DELTA DEEP – East Coast Live

This borderline super-group made up of Def Leppard’s Phil Collen, Stone Temple Pilots’ Rob DeLeo, and seasoned session players Forrest Robinson and Debi Blackwell-Cook, brings together an unexpected but very fruitful cast of characters for a heartfelt and fun delta blues exploration.

East Coast Live features the act’s 2016 performance at Daryl’s House in Pawling, NY. With this live album essentially being an entire, single live show, the release has an unquestioningly genuine, organic vibe to it; something that is often missed on modern live albums.

While this is, without a doubt, a straight-ahead blues release, there are some strong rock elements to be found here as well, mostly noticeable in the drums and some of the lead guitar work. This is to be expected given the musicians involved.

One welcome aspect of this album is that Delta Deep doesn’t rely too much on traditional blues standards, instead favoring traditional yet original material for most of the set. In a genre that tends to stick to a relatively short list of typical tunes, this is a refreshing and invigorating approach. Along with the East Coast Live album, the band has also released a DVD featuring several of the key songs from the same concert. Fans of the blues or even 70s and 80s rock will enjoy this release. Highlights include “Bang The Lid”, “Black Coffee”, and “Bless These Blues”.