 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Doc Blues Records |
BLUEchips: CD's you can take stock in
by Tom Clarke
King Biscuit Time Magazine - December 2004
Pat Boyack- Voices from the Street. This breathtaking, socially-charged set of songs is performed to absolute perfection in the vein of 1970's soul and R&B. Boyack's bluesy Texas tones on guitar punctuate hard-hitting rhythms. The guest vocalists-including Marcia Ball, W.C. Clark, Ruthie Foster, and Sweetpea Atkinson-are the sweet icing on this funk-filled cake.
Pat Boyack's - Voices From The Street
More Reviews:
Steady Rollin'
Hip Tips
By Bob Margolin
Blues Revue Magazine - December 2004
At the (Blind Willie McTell) Georgia festival, I saw Pat Boyack for the first time in a while. He's been playing guitar with Marcia Ball for the past five years, and his latest album, Voices From the Street on Doc Blues Records, is earning great reviews and a big blues buzz. Pat doesn't sing on it, but the vocals are handled by great singers - Marcia herself, Sweet Pea Atkinson, Ruthie Foster, W. C. Clark, and Larry Fulcher. The songs, some written by Pat and some well-chosen covers, have a common theme of everyday people's lives and blues. Kaz Kazanoff's production, horn arrangements, and playing make the album a pure sonic joy as well - delicious ear candy combined with deep social soul. I think it's a masterpiece.
Pat Boyack: Voices From The Street
By Bill Fountain
Southwest Blues Magazine - July 2004
Oh yes. Oh yes. Oh yes indeed. This is without a doubt my favorite CD of the last three months. Absolutely stunning work from Pat Boyack and the wonderful group of guest artists. Fourteen of some of the best blues stuff I have heard in recent times. No exaggeration. Boyack has something major to be proud of with this release. Let me start with Sweetpea. Good Gravy. There is no other voice on God's green earth like Sweetpea Atkinson. Never has been. Never will be. Anyone who thinks different is just plain wrong. When Sweetpea sings, it's always a joy to listen to. I noticed this voice way back when he was walking the dinosaur with the "Was Not Was" outfit. Then when Sweetpea turned up singing for the Boneshakers, I was again blown away by his talent. Now pair him up with Pat Boyack on some incredible songs and the results are mind blowing. And Sweetpea ain't the only powerhouse performer on board. You got Marcia Ball, Ruthie Foster, WC Clark and Larry Fulcher. Folks let me tell you something: Boyack coupled with these performers doing these songs is out and out brilliant. This may sound like thick praise, but trust me this CD rocks.
Fourteen tracks, fourteen variations on a great theme. A tribute to the hard working people of America. The blues is outstanding. Boyack is a masterful performer who really does amazing things with his axe. The vocals on all the tracks are top notch. Check out how Ruthie Foster handles the emotional power of a tune like "Misery" or Marcia Ball's excellent rendering of the tune "These Are People". Then of course, there's Sweetpea. His vocal work on the tunes "Chance at Love" and "Shotgun Slim" are some of his best moments ever. Behind the incredibly talented vocals there is some sizzling guitar work from Boyack that just does not let up. I'm not kidding. This one is a gem! - Bill Fountain
Pat Boyack: Voices From The Street
By A Grigg
Real Blues Magazine
We've often bemoaned the shortage of great Blues vocals in the last 10 years but Hallelujah! Here it is, folks; the Best Damn CD of 2004! I'll go out on a limb here and state that no one could possibly top this recording in the next 7 months. I've been saying over and over that Texas has replaced Chicago as the hotbed and breeding ground for Blues and if you took the Best Blues CDs of the last 10 years from Texas and matched them against their Chicago counterparts it would be an easy major victory for the Lone Star State (don't get me wrong, I'm saddened by the decline of Chicago as the world¹s Blues center but even Earl Hooker's old drummer Bobby Little, upon returning to Chi-town for a 2003 visit, calls Chicago "a wasteland...ain't nothing like it used to be..." (Hey, congratulations Chicago politicians for destroying Maxwell Street, one of the greatest Blues tourist Mecca's in North America).
For the last four years, the Doc Blues label (run by doctors, of course!) has been on a long term crusade to record all the top remaining Texas Blues talents and they've been doing a pretty good job. One must always walk a fine line having to deal with the fact that whatever one records and releases has to be commercially viable and have sales potential and there aren't any more Trix or Testament Records who'd record Black artists for posterity and totally altruistic reasons.
Blues Wax Interview with Pat Boyack
By Beardo
The last Pat Boyack sighting for this BluesWax contributor was in 1997, when he was tearing it up at The 7th Annual Bandana Blues BBQ with his band, The Prowlers. A formidable unit as demonstrated by three hard driving Texas Blues CDs on the Bullseye Blues label. Since then, he has dissolved the band, gotten out of music, had a child, and returned to his former life as a bank teller. Thankfully, longtime friend, saxman, arranger and producer, Mark "Kaz" Kazanoff, restored him to the limelight. Oh, to what limelight you ask? Merely the incredibly talented Marcia Ball Band as her guitar ace. Not too shabby, eh? Let's hear more from Pat, via the telephone from his home in Dallas and on the road with Marcia at The Whitaker Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, about his provocative new CD, Voices From The Street a solid CD on Doc Blues Records...
Pat Boyack: Beardo....
Beardo for BluesWax: It's "The Heart Attack." Man, it's been way too long, good to talk to you again. Let's fill in the blanks between The Prowlers and Marcia.