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Working Class - The Guitar Guru |
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Track List 1. Working Class |
Pete Anderson has
made a name for himself in country music as a spectacular producer (Dwight
Yoakam, Danni Leigh, Michelle Shocked, Sara Evans), and has played lead
guitar for Yoakam for nearly two decades. Yet Pete has taken a little
time out from his other activities to release a couple of pretty awesome
little albums, and 1994's "Working Class" was his first.
"Working Class" is Pete Anderson exploring his own unique blues style, and doing it with class and consummate laid-back skill. Not for nothing is Anderson fondly referred to as the "Guitar Guru." His playing is tremendous, effortless, doing it with such simple ease it makes you feel like anyone should be able to just pick up a guitar and do what he does... but of course, all you can do is listen and glory. Anderson mixes a loose collection of 11 songs, gritty Detroit-style blues modified with his garage style, so relaxed you feel like you're sitting in with a group of guys playing at a weekend picnic, yet still elegantly produced to allow numerous pleasant listenings. Anderson wrote most of the songs on his disc, but takes on a couple of impressive covers, such as Bob Dylan's "She Belongs to Me" and Jimi Hendrix's "Fire" (something few other guitars would be up to tackling). More than anything else, when you listen to Pete Anderson, it comes across not only his intense love of music, but also the obvious fact that Anderson simply enjoys what he's doing. He is having FUN playing and singing these songs. This isn't work, this is goofing off, having a good time, and by sheer luck, someone else enjoys it, too. I get the distinct impression Anderson wouldn't care if no one liked this album - he does, and that's good enough for him. When listening to the clever lyrical style of such songs as the lighthearted "Where the Crows Go" or the intense straight-up blues of "Blue Hour," Anderson's skill and enjoyment in the music comes shining through. Because he loves it so much, he makes the listener love it, too. He's a Detroit bluesman, country by way of Bakersfield twang, and simply a fabulous musician doing what he does best - entertaining at whatever level. http://www.littledogrecords.com/
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Kathy Coleman
Take Country Back December 2002