by Tom Baldino
On a beautiful summer like evening, Derek “Slim” Matteson and his new band The South Street Hustle came up from The City of Brotherly Love, to shower the crowd at the Red Bank Woman’s Club with some harp/guitar-based blues, that was very well received. Derek is an old soul trapped in a young body, musically speaking, and he not only played songs from the artists that inspired him, but previewed some of his own material that will be on their forth coming release. He was previously a member of Slim and the Perkolators, and most recently Billy the Kid & the Regulators. Two of his bandmates on this night, Zack Lees on guitar and Jimmy Prichard on bass, are long time members of Mikey Junior’s band, and Mark Shewchuk, on drums, rounded out the quartet. They recently won the Billtown Blues Association IBC and will represent that organization in the International Blues Competition in Memphis next January.
The evening began with a fine version of Herbie Hancock’s classic, “Watermelon Man.” It featured understated solos from both Slim on harp and Zack, on his 1952 Gibson L5, in keeping with this interpretation of the song. Derek then gave us a short music history lesson on George Smith, father of the chromatic harmonica, before putting his own chromatic to work on Smith’s “Tight Dress.” A fun number, it included a “hey you” call and response, with the audience really getting into it. Next up, the band reworked the Howlin’ Wolf signature song, “Back Door Man,” making it swing, and giving it a fresh urgency. Slim’s harp solo earned him some mid-song applause, which was well deserved. He then grabbed the chromatic again, mentioning Carey Bell as one of his biggest influences, while the band slowed things down for his tune, “Easy to Love You.”
The first original, “Highway Hell,” was written when Derek was touring with the Regulators, on a scary stretch of Highway 60 in West Virginia. Zack switched to the Telly for this country blues number, which was choice for this number. Another original, “Oh Well,” not to be confused with the Peter Green song of the same name, was written by Slim about a girl he used to know, and was played in a rockin’ blues style here. His “Philly Boogaloo,” had our resident dancers, Carol and Ned, doing a Jitterbug in the hall. The final tune of the set, “Don’t Suit Me Well,” was an instrumental that gave all four members the room to stretch out, much to the delight of the audience.
The second set started with the Junior Wells tune, “Things I Do for You,” that was done in a shuffle, and got things moving right away. Another Well’s number, “Snatch It Back,” included more audience call and response, in the form of hey, hey, hey, that got everyone in the room involved. Derek then stated “blues is not rubber-stamped, it’s a feeling,” and that was evident during the entire evening. Bassist Jimmy Prichard then stepped up to the microphone to sing one of his original tunes, “Why Do People Act Like That,” some pointed social commentary that certainly was relevant in today’s world. He then did the Cajun classic “Pretty Girls” by Iry LeJeune, with the band giving it that real NOLA feel.
The Little Walter tune “Crazy Mixed Up World,” was done in a shuffle that proved to be a perfect segway into Jimmy Rogers “What Have I Done.” This included Slim’s vocals being echoed by Zack’s guitar notes, with great effect. Another original, “Money,” was prefaced by Slim, stating this was the first time the band was playing it in front of an audience, and that it would be part of the new release. He then asked the audience if they would prefer “Mojo,” or “Dust My Broom.” The overwhelming choice was the later, and the band did a fine job playing this as a shuffle, to bring to a close and evening of authentic blues, played a band and their leader who poured their heart and soul into every song.
You can follow Derek Matteson on Facebook and other social media, and when the new release arrives, I will be sure to review it here.