Review: “Tequila & Bullets”
One of the good things about being a reviewer of somewhat advanced years is that I have heard a lot of great bands in my day. I have seen some come and go, as the pressures of everyday life and bill paying sideline an otherwise promising career. But every now and then there is one who comes, then goes, but comes back one day even better than ever.
Such is the case for the Houston, TX based Jay Hooks Band. I remember reviewing a couple of Jay’s recordings many moons ago as they say. I remember that Jay Hooks was a guitarist I may have described as nuclear Winter, that being of the Johnny Winter strain of course. Jay’s latest CD “Tequila & Bullets” is filled with the same yet somehow improved ferocious guitar wizardry I have long associated with his name. From the opening track “Evinrude Boat Motor”, Jay’s latest CD absolutely explodes into your sensory system. Hooks does not play his guitar, he assaults it and I have to confess that after listening to all the nasty licks in “Tequila & Bullets” I felt oddly unclean and had to bathe even though it was not yet Saturday night.
I made it through the opening couple tracks relatively unscathed though my pulse rate had increased noticeably. And then I heard the evil intro of “A Woman Like You” and felt certain I was transforming into a werewolf. As my friends south of the border say: “Holy Frijoles”! The power emanating from the fingertips of Jay Hooks is like two tectonic plates with bad attitudes colliding over a gigantic magma chamber.
But, hey, it’s all good. Every track on “Tequila & Bullets” is outstanding and will satisfy your blues/rock beast within. Hooks’ song writing and vocals are solid and the backing players support him perfectly. The studio that recorded him has done a great job in presenting Hooks just exactly as he is musically: straight forward, in your face, take no prisoners, and if you don’t like it write your congressman.
“Tequila & Bullets” gets my occasionally coveted “make sure you get the cruise control fixed before you start playing it driving down the road in your pickup”, Bluesrockers.online seal of approval.
Be sure to visit Jay Hooks online at https://jayhooksband.net/
Please have a live recording waiting for us somewhere in your near future, Mr. Hooks.
“Tequila and Bullets”-Jay Hooks Band
The Tunes:
- Evinrude Boat Motor
- Tequila & Bullets
- A Woman Like You
- Lonesome
- Your Touch
- Left Me Cold
- Mind Full
- Mississippi Sheiks
- Red Neck Shit
- I was Wrong
- My Kinda Fine
- Mexican Larry
2025 Joplin Street Music
2025 Tom Branson-www.bluesrockers.online