“Goin’ Home”

The latest release from Paul Rishell & Annie Raines

Available at MusicToday.com, amazon.com, Apple's iTunes, and other fine retail stores

Track Listing (note: mp3 samples are down temporarily while we update our site; in the meantime, sound samples are available on amazon.com at the above link) ;

1. Hunkie Tunkie Blues (551k)
   (Charlie Jordan, with additional music by Rishell/Raines)
   
2. You've Got It Made (961k)
   (Rishell/Raines)
   
3. I Had A Good Mother and Father (1.1M)
   (Washington Phillips)
   
4. I'm Goin' Home (883k)
   (Charley Patton)
   
5. It Ain't Right (864k)
   (Rishell/Raines)
   
6. Candy (1.1M)
   (David/Kramer/Whitney)
   
7. Memphis Town (1.1M)
   (Carr/Blackwell)
   
8. Black Horse Blues (886k)
   (Lemon Jefferson)
   
9. Black Eye Blues (1.2M)
   (Ma Rainey)
   
10. Ragtime Millionaire (821k)
    (William Moore)
    
11. Custard Pie (945k)
    (Fulton Allen)
    
12. Some of These Days (I'll be Gone) -live! (960k)
    (Charley Patton, arrangement by Paul Rishell)
    
13. Lookin' Good -live! (1.1M)
    (Samuel Maghett, with additional music by Rishell/Raines)

MUSICIANS:

Paul Rishell: Vocals, all guitars, percussion
Annie Raines: Vocals, harmonica, chromatic harmonica, piano, mandolin, Hawaiian Mandolin Harp, Hammond B3 organ, percussion
Marty Richards: drums, percussion
Damian Purro: bass, percussion on "It Ain't Right"
Reed Butler: bass on "I'm Goin' Home"
Jesse Williams: bass on "Black Eye Blues" and "Hunkie Tunkie Blues"
Scott Shetler: Baritone Sax on "It Ain't Right"
Gordon Beadle: Tenor Saxophone on "It Ain't Right"
Scott Aruda: Trumpet on "It Ain't Right"
Vanessa Rishell: vocals on "I'm Goin' Home"
Cam Geraci: vocals on "I'm Goin' Home"
Horn arrangements by Scott Shetler, Annie Raines and Paul Rishell

CREDITS:

Produced by Paul Rishell, Annie Raines, and Chris Rival
Recorded and mixed at My Generation Studio and Middleville Studio by Chris Rival, except:
"Some of These Days" and "Lookin' Good" recorded live at Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Chico, CA
Additional recording at Wellspring Studio, Acton, MA
Mastered by Jonathan Wyner, M-Works Mastering
Executive Producer: Richard Rosenblatt

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“GOIN’ HOME”

In Goin’ Home, their latest CD, the Boston-based pair demonstrates conclusively that they are at home with the blues in all its many aspects and forms. Piedmont styling, jug band rhythms, ragtime melodies, Texas blues, gospel, Chicago (South and West sides), funk—Goin’ Home reveals these categories for the arbitrary things that they are and serves notice that everything rhythmic is in play and possible.

Between them Raines and Rishell cover so much instrumental territory—on this CD alone they cover the entire spectrum of electric and acoustic blues guitar styles, about five generations’ worth of diatonic and chromatic harmonica techniques, mandolin, piano, organ, and zither—that they constitute a blues orchestra on four legs. Listen to the delicate interplay between Paul’s guitar and Annie’s zither on their surpassingly beautiful version of Washington Phillips’ “I Had a Good Mother and Father.” Rishell’s killer evocation of Blind Boy Fuller’s impossible ragtime riffs on “Custard Pie” is matched by Raines’ mastery of the classic old-time harmonica style, which is also in evidence in her harp work on “Ragtime Millionaire.” In their stunning live version of Magic Sam’s “Lookin’ Good,” Paul and Annie become a band unto themselves as Rishell tosses out incendiary amplified guitar and Raines turns her solo into a mini harp history lesson with quotations from Sonny Terry, Little Walter, and James Cotton. This is destined to take its place next to John Mayall’s “Room to Move” and Cotton’s “the Creeper” as one of the all-time great harmonica jams.

Versatility and a sense of humor are this duo’s hallmarks. When they do invite a band to share in the fun, they create highly original ensemble pieces like the backwards-cakewalk of “Hunkie Tunkie Blues” and funky, danceable rhythms in their original song, “It Ain’t Right.” They also co-wrote, “You’ve Got it Made,” a blithe 1930’s-style swing tune that contains the immortal line, “Relatives from out of town / think you’re out and don’t come ‘round.”

Paul Rishell continues to solidify his standing as one of the outstanding blues vocalists. No creature still breathing could fail to be transported by his singing on “Some of These Days.” When he marries his six-string skills with his profoundly expressive vocals, the consistent result are gems like this disc’s “Black Horse Blues”. If you want to separate the juveniles from the adults among blues singers who play the guitar, there’s no bigger challenge—or trap—than the polyrhythmic counterpoint between voice and guitar in Blind Lemon Jefferson’s music, and Paul’s version haunts you because of its complete naturalness.

What you have in Goin’ Home is the kind of powerful and fulfilling testimony that musicians who have dedicated not just a season but an entire life to their passion can deliver. --Kim Field