THE INSOMNIACS "AT LEAST I'M NOT WITH YOU" Source: Crossroads Blues Society Newsletter Date: 09/2009 Writer: David Stine

It’s not surprising that the accolades for The Insomniacs in the liner notes for this CD are written by Al Blake and Junior Watson.  The Insomniacs are the latest heirs to the throne left by the Hollywood Fats band.  Blake was in the HF band and Watson has made the West Coast sound his forte’.  The sound is basically heavily borrowed from T-bone Walker and incorporates fat guitar, standup bass, small drum kit, and is more jazz and swing flavored than most other blues.

So, just when I thought that maybe that sound had died out, along comes The Insomniacs racking up blues awards for best new band, new song, etc.  The Insomniacs are Vyasa Dodson (guitar, vocals), Dean Mueller (bass), Alex Shakeri (keys), and Dave Melyan (drums).  Dodson also writes and contributes to half the disc.  The Insomniacs sound is very reminiscent of the Hollywood Fats, Junior Watson, Kid ramos, and any number of bands preferring t-Bone Walker type sound-nasally, hollow body guitar, horns.  And sometimes keyboard.  For their horn section, Jeff Turmes does double duty on tenor and baritone saxes.  Also, Mitch Kashmir shows up to add harp to several cuts.

The disc starts with Memphis Slim’s “Lonesome”. (Hmmm, I seem to remember this song smack in the middle of my Hollywood Fats album.)  The Insomniacs version is very close to the Fats version but here, Al Blake adds tasty harmonica.  Dodson voices high an reminiscent of Lynwood Slim, Rusty Zinn, or Teddy Morgan.  Song two adds a tasty pedal steel to Johnny Watson’s “Broke and Lonely”.  It really works well with the fat guitar work of Dodson.  Nice touch!  Little Richard’s “Directly From My Heart To You” uses the Turmes “horn section” for some nice accents.  Song four introduces us to Dodson’s writing with clever “Maybe Sometime Later”, dealing with slowing down a relationships

This is just a great CD. I only recently became familiar with this band and I’m sure I’ll be a fan for years to come.