Travis Haddix – Daylight At Midnight

Na 3 cd's tijdens zijn Ichiban periode nam Travis Haddix nog 10 cd's op voor zijn eigen Wann Sonn Records label. Dus we kunnen niet meteen van een nieuwkomer spreken. Heel mooi opgebouwd gitaarwerk en lyrische verhalende zang. Recht uit het hart.

Since cutting three well-received CDs from 1988-1994 on the Ichiban label, Travis "Moonchild" Haddix has released ten CDs on his own label - Wann Sonn Records (distributed by Earwig Music), which have also received fine reviews. He has performed in seventeen countries, and is especially popular in Scandinavia.
Travis is also a prolific songwriter, very adept at a hook and a groove.
In a 2005 feature story, Living Blues Magazine had this to say about Travis: "Haddix delivers his fables of mischief, mayhem and mercy in a smooth but sinewy baritone, backed by arrangements that meld aggression with horn-leavened soul. His leads, influenced by the string-bending Kings, yet back-alley raw, are both incendiary and insinuating - a blend of uptown elan and down-home raucousness, shot through with sensual fervor, calculated to please listeners and dancers from the 'burbs as well as the 'hood..."
In a February 2008 review of this CD, Daylight at Midnight, Living Blues reviewer David Whiteis said: "... the fretwork is both tasteful and soulful throughout. The result, combined with Haddix's accomplished vocal and lyric artistry, is a set that should appeal to aficionados of traditional postwar blues, and more contemporary, soul-accented sounds..."

Track Listing:
1 Word a Lie - 3:15   2 Backward Baby - 5:11   3 Nine Behind - 3:10   4 Who Could I Be? - 4:01   5 Daylight at Midnight - 2:50   6 Way Back in the Country - 3:28   7 You Kind of Fool - 5:38   8 What to Do - 3:59   9 Good Buddy Blues - 3:21   10 Blues Leftovers - 4:24

Personnel:
Travis Haddix (vocals, solo guitar) , Greg Nicholson (bass guitar) , Ray Deforest (bass guitar) , Mike Calhoun (lead guitar) , Bob Frank (lead guitar, harmonica) , Gil Zachary (keyboard) , Jeremy Sullivan (drums) , Robert 'Red Top' Young (Hamond B3)

Reviews:

1. AllMusic - Greg Prato
With both Alberts sadly no longer with us and B.B. King threatening to retire, there's certainly a void in the blues world -- especially for some tasty and spacious guitar work à la the aforementioned masters. As heard throughout his 2008 release, Daylight at Midnight, Travis Haddix has certainly answered the call. Having issued countless releases over the years for a variety of smaller labels (including Ichiban and his own imprint, Wann-Sonn Records), Daylight at Midnight is Haddix's first for Earwig Music. And the label switch hasn't hampered the singer/guitarist's desire to offer authentic blues-rock (which includes standout horn, harmonica, and piano work), as heard on such standouts as the album-opening "Word a Lie" and "Daylight at Midnight," as well as the vintage Stax-esque sounds of "Who Could I Be?" Overall, Daylight at Midnight could be studied as a 101 course on how to play undoctored and real blues-rock -- the right way.

2. Mazzmusikas - 2009.02.22
Ik beken: ik had tot voor deze plaat nooit gehoord van deze zanger en gitarist die, zo leert een reisje op het web, al ruim een dozijn platen lang aan de weg timmert. De man, die tegenwoordig in Cleveland, Ohio verblijft, werd zeventig jaar geleden geboren in Mississippi. Ook papa was muzikant en zo kwam het dat jonge Travis al snel in Memphis terechtkwam en daar geconfronteerd werd met ene B.B. King. Dat zoiets sporen nalaat in de ziel van een jong gitaristje, laat zich raden en van het ene kwam het andere. Vandaag worden de platen van Haddix, die vroeger nauwelijks te krijgen waren wegens opgenomen en verdeeld door zijn eigen Wann-Sonn-label, opgepikt door het veel grotere Earwig uit Chicago en meteen stijgt ook de kans dat Haddix in Europa beter aan de bak komt dan vandaag.

3. www.chicagobluesguide.com - Tim Holek
Cleveland, Ohio is not known as a blues epicenter. After all, the city is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Thanks to a feature in Living Blues and an appearance at the Pocono Blues Festival, Travis Haddix is putting Cleveland on the blues map. Haddix has already recorded more than a dozen albums and has written songs for Artie “Blues Boy” White, Lee Shot Williams, Michael Burks, Charles Wilson, Jimmy Dawkins, and Son Seals. Perhaps the timing wasn’t right. Daylight At Midnight came out in the same year that also had new releases by Buddy Guy and B.B. King. Those releases and their companies’ marketing budgets may have overshadowed and out-muscled the smaller artists and labels.  
Most of the ten original songs on the 40-minute disc are short and straight to the point. On all of them, Haddix commands his band like respected soul crooners Bobby Rush and Otis Clay. Haddix describes the inspiration behind the title track. “I wrote that song about a town in the northern part of Finland. When I was on tour there, it stayed daylight mostly all the time.” The unleashed piano and harp captures you immediately on Word A Lie. Here, Haddix’s growl-like vocals sound like a friendly bear and the backing horns sound as large as a bruin. The Moonchild’s baritone voice sounds like what you would have created had you’d been able to combine the vocal cords of Albert Collins with Louie Armstrong. The most memorable horn arrangement appears on Who Could I Be? Here Haddix croons, but the repetitive and polished song lacks an element of improvisation. Haddix funks up and jazzes up a traditional blues using jubilant horns that simply groovify Way Back In The Country. Backward Baby is a sweet slow blues that has an arrangement that’s similar to the Allman Brothers’ version of Stormy Monday. The guitar solos flow over you like a stream on Nine Behind, which contains some elements of rock ‘n’ roll. Disco funk is added to the mix on What To Do. Good Buddy Blues sounds like it was recorded live because the band just cooks.
"I am the best that I can be,” says Haddix, “and since no one else can be me, there’s none better.” This CD may not offer a ton of new life to the genre, but it proves blues can be traditional while having elements of soul injected into it. The end result is a contemporary sounding album that is a very satisfying listen.