Rocky Hill is of course the brother of Dusty Hill of long time ZZ Top residence/fame.This record was released in 1988, is a Lone Wolf Production and ZZ Top producer Bill Ham was at the helm. Much of the record really shows the Bill Ham/ZZ Top influence that surely would have been nearly impossible for Hill to avoid. Not that it's a bad thing. Although one wonders who is responsible for the very dated sounding background vocals populating much of the work. Unfortunate.
HPD kicks it off with a good rockin blues piece, showing Hill's penchant for changing meter and feel during his songs, sometimes it works, other times not so well. Next up is I Won't Be Your Fool, full of tasty licks, and moving vocals, clearly was intended to be a hit. Take My Love, Sam Bass and Walked from Dallas round out the nice works here.
New York Turnaround is rather formulaic but Hill kicks out a killer solo in the middle.
Bad year for the Blues, while it is well meant, it is a mish-mash sort of arrangement with some awkward breaks. I'll Be There is your basic ballad. Hoo Doo Eyes with the background vocals, whew, that is a miss.
Hill wraps it up with a basic acoustic piece that at once acknowledges his roots and may have been a bit of an artist saying, Hey, enough with the horns and backup vocals, I'm a Texas bluesman.
Line up seems to be; Reed "Red Pharoah" Farrell, Randy Joe Hobbs, Steve Hardin, Doyle Bramhall, James Robinson, Lester Snell, William Brown, the Duncan Sisters and the Memphis Horns.
This beautiful man left us this evening. He's up there playing the blues with Stevie Ray right now. Wish him well....much love.
ReplyDeleteI have not been able to verify this, can some one site a source?
ReplyDeleteRocky is indeed dead. I'm his nephew--I went looking for references to him on the 'net, but haven't seen anything else. We knew it was coming. He was told a couple years ago he only had a year or so to live. He's being buried in Como next to his mother, though he never lived in Como himself. I haven't seen him myself in about 12 years, not since my dad's--his half-brother's--funeral. The visitation's tonight but I'm missing it. The funeral is wednesday.
ReplyDeleteI never liked the Rocky Hill album much. Much better, blues-wise, was "Midnight Creepers", which featured Kim Wilson and Albert Collins.
did you live in houston or dallas
DeleteSorry to hear about Rocky. I met them both... Rocky and Dusty when I was a young teenager and I guess they were in their 20's. I can't remember if it was their grandmother or an aunt that lived on the street just behind where I grew up here in Sulphur Springs. She invited a few of us "star struck" kids in for ice cream and a coke. Something I sure none of us will forget. It was cool....
ReplyDeletewow do you remember her name didn't she live in sulphur springs
Delete