HowellDevine - Strange Time Blues (2022)

There was never a question as to what to title this 2022 release from this esteemed Bay Area trio, HowellDevine. Songwriter/guitarist/harmonica player/singer Joshua Howell writes in his notes, “Strange Time Blues, as the title suggests, was born out of these strange times, which have been unrelenting these past few years. Produced in the midst of environmental calamities and the solitude brought about by a global pandemic, the music will naturally reflect these conditions, even without intending to do so.”

Since forming in 2011, their sound has been tagged, “shack-shakin music,” and author Dan Forte details that in his liner notes as “hypnotic… a study in dynamics, of theme and variation.” Whether on National steel or harmonica, Howell seamlessly intertwines with the propulsively creative rhythm section, Pete Devine (drums, washboard, jug) and Joe Kyle, Jr. (upright bass, caressed, plucked, bowed). Four originals along with six of the most intriguing Piedmont, Hill Country and Delta to Chicago songs are here: from haunting to funkily cathartic. The trio recorded at Hyde Street Studios (formerly Wally Heider Studios) in San Francisco, still rich in historic character. The original acoustic designs of control rooms and live rooms remain largely untouched and sound as sweet as they did back then, a haven in what felt like an apocalypse.

Strange Time Blues is the band’s fifth release, and appears on their own DynaPhonic Records label, after multiple records on the legendary Arhoolie/Smithsonian Records and Little Village Foundation. “It’s tricky to show reverence without becoming a museum piece shot full of formaldehyde,” Forte concludes, “but HowellDevine deftly navigates that tightrope, making the old sound fresh and rendering the new timeless.”