SUNJAY – Devil Came Calling (own label SLCD201901)

Devil Came CallingSunjay has now released five albums and really should be a star but the blues is “genre” music and that’s unlikely to happen yet awhile. After the side-step of Sunjay Sings Buddy he has returned to the roots of his music with Devil Came Calling and if that title suggests a song to you, well you’re absolutely right. Sunjay has a fine band with him, the key member of which is Eddy Morton, co-producer, multi-instrumentalist and writer or co-writer – despite an unconvincing attempt to disguise himself in the latter role. Darren Barnes drums, Ian Jennings plays bass, Pete Bond plays piano and Katriona Gilmore sings and fiddles. Dan Walsh turns up on one track and when you can recruit musicians of this calibre you know you’re on the map.

There are two old blues numbers, several original songs and a number of covers from artists that only the cognoscenti will know. The album opens with the single, ‘Ghost Train’, a catalogue of long gone American heroes which rocks along brilliantly. That’s followed by ‘Mean & Ugly’. I can’t believe that Sunjay expects us to take this seriously so I guess it’s a sort of cross-threaded love song. It’s fun, anyway. Tommy Johnson’s delta blues ‘Big Road’ is the first of the old songs featuring a brilliant drum and bass backing by Darren and Eddy topped off with Lee Southall’s harmonica.

Chris Smither’s ‘I Feel The Same’ slows things down a bit and is the first of the external covers. The devil came calling in Hans Theessink’s ‘Johnny & The Devil’, the old familiar story with almost a happy ending – Johnny doesn’t escape Old Nick’s clutches but he’s still playing somewhere down there. Matt Anderson’s ‘Tell Me’ and Lisa Mills’ ‘The Truth’ round out the record – I hadn’t come across Mills before but this is a knockout song to finish with.

Devil Came Calling is a fine album and essential road music for the summer – if we ever get one.

Dai Jeffries

Artist’s website: www.sunjay.tv

‘Ghost Train’ – official video: