Blues Society of Western PA - Newsletter

The Ty Curtis Band had just wowed the massive crowd at the 2009 IBC’s finals in Memphis, Tenneessee. After a long day of competition, it was announced that the Ty Curtis Band had taken second place in the band category. They were young, energetic and played a type of music that made you feel good as you listened…not overpowering, good vocals and great

instrumentation. After hearing their set, I immediately leapt out of my seat and raced to the CD kiosk in the lobby. Luckily, I was the proud owner of one of their last available CDs. Their recording was sold out. Wow! That was impressive. (They had gone on early in the day and the sellout was a very good sign of what was to come.)
On a recent afternoon, I decided to take a long drive and give their CD, “down on my luck” a listen. The CD lived up to the caliber of the Ty Curtis Band’s live performance or I should say that the performance lived up to the well-produced CD. Again, the sounds of the instruments did not overpower the vocals. The guitar licks were smooth and impressive and blended well with the harp and keyboard contributions. The vocals were clear and not raspy. It provided a great listening experience. Ty Curtis wrote eleven songs on the CD and collaborated on the remaining two selections. Located in Oregon, the CD began with a few upbeat West-Coast style swing tunes. It soon had me smiling and tapping my way through traffic. Upbeat shuffles and slower, heartfelt tunes balanced out the swing selections for a very well balanced musical representation. You owe it to yourself to hear this one. Look for this band to do more in the future. (Such is their fate. I predict the winner at the finals every year. My first place pick, however, has always placed second. Sorry, Ty)