Ask ten people to define the blues, and you’ll get ten different answers. Ask Reed Turchi to define the blues and you’ll also get ten different answers. During a recording career spanning more than a dozen years, the North Carolina-bred singer and guitarist has taken a wide variety of approaches to this most flexible of forms, touching on a bit of everything, and then some. He’s tackled raw electric blues and down-home country blues, drawn on soul, funk, and gospel, worked with big bands and small bands, and played in duos and solo. Along the way, Turchi has also incorporated spoken-word performances in his music and cut an album of Randy Newman songs.
He pursues the back-to-basics route for his latest album, World on Fire. A striking exercise in inspired simplicity, this acoustic set features careful support from Eric Burns (guitar), Seth Barden (bass), and Joseph Yount (drums). The pace is languid and the sound gorgeous, with Turchi’s no-frills production bringing every shimmering note to the forefront, lending a visceral immediacy to each upright bass twang and radiant guitar fill. While all concerned play softly and precisely, suggesting a 2:00 a.m. session that won’t disturb the neighbors, the simmering heat never subsides. And though Turchi can shout and growl with authority when the occasion demands, he seems to be gripped by eye-rolling delirium here, drawling and slurring his lines with an unhinged charisma reminiscent of Television’s Tom Verlaine. If he’s not truly deranged, he plays the part brilliantly.
