Product Description
MAX HIGHTOWER - NOTHIN' BUT THE TRUTH
COMING FEBRUARY 21, 2025, RESERVE YOUR COPY TODAY!
MAX HIGHTOWER
Nothin’ But The Truth
MoMojo Records
South Carolina native Max Hightower is a founding member of Mac Arnold’s Plate Full O’ Blues. Hightower performs on diatonic and chromatic harmonica and rhythm guitar on his masterful album debut of 12 originals. There are a variety of infectious grooves influenced by Chicago blues, swamp blues, funk, jazz, and Nawlins R&B. It was recorded at co-producer/lead guitarist Big Jon Atkinson’s vintage style Big Tone Studio in New Orleans on reel-to-reel tape machines with vintage ribbon mics and vintage tube amps.
Atkinson is joined by bassist Steadman “Fleetwood” Williams, Sr., drummer Brandon Phelps, keyboardist Rob Davis, and alto/ baritone saxophonist James Beaumont (trombonist Adam Lessneau is heard on three tracks). On “It’s On Me,” a pleading declaration of amorous devotion, Hightower is accompanied by keyboardist Brain “BC” Coogan, drummer Nick Solnick, and bassist Tyler Thompson. Hightower’s gruff vocals initially reminded me of John Hammond, but then I also heard traces of Tony Joe White, Eddie Hinton, and Dr. John.
The auspicious set opener “Double Bubble” commences with a raucous harp blast and a five second drum roll before launching into the lurching funk paean about his woman’s ample hips and bulbous buttocks propelled by Beaumont’s belching baritone sax; “double bubble” is a metaphor for her physique, not the beloved bubble gum of my youth. Later in the set “Twitchy Witcha” tells the tale of an alluring woman with skinny jeans that are too loose on her slim “caboose.”
All of the tunes are about love and desire except ”Assmograph,” a funky instrumental reminiscent of Little Sonny’s (Aaron Willis) Enterprise/Stax recordings of the early seventies. The prominent groove here is funk, but there are blues shuffles with “Damned If I Do” about the double bind syndrome and “I Ain’t Lyin’” where he pleads his case to his woman, swaying jazz, “My Baby And Me” with a lilting chromatic solo, the “Killing Floor” groove of “Snuggle Bug,” and two romping Nawlins nuggets with “Sweet Gum Tree” and “Thick Jello.” The backing musicians’ versatile playing on the fluid arrangements deserve special praise because they kept the funk flowing; they often reminded me of the Meters. I especially enjoyed Beaumont’s spirited baritone sax.
At age 52, Max Hightower has recorded an album that was a lifetime in the making. A certain contender for Debut of the Year and for best album, and that’s nothing but the truth.
– Thomas J. Cullen III