THE INSOMNIACS Source: Edmonton Sun Date: 07/2009 Writer: Jeremy Loome

Old-school vibe serves band well

Everyone wanted to be Stevie Ray Vaughan.

If you loved guitar growing up, or even just guitar music, trying to sound even a little like the late Texas legend was a requirement.  Hordes of kids bought old Fender Stratocasters; in fact, the fact that they were beaten-up, just like SRV's, became such a point of pride it spawned an industry of "relic'd" guitars -- the acid wash, pre-holed blue jeans of the music world.

But thankfully, while thousands of young men all over the world were busy ruining blues by trying to play at lightning speed without Vaughan's creativity, an underground group of their contemporaries was keeping traditional electric blues alive, bands like The Twisters, The Sean Carney Band, the JW-Jones Band and the Insomniacs, as well as a generation prior but still going, in the form of Downchild Blues Band and Roomful of Blues.

The Insomniacs are the most recent addition to the upright-bass fold. 
Signed recently to producer Randy Chortkoff's Delta Blues label, they've put out an exceptional recent debut At Least I'm Not With You, characterized not by volume and intensity, but by melody, fine vocals and guitar tones reminiscent of Chicago greats like Otis Rush and John Primer.

The band's most recent appearance is on an exceptional compilation, the double-CD Live At Ground Zero, which Delta Groove recorded at Morgan Freeman's club in Clarkesdale, Miss. Paired with top names like Phillip Walker and Kid Ramos, the Insomniacs do the blues proud, knocking off a handful of cuts.

"The Blues isn't dead," guitarist Vyasa Dodson declares "It's just going in different directions. B.B. King and Buddy Guy got started when they were young. The same thing is happening today."

True enough, and it should make fans sleep a little easier.