Darrell Nulisch

Vocalist/harmonicist Darrell Nulisch, who’s now 57, first got hooked on the blues as a teenager in Dallas by listening to such British bands as the Yardbirds and Rolling Stones. He soon moved on to Muddy Waters and Lightnin’ Hopkins and then ran into Stevie Ray Vaughan, with whom he jammed, before deciding to be a folk singer. He switched over to the blues some 30 years ago when he and Anson Funderburgh formed the Rockets, with whom he spent seven years, then joined guitarist Ronnie Earl’s Broadcasters for three years before deciding to form his own band. On this, his fourth CD for Severn, the smooth-voiced singer is again teamed with the label’s “house band”: Fabulous Thunderbirds’ guitarist Johnny Moeller, keyboardist Benjie Porecki, bassist Steve Gomes and drummer Robb Stupka, with terrific backing by an eight-piece horn section on 10 songs, six of them by Nulisch. More soul than blues, the songs are mostly taken at a relaxed pace that is well suited to their subject matter—the realities of love and the consequences of its loss. The title track, by Slim Harpo, is a heartfelt lover’s plea. Porecki’s B-3 provides some serious muscle on the hottest track, Nulisch’s own “Let a Woman Be a Woman.” Two things puzzle me, though—the short count (38:29) and all the fade-outs.