Product Description

JAY WILLIE - STILL RAISIN' CANE
RELEASE DATE JUNE 06, 2025. ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!

Blues guitarist/singer Jay Willie delivers a deep dive into Texas Blues - with Bobby T Torello, drummer on Johnny Winter's 1980 Raisin Cain.

Still Raisin' Cane is our 7th rhythm and blues recording, a project born from deep admiration and musical kinship. For over 20 years, ZOHO Music has been a champion of independent music, and we're honored to continue our partnership with Jochen Becker and this esteemed label, a relationship that began back in 2013 with the Jay Willie Blues Band's New York Minute (ZM201303.)

Still Raisin' Cane is a heartfelt tribute to my musical hero, Johnny Winter, and the incredible musicians who contributed to his legendary sound. Johnny's 1980 album Raisin' Cain on Blue Sky Records, featuring Jon Paris on bass and harmonica and Bobby T Torello on drums, was a pivotal record for me. I was fortunate enough to jam with both Jon and Bobby at BB Kings in NYC during Jon's Monday night open mic sessions, experiences that remain vivid memories.

Bobby T's distinctive drumming style, so integral to Johnny's music, has graced all seven of our ZOHO releases. This album, in many ways, is a continuation of that powerful rhythmic legacy. We've always admired Johnny's ability to take classic Texas and New Orleans R&B from the pre-rock and roll era and make it his own. Bobby and I wanted to honor that spirit and the energy of albums like Raisin' Cain and White Hot and Blue, which Bobby so powerfully defined with his drumming.

Rather than simply re-recording tracks from those iconic albums, we chose a different path. We sought out songs that resonated with the style and form of Johnny's repertoire, songs that we felt he, and his fans, would recognize and appreciate in our interpretations. Just as Johnny produced Muddy Waters' Grammy-winning Hard Again in 1977, a title with such clever double meaning, we wanted a title that spoke to Bobby's enduring talent and energy.

The album tracks, carefully selected, include gems from Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Freddy Fender, and other early R&B artists whose music paved the way for rock and roll.

Jay Willie

Track Listing

• Still Raisin' Cane
• Wasted Days and Wasted Nights
• Boogie for Drums and Guitar
• It's Too Late
• Sugar In My Tea (Cream In My Coffee)
• Positively 4th Street
• I'm Lost Without You
• Stranger
• Jesus Gonna Be Here

JAY WILLIE featuring BOBBY T TORELLO
Still Raisin’ Cane
ZOHO ROOTS
     This is the Jay Willie’s seventh release for ZOHO, and it is described in the album notes as a “deep dive into Johnny Winter-style Texas blues.” That noted, Still Raisin’ Cane is not a Winter cover album. Rather, it covers songs resonating “with the style and form of Johnny’s repertoire.”
     Most of the tracks here are obscure R&B/early rock pearls from the late fifties and early sixties, and the band stays on the path of the originals without walking exactly in their footsteps.
     The music, taken on its own, is solid. Jay Willie (guitar, vocals) and his band are a seasoned group that has been playing in New England and the Northeast for years, and that experience comes through loud and clear. Drummer (and former Johnny Winter band member) Bobby T Torello handles most of the lead vocals in his gravelly style, and Willie steps up as well on a couple of tracks, including Freddy Fender’s “Wasted Days And Wasted Nights.”
     Still Raisin’ Cane is also a more obvious homage to Johnny Winter. It starts with the album’s title – which is a winking nod to the Texas guitar hero’s Raisin’ Cane, which Torello played on – and its cover shows the drummer proudly holding up one of his old boss’ whale tooth walking sticks.
     Continuing within the album itself, it can be heard on two specific songs: the opening title track and then on Winter’s “Stranger.” Torello sings both. The first is his upbeat recollection of his fast and good times on the road with Winter as a young kid. The second is its less boisterous flipside. Powerfully delivered, it sounds like Torello has been waiting his whole life to sing it, and the years, miles, experiences, and memories that are behind it bring it home.
      A hidden bonus of Still Raisin’ Cane is that it can also be something of a double album: behind nearly all of its songs, there’s a forgotten or little-known original waiting to be heard again.
A great example of this is “Much Too Late,” sung by guest vocalist Karen Johnstone. It’s an atmospheric highlight featuring her haunting vocals and Willie’s slide guitar. Then pull up Tarheel Slim and Little Ann’s original on YouTube to hear the same song done in a similar style while sounding very different and just as striking.
     For all of these reasons, Still Raisin’ Cane is a cool listen.
– Matthew MacDonald