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BRUCE RUMMENIE 13
( Self)
Bruce“ Bruiser” Rummenie has been a fixture and influential figure in the Champaign-Urbana music scene since the mid-1980s, playing guitar and writing memorable songs, including“ Pain as Big as Texas” for blues-rockers The Mudhens. As a leading band in a Big 10 college town, the Mudhens’ music followed students( including this writer) as they graduated and traveled elsewhere. Rummenie put down roots locally and kept making music. His other projects have included the Javelinas, Bruiser and the Virtues, the Freak Brothers, the Impalas, and others. Now is a great time to catch up since 13 collects songs stockpiled over the years and performed at downstate pub gigs since 2013’ s Tip Top Tap EP and 2011’ s This Noise is in My Blood with poet Steve Davenport. 13 contains, as advertised, 13 songs. The material varies in style but circulates around Bruiser’ s wheelhouse of old-school blues a la Jimmy Reed and later contemporaries like Jimmie Vaughan.“ My Better 3 / 4” is an ambling ode to a spouse who pulls more than her weight in a relationship. The song features Bruiser’ s weathered vocal and bristling slide riffs on his dobro. The easygoing“ Carriacou” splits the difference between Jimmy Cliff and Jimmy Buffet as a reggae-pop love letter to a Caribbean getaway. The road trip heads stateside to New Orleans for the zydeco-spiced“ Cajun Girl” with a bass solo by producer Dan Henry and linguistic assistance from old Mudhens bandmate Kevin DeForrest.“ Guitar Widow” is a jump blues featuring tasty lead work, a swinging saxophone hook, and another lyric dedicated to Rummenie’ s better 3 / 4. The song should appeal to fans of the Honeydrippers and Brian Setzer Orchestra. Sung by Kenna Mae Reiss, the torch song“ We Still Got That Thing” adds one more title to the Valentine’ s Day set list at home. Reiss adds sultry duet vocals to“ Friction Activated,” a song about a relationship
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that thrives on the edge. Rummenie stretches out with gritty slide soloing.“ Confession is Good for Your Soul” rides a loping blues rhythm a la Muddy Waters’“ Mannish Boy.” Rummenie’ s sly lyric admits that telling the whole truth may be good for a Catholic boy, but bringing every secret into the light“ ain’ t treating my baby right.”“ I Hate My Job” is on the nose and relatable, riding a contemporary blues groove a la the Fabulous Thunderbirds and boasting more sharp fretwork. Reiss returns to sing the lead vocal on the jazzy downtempo“ Romance Without Finance” from the point of view of a material girl.“ You can’ t buy my love, but my attention is for rent,” sings Reiss. The taut blues of“ Woman’ s Touch” is offered as an answer song to James Brown’ s“ It’ s a Man’ s Man’ s Man’ s World.”“ L’ anse aux Epines” is a deceptively breezy murder ballad propelled by Henry’ s walking bass. Rummenie and cowriter Peter Roubal channel Randy Newman in“ White Shirts and Whiskey,” a southern portrait of family decorum( and what lies beneath) at weddings and funerals. The album concludes with“ Don’ t Drop Your Drawers in a Soybean Field,” a bold move at this point in Rummenie’ s tenure and an unexpected treat for longtime friends and followers. It’ s the first song Rummenie ever wrote, according to 13’ s liner notes, unspooling as a cheeky tale of youthful indiscretion and consequences. Although it’ s a bit of a goof, the song suggests that Rummenie had his musical mojo working from the start.( bruisermusic. com)
– Jeff Elbel
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GEORGE HARRISON Living in the Material World 50th Anniversary 2xLP set( Dark Horse)
George Harrison chronicled his inner journey as the most spiritual Beatle in songs like“ Within You, Without You” by Sgt. Pepper’ s Lonely Hearts Club Band, nonalbum single“ The Inner Light,” and“ Long, Long, Long” from the White Album. But he took Continued on page 16
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L I S T I N G S |
APRIL 12, 2025
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