New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Mark Pucci Media) - King Mojo Records announces a February 8 release for Collection, a 2-CD compilation of tracks from Big Shanty, whose blistering sound has been described as everything from "death metal blues" to "heavy metal funk." The double-disc set also includes five previously out-of-print live tracks. Many of Big Shanty's longtime friends join in the jams on Collection, including Wet Willie bassist Jack Hall; guitarist Spencer Kirkpatrick, formerly of Hydra; up-and-coming guitar hotshot Liz Melendez; and legendary jam-band godfather, Col. Bruce Hampton.
Big Shanty's sonic rain of acid guitars and incendiary beats has captivated fans all over the globe in search of something outside the blues/rock mainstream, and the tracks on Collection deliver that in spades. By word of mouth and the internet, the buzz about Big Shanty has spread world-wide, with fans registering over one million downloads from his indie label website, www.kingmojo.com. Big Shanty has successfully navigated through the music business maze without the benefit of big corporate radio, corporate media sponsorship slick videos or any of the trappings in the star-making machinery of the music business.
Big Shanty's renegade style of blues is hard to categorize. He's been compared to Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young - and even Rob Zombie. His classic motorcycle tune, "Whiskey Woman" (the opening track of this set), is an homage to Jim Morrison, both in terms of subject matter and style. "His Born Up in Trouble" (also included here) may be the "Born Under a Bad Sign" of our day. His is truly alternative music. His Jeff Beck-ish trance-like rhythm grinds his aesthetic, full-on anti-establishment, anti-war anthem, "Killing Fields," into something that would fit into pretty much any biker bar juke box; but Shanty is blues at heart.
Ever since the 2007 release of his internationally-acclaimed breakout CD, Ride with the Wind, Shanty has slammed his away into the consciousness of music fans eager for something outside the 12-bar blues box that's new and exciting. That release went Top 10 wherever it was played and hit the Top 10 in over a dozen foreign countries. In Paris, it reached No 1 for five weeks on one station and remained at the top of another internet blues radio giant station's album chart for over five months.
"Big Shanty comes on like a rip snortin', fire breathin' son of a swamp dog with whiskey breath harsh enough to blister the chrome on a Harley," wrote Crawdaddy in its review. Canada's Real Blues, which named his Ride with the Wind its No 1 Blues Album of the Year in 2007, said: "Big Shanty paints visual pictures with his songs and he's almost without competition in that sense. 'Killing Fields' is a powerful condemnation of old lies and self-serving propaganda, delivered with raw emotion and a driving beat. A more powerful anti-war tune does not exist! And the music is as powerful as the uncompromising lyrics." And Downbeat said, "Guitarist Big Shanty's great thrill is to fire up the blues with jam-band, hell-raising and acid tossed in your face techno-blues. 'Uncle Sam Go to Rehab' is his twisted requiem for the Bush Presidency.'"
Collection and the rest of his catalogue are available at www.kingmojo.com, as well as at Amazon.com, CDBaby, iTunes, Rhapsody and other cool sites.
