JEFF WARD
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It's a small world! How's that you ask? Well, I was buying rare MUNGO JERRY and PAUL KING promo's from JEFF WARD and his friend NOEL JONES through ads in RECORD COLLECTOR magazine long before I learned of their musical connection with one of my big heroes...PAUL KING! Jeff had progressed from heavy metal/rock bands - IRON PIG, MOURNBLADE and later WHITE LIGHTNING who featured both NOEL JONES (later of the KING EARL BOOGIE BAND) and JOHN STOREY (who occasionally played lead guitar with MUNGO JERRY in the 90's) before joining the Boogie band for their 1995 album, 'THE MILL IS GONE' and at the same time, PAUL KING's second solo album, 'HOUDINI's MOON'. Both Jeff and Noel played together as THE BARRELHOUSE BROTHERS, recording a limited edition cassette, 'LOADED' and a later CD, 'PICK IT UP, PASS IT ON', featuring both COLIN EARL and PAUL KING. Jeff teamed up with Paul again, when they reformed SKELETON CREW for pub gigs in the West Country and West London over the last year or so, as well as a new set of recordings with MAC McGANN on their blues album, 'ALL CHANGE' under the working name - WARD McGANN. Here's a selection of Jeff's work, with his own track-by-track guide for the BARRELHOUSE BROTHERS', PICK IT UP, PASS IT ON' album.  
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BARRELHOUSE BROTHERS - LOADED CRICKET GREEN CG13 |
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BARRELHOUSE BROTHERS - PICK IT UP, PASS IT ON PROVOGUE PRD7136 2 |
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The Barrelhouse Brothers are a collection of muso's brought together by the highly talented, guitarist and producer, JEFF WARD. Jeff, you may remember played on the 1995 KING EARL BOOGIE BAND album, 'THE MILL IS GONE' and also played on and co-produced PAUL KING's solo effort, 'HOUDINI'S MOON'. Their album, 'PICK IT UP', PASS IT ON' was released in 2003 on Provogue, and features the considerable talents of our own, COLIN EARL, in a line-up that includes such luminaries as ERIC BELL (THIN LIZZY), NOEL REDDING (JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE) and JOHN COGHLAN (STATUS QUO). Jeff talked me through the tracks one by one; |
| TOO MANY HOT DOGS | A traditional blues that I first heard by BRETT MARVIN AND THE THUNDERBOLTS, a cult 60's/70's blues/jug band still going strong today. |
| I WANT SOME OF YOUR PIE | Our jug version of a classic originally recorded by BLIND BOY FULLER and SONNY TERRY in 1939. |
| COUNTRY ROAD | Written while walking home after my car broke down! I tried to recapture the feel of JOHN MAYALL's version of J.B LENOIR's, 'MAMA TALK TO YOUR DAUGHTER', from his 'THRU' THE YEARS' album that I grew up listening to. |
| JUST A DREAM | A BIG BILL BROONZY song, also recorded by BROWNIE McGHEE. This track was recorded live in my front room!! |
| THE FLY | CORKY LAING put the drums down to this track while we were recording his new album (with ERIC SCHENKMAN from THE SPIN DOCTORS). To get an amazing rhythm section like Corky and Noel together on one of my songs was indeed a thrill. |
| BLUES IN 3/4 | A NOEL REDDING original, first recorded in 1970. This version was intended for inclusion on his new album and features LES SAMPSON on drums, who played with guitarist SNUFFY WALDON in STRAY DOG in the 70's. The track comes to a premature end when the phone rings! |
| CAN'T GET YOU OFF OF MY MIND | A blues that I originally wrote in 1988. This is a new version played at half the speed of the original. Again trying to capture the feel of the JOHN MAYALL/PETER GREEN recordings from the 60's. |
| DE BARRA'S BOOGIE | De Barra's is a great pub/venue in Clonakilty, Ireland, where we've played a few BARRELHOUSE BROTHERS gigs. I told Colin to do a piano boogie on his own and this is it. |
| BLACK DOG BLUES | Another of mine. When we recorded this, I was listening to a lot of HOUND DOG TAYLOR. I hope some of it came across. |
| WEDNESDAY NIGHT SPECIAL | Started out as a version of ELMORE JAMES, 'BABY PLEASE SET A DATE'. In the end, Noel wrote some lyrics on the spot and ERIC BELL from THIN LIZZY put on some licks and there you go. |
| TWENTY ONE JEZEBELS | Started life as 'MOON BLUES', but I couldn't get any lyrics. Then one day, a friend of mine, JAMES HOBBS, himself an excellent singer/songwriter in the LOU REED/DAVID BOWIE style gave me these. It is now an atmospheric track, not very 'Barrelhouse' but moody! |
| LOVE CRAZY | Our version of a track originally recorded by TAMPA RED & BIG MACEO in 1941. |
| IT'S NO SECRET | This song came out of a collaboration between myself and songwriter, CHRIS DOWLING. This track features the drumming of JOHN COUGHLAN from STATUS QUO and saxes by DAVID JACKSON from VAN DER GRAF GENERATOR. |
| CRAZY'BOUT YOU BABY | Another song from the songwriting session between myself and CHRIS DOWLING. This is a straight ahead boogie with the vocals handled this time by R'n B singer, MIK PERRY. |
| LOVE HER WITH A FEELING | Another TAMPA RED song, also recorded by FREDDIE KING. |
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WARD McGANN - ALL CHANGE BLUESTONE RECORDINGS |
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WARD McGANN are JEFF WARD and MAC McGANN on guitar, double-neck guitar, bottlenecks, vocals and mouth harp. MAC McGANN has worked with… DORRIS HENDERSON, RALPH McTELL, THE LEVEE BREAKERS, (including BEVERLEY MARTYN) and McGUINESS FLINT
Since the death of Mac’s wife, blues singer DORRIS HENDERSON last year, Mac and Jeff have come together as a formidable blues partnership re-interpreting the classic sounds of the delta, and writing their own blues based compositions.
“We love acoustic blues, gutsy gospel, and boogie-woogie”, says Mac. “We also like a few pints, pretty women and a good laugh. You’ve got to laugh sometimes otherwise the blues would not make sense. It’s a natural survival kit." |