There was a time. A time when musicians lived to jam their way around a song. A time long gone or so I thought until this 4 track EP by Dixie Fried – rather aptly named “The Old Black & White EP“ - connived its way into Bluesbunny Towers. Curiously enough, the band, a duo in fact, hails from Whitburn. Perhaps Whitburn is the place where time stopped?
To set the record straight, this isn’t a record to push boundaries. For a start, all four songs run neatly into each other in the old school blues rock style. Secondly, you’ve only got two souls to exorcise - Craig Lamie on vocals and guitar and John Murphy on drums – so they can only go so far in the sonic variety stakes. However, within those boundaries, this proved to be an enjoyable way of passing the time with the sinuous groove and the dirty, sweaty guitar of “Eastbound” standing out from the pack and making me think of Dixie Fried as a cleaner living version of the Black Diamond Heavies.
I reckon this release would be a tough one to explain to the “kids” but back in the days Dixie Fried would have been local heroes. Four honest songs performed by two guys with their hearts in the right place still makes arithmetic sense to me.