STEPHEN DALE PETIT – The Crave

The roots of Hard Rock can be traced way back to the cotton fields of the deep South of America where the Blues emerged from the early haunting recordings of Charley Patton to the groundbreaking work of Robert Johnson through to the legendary works of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Buddy Guy. When the Blues collided with Rock ‘n’ Roll through supercharged Marshall stacks, the likes of Led Zeppelin, Cream and Jimi Hendrix brought the Blues to the masses and built upon those foundations laid down all those decades ago.

Over the years Blues has come in and out of fashion but has never gone away as the likes of ZZ Top, Gary Moore and latterly Joe Bonamassa have kept the flag flying high and proud. The lifeblood of any music however relies on new talent coming to the fore otherwise it will remain purely a museum piece and fortunately the Blues is in safe hands with the aforementioned Joe Bonamassa and the hotly tipped Stephen Dale Petit.

Stephen Dale Petit may be a new name to many but watch out as you’ll be hearing a lot more from him in the future. Endorsed by such luminaries as ex-Rolling Stone Mick Taylor who made special guest appearances during Petit’s hugely successful UK tour last year and winning numerous accolades for his debut album Guitararama, Petit has a bright future ahead of him.

The Crave sees Petit building and expanding upon the impressive start he made with Guitararma and exploring new ground yet retaining the element that made his debut such a compulsive release.

One of Petit’s strongest characteristics is the way that he takes the essence and passion of the Blues yet drags it kicking and screaming into the 21^st Century. This is not a stuffy, stale rehash of old ideas but an album bursting with life and fire. The opening “3 Gunslingers” sets a frantic pace with a nod to Purple’s “Black Night” in places. The following “California” is a hit in waiting boasting a huge arena sized chorus that burrows deep and stays in your head for days.

“Gun Song” sees Petit heading into story telling mode via a snarling vocal and punishing Rock backbeat while “Soul Survivor” is a more traditional Blues Rock romp. “Open” sees Petit letting rip with some particularly ferocious Jimmy Page inspired soloing and the punked up “It’s All Good” would surely gain the nod of approval from the Almighty’s Ricky Warwick.

The more traditional Blues purists out there may prefer the likes of the laidback acoustic “Lookin’ For Trouble” or the down right dirty harmonica fueled “Slide” which just screams out for a dark, smoky, sweatbox of a club as a backdrop.

Blues is a hugely influential art form but there are those who would like to see it remain in the Delta swamps unchanged for generations, however there are those who prefer to see music as a living, breathing entity that should grow and thrive into the future and Stephen Dale Petit is one such person. He has succeeded in taking the Blues blueprint and brings it bang up to date with a 21^st century makeover that retains the passion and history of the genre but injects it with vibrant and thoroughly contemporary interpretation to create one of the finest Blues offerings of recent years. If you are looking for Blues with a modern twist then Stephen Dale Petit may just be your man.