Charlie Trotter & the Beat Down
Run On
“I’m a slightly doughy, white dad from the suburbs, but my guts are old, and not from around here.”
So says Charlie Trotter, head musician of the Fort Worth Texas-based roots group Charlie Trotter & the Beat Down. 
I can’t speak for the provenance of Trotter’s intestines, but from the sounds of his EP, Run On, his musician chops are certainly channeled from another era.  Aided by seething bottleneck guitar, Trotter and his group (and sometimes just Trotter) bite into four old-school quartet and sanctified numbers like ZZ Top meets George Thorogood in the humid Texas backwoods.
Trotter gives “John the Revelator” a sweaty blues treatment and reprises the leisurely tempo on “Run On.”  A harmonica accompanies the Civil Rights anthem, “Oh Freedom,” though the song would have been even better had the harp played a more prominent role on the track.
Evoking Memphis street player Richard Johnston or Canada’s celebrated blues-gospel craftsman Danny Brooks, Trotter rocks the Titanic ode, “God Rode on the Water.”  He chronicles the tragic details of “April the fourteenth day,” the heroic deeds and otherwise, like an omniscient judge who has seen it all and still finds humanity’s pride hard to swallow.
Brief, but nicely done.  I would like to hear more from this group in the future.
Three of Five Stars
Picks: “God Moves on the Water.”

2 Comments

  1. Destination Passions July 5, 2012 at 4:40 pm - Reply

    An excellent surprise,a great work and a bluesman to follow and to support.Run On is a real pleasure and a record to have. Congrats to Charlie and his band.

  2. Ben Kloss August 2, 2012 at 5:49 pm - Reply

    Really well done!

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Written by : Bob Marovich

Bob Marovich is a gospel music historian, author, and radio host. Founder of Journal of Gospel Music blog (formally The Black Gospel Blog) and producer of the Gospel Memories Radio Show.