# CD review: Bob Frank – True Stories And Outrageous Lies 2019: Video, CD covers

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2019/07/14/cd-review-bob-frank-true-stories-and-outrageous-lies-2019-video-cd-covers/
- Published: 2019-07-14T15:59:47+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Although Bob Frank has spent a lifetime in the blues and roots music field and
recorded several albums with the band Blue Lunch this is his first solo release 
and it’s a good acoustic album with plenty of well-written songs, mostly with amusing
lyrics. Bob wrote all bar one song here (the traditional “Stavin’ Chain”), sings,
plays guitar, mandolin and harmonica.**

Most of the songs are solo acoustic but on one Mike Balas plays electric guitar,
Eddie Mars piano, Ron Jarvis electric bass and Rodney Reisman drums; on another 
cut Jen Mauer helps out on vocals and Ray DeForest plays upright bass; Bill Watson
plays upright bass on one track and tuba on three, being joined on the final track
of the album by Norman Tischler (clarinet), Chris Burge (alto sax), Bob Michael (
trombone) and Mike Rubin (trumpet).

The album opens with a trio of solo acoustic pieces, the first two exploring problem
relationships. “Low Down Dirty Ways” takes the classic blues theme of the woman 
who is out all night, clearly having an affair. Bob has had enough, especially when
he finds that “you smell like cigarettes and neither of us smokes” and that she 
has “got on someone else’s drawers”! However, Bob is not immune to bad behavior,
as he confesses in “Married Woman Blues” where all is not as cheery as you might
imagine, as she is married to a policeman who is aware of the affair – watch out
Bob! The sense of humor is even more evident on “Chinese Knock-Off”, the term he
uses for a so-called friend who cannot be trusted: “I should have counted my fingers
when I shook hands with you”.

“People Don’t Change” is a full band number with piano, guitars and a rhythm section,
a tuneful bittersweet song with a touch of country, especially from the steel guitar,
making a nice contrast with the solo pieces. “Come On Babe And Ride With Me” is 
a jaunty little number with Jen’s harmony vocals as Bob plays mandolin and blows
some high-pitched harp between verses while “Blues On 9/11” is a solo instrumental
which acts as a sort of intermission mid-point in the album, Bob playing some ethereal
slide that certainly fits the title in its bleak tone.

The ‘second half’ starts with the hilarious “I’m So Damn Lazy”, the tuba’s melodious‘
parp’ underneath Bob’s lively guitar work as he recounts just how lazy he is – is
this true or one of the ‘outrageous lies’ of the title. Equally funny is Bob’s account
of the “High Maintenance Woman” who demands a high-end lifestyle that Bob is obliged
to fund, so she “keeps me broke all the time”. The traditional “Stavin’ Chain” is
played superbly in a fast-paced version, Bob showing us his skills on the guitar
as he sounds like more than one picker.

In “Dead Man’s Curve” Bob narrates the story of a Cleveland landmark, assisted by
bass and tuba, and closes the album with “Lucky So Far”, a song that celebrates 
a life well-lived and enjoyed. Bob’s lyrics are joyous and it is entirely fitting
that around half way through the horns join in to give a New Orleans flavor that
works well on this song.

This is a well conceived and played album that thoroughly deserves its nomination
for Acoustic Blues Album in the 2019 Blues Blast Music Awards.

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