Finally free of publishing constraints, this is Sunjay’s final covers album, one which leans into his blues influences but also offers an eclectic set of choices. Variously accompanied by Josh Clark on drums, mandolin and double bass, Bob Fridzema and Jonny Henderson on Hammond and piano, Katriona Gilmore on fiddle, Joe Wilkins on electric and baritone guitars and Jon Loomes on accordion with Gilmore, Astrid Hogendijk, Charlie Barker and Sarah Warren providing backing vocals, it kicks off with a five-minute shuffling boogie run through Stephen Bruton’s ‘That’s Love’, one of five to feature the word in the title, pretty much telling you the album’s underlying theme. Turning to country colours, it’s followed by Bob McDill’s ‘It Must Be Love’, a 1979 hit for Don Williams though here leaning to the Alan Jackson version with a faster pace and rowdy electric guitar.
His previous album having been a tribute to Chris Smither, he returns to the well for the bluesy ragtime-shaded picking of ‘Hundred Dollar Valentine’ before Hammond, pounding piano and drums propel Dorsey Burnett’s rocking ‘It’s Late’, a UK No 3 for Ricky Nelson. Returning to the blues, he digs deep into a six-minute organ-anchored loping groove through Jerry Reed’s ‘Take Our Some Insurance’.
Having previously recorded a tribute album and played him in a stage musical, he returns to formative influence Buddy Holly with a song that surprisingly never appeared on that album, ‘Love’s Made A Fool Of You’, here with a more urgent, choppy rhythm pace, handclaps and Hammond break. Love’s here again on the similarly downcast ‘I’ll Never Fall In Love Again’, not the Bacharach/David classic but a rattling rhythm and blues number written by George Borowski (the Guitar George mentioned in the opening of ‘Sultans Of Swing’) and laced with Lee Southall’s harmonica, slide guitar and double Hammond solo.
Again passing the five-minute mark, written by Rowland Salley and previously covered by John Prine, Shawn Colvin, and Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Sunjay adds his name to the roster for the slow, wearied ‘Killing The Blues’ with its melancholic organ and acoustic guitar, Staying country but taking the tempo temperature back up, written by the late Denny Lile ‘Fallin’ Out’ was a huge hit for Waylon Jennings, providing the template and even the vocal growl for the version here.
Another that’s racked up countless covers, his simple acoustic picked and dusty voiced take on Townes Van Zandt’s ‘If I Needed You’ can hold its head high before, the last of the ‘love’ songs, things get back in a blues swing for a growly rendition of the choppy rhythm and lyrically swaggering ‘Who Do You Love’ written in 1956 by Ellas McDaniel and recorded under his stage name of Bo Diddley (and, of course, featuring the riffing line ‘hey, Bo Diddley’), Southall providing the scream here.
An undervalued name in British blues and rockabilly, Mickey Jupp wrote and recorded the Jerry Lee Lewis influenced ‘Do You Know What I Mean? back in 1979 for his ‘Long Distance Romancer’ album and Sunjay rips through in suitably blazing style. The final blues track is ‘My Baby Don’t Tolerate’, a somewhat atypical not quite 12 bar blues by Lyle Lovett with Sunjay sounding at his dirtiest, the album ending with a distinct contrast with an aching, heartfelt fingerpicked and fiddle-graced version of ’45 Years’, a testament to an enduring marriage Awritten by the late great Canadian legend Stan Rogers and considered one of the greatest love songs ever written.
His cover albums may have been enforced out of a royalties issue regarding his own material but they’ve never felt or sounded like someone going through the motions, and this, his last, is one of the best. Hopefully, it won’t be long before the songs he’s had to hold back finally see the light of day, but for now you really should slip between these sheets.
Mike Davies
Artist’s website: www.sunjay.tv
‘That’s Love’ – official, live, in the studio…:
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