ELECTRIC CITY Early Times & The High Rollers (Dealer’s Choice Records) ****

Well here’s a record that’s gonna blow some wind up your skirt.  Electric City, the latest from Early Times & The High Rollers is definitely blues, but it’s full of sunshine too.  A follow up to 2021’s The Corner, this one feels really good.

All of the songs on Electric City were written by Early Times, a singer and blues guitarist of considerable talent.  They combine street-wise lyrical observations and urban rhythms, driven by a blues guitarist who knows what to play and what to leave out.  And the band he has in the studio this time?  Sweet Jesus!!  Drummer Anton Fig (Late Night w/ David Letterman, Kiss, Cyndi Lauper, Bob Dylan, Madonna, Paul Butterfield, Mick Jagger, Joe Bonamassa), keyboardist Brian Mitchell (Levon Helm, Dylan, BB King, Dolly Parton, Little Feat) and bassist Conrad Korsch (Rod Stewart, Cyndi Lauper).  This album also features guest vocals from Bobby Rush and Detroit’s Eliza Neals.  Wait, I’m not done; the record was produced spectacularly by Jay Messina (Aerosmith, Kiss, Miles Davis, Cheap Trick), so Electric City has everything going for it- which pays off handsomely.

While the blues is the central building block for Electric City, an essential ingredient that informs every note played and sung, it feels like much more than ‘another blues record’.  Songs like American Kid have a distinct Heartbreakers vibe about them, and Ching-A-Ling is straight up 60’s rock with a cool shuffle beat from Fig that mentions Snoop Dogg.  It’s got that early days rock & roll energy to many of the songs to give you a kick in the ass- in a good way, that is.  Maybe they should measure this in sunshine units instead of DB’s, it feels like such a positive experience.

Early Times is known nationally as a satellite radio host, and was once voted Best Guitarist in his hometown Sacramento’s Music Awards.  With Electric City he’s delivered an album with grit and soul that you’re really gonna dig.