The Right Amount of Funky by Tim Gartland
The Right Amount of Funky by Tim Gartland
There is no mistaking veteran singer-songwriter Tim Gartland’s dedication to the blues on his sixth album, Right Amount of Funky, but his devotion isn’t slavish, and he dresses up the basics with dashes of funk, rumba, Stax/Volt soul and even a dollop of reggae. His songwriting philosophy follows suit, eschewing time-worn blues cliches in favor of material drawn from personal experience and topical subject matter.
Gartland treats the listener to his accomplished Chicago style harp work, but he leaves plenty of room for lead guitarist Robert Frahm’s tasteful, understated soloing. The vocals may lack range, but his gruff voice fits the material and lends a well-travelled perspective to the survivor’s anthem “Waste a Worry,” the smoky rumba of “It’s a Better Life,” and the optimistic “If This Ain’t Heaven.” Gartland serves up something for the purists with the album’s closer “Stop Working Me,” a sturdy slab of traditional Chicago blues.
