lines and additional elements lifted from classic blues and of course Jimi Hendrix.  The cut is also a fan favorite for perhaps obvious reasons.
  • The ninth number is “Eli's Blues”.  This blues-drenched bit by Curtis is perhaps the most apparent result of the band’s blues leanings.  It is another example of what some of the group’s fans label as blues and blues-rock as it is meant to be. This is also the final solo Curtis composition on the CD. 
  • The tenth track is titled “The Letter”.  Not to be confused with the 1967 hit made famous by The Box Tops, this is yet another collaborative cut by Curtis and producer Varney.  It tells the tale of yet another relationship gone wrong in the proud tradition of the blues genre.
  • The album’s end-note is the song “Soul Flower”.  This is the final work written by Curtis and Varney.  Before this closing cut even opens, however, it has already been made apparent that Curtis, like Hendrix, favors the wah-wah and other effects to supplement his fretwork.   “It's my Chicago sound – hard rock and blues.”Curtis adds: “I grew up on the South Side of Chicago before moving to Los Angeles.  My friends and I grew up listening to hard rock . . . as well as the blues rock (of) Robin Trower, Hendrix, Zeppelin and Clapton.”Curtis elaborates on the band’s signature sound of 74 minute Stoney Curtis Band Live disc:” I was going for the power of Zeppelin, the psychadelia of Cream and the (Jimi Hendrix) Experience (and) the flow of (the) Robin Trower Band.  We combined it all together  . . . to make it all (the) Stoney Curtis Band.”  My name is Phoenix and . . . that's the bottom line.
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, LA Music Examiner

W. Scott Phoenix, B.A., B.S. was born in Hawaii, raised in Pennsylvania and resides in California. He has been a published writer since 1978. His work has appeared (under various names) in numerous places in print and online including TodaysRecipePro.com. He is a single parent of three children...

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