Joel DaSilva & The Midnight Howl -- Self Titled

Joel DaSilva & The Midnight Howl is both the name of the band and the title of their cd. DaSilva is a South Florida musician, probably best known as the guitarist for Hep Cat Boo Daddies from 1998-2008. He established during that decade that he was a fine guitarist and a good singer. While the Hep Cat Boo Daddies favored a raucous, even punky interpretation of the blues, his new project offers the genre straight-up. This time out, the band is DaSilva on guitar and vocals, bassist Tom Coughter, keyboardist Scott Rowell and drummer Stefano Rotati. They come out of the gate with a kicking guitar song--"Let's Not Fight, Let's Make Some Love." From those opening notes, things move along winningly--these guys play with talent and passion. There are a variety of blues styles displayed. On "Hard Time" DaSilva recruits Albert Castiglia aboard on guitar and vocals, and the result is what may be the strongest song here. The second time I listened to this song I was singing along. But there are several good songs here: "Heart Of My Father" is a slow blues where DaSilva exhibits powerful fretwork, and he remembers his father, who was also a musician and died when Joel was three. In fact, thanks to technology, that is his father playing the opening minute of the song. "Every Night" is a nicely written acoustic song that sounds a lot like SRV on "Life By The Drop"-- that's a high compliment. And "For Don" is a solo, slide swamp song. "That was my manager [Don Cohen, of the Musicians Exchange nightclub]. He died on his birthday of a brain tumor,” DaSilva says. “I made a promise to him before he died that I would keep doing what I’m doing and go on my own and win a Grammy for him. That’s something I still plan to do eventually.”

I like this cd, and I am already looking forward to the next one. These guys are going to be big. You can buy this disc at http://www.jdandthehowl.com/