Guit With It

 (20 customer reviews)

Junior Brown is the most exciting musician to come along in any genre of music for a long time. This is the cd that broke him onto the music scene back in 93, and remains one of my personal favorites in my collection.Junior plays his own invention, the guit-steel, with amazing finesse and flair. A combination of a single pick-up Tele style guitar with an attached steel guitar, which enables him to switch back and forth between the two with ease, which adds a dimension to his music and playing never before heard.One can hear this wizardry on such cuts as "Sugarfoot Rag," which Brown closes with a flurry of rockish style chords a la Jimi Hendrix, and the 11 minute jam "Guit-Steel Blues," in which Brown really shows off his abilities with this instrument.Don't think that these are the only tracks in which one hears his magical fingers perform with prowess, nearly every track on the album features another example of this virtuoso's capabilities. But...Read more

Junior Brown is a guitar enigma. He's a little bit country, a little bit western, a little bit rock and roll, a little bit blues, a little bit surf.... In a live show, you never are quite sure what he'll be throwing your way. One thing is for certain, you will definitely be amazed. Although "Guit With It" isn't at the same intensity as his live shows, it is still a masterpiece of dazzling finger-work on the fretboard and slide. His hybrid guitar that's half Telecaster and half pedal steel (without the pedals - he does all the string bends with his ring finger behind the slide) is a sight to behold. It's even a greater treat to watch him play it. "Guit With It" is a playground to show off Brown's talents, and he has many. My favorite track on the album is the instrumental, "Sugarfoot Rag". A brilliant display of his flat-picking ability and fingers faster than light. He moves seamlessly between the Tele and the steel. He makes it trickier by adding vocals for the remaining songs...Read more

Critics are forever comparing Junior Brown to Jimi Hendrix, but Stevie Ray Vaughn is actually a much better point of reference. For Hendrix, it was guitar first, everything else came second. With Hendrix, it's like the song was part of the guitar playing. Vaughn played as good as anyone, but his playing was always part of the song. . . and so it is with Junior Brown. Take for example his letter-perfect cover of Red Simpson's "Highway Patrol"--they sound nearly identical, but Brown's version subtly manages to far outclass the original. Throughout the album, Brown manages to fit incredible guitar work inside fairly conventional, tradition-sounding country songs such as the outstanding "My Wife Thinks Your Dead," "Doin" What Comes Easy to a Fool," "You Didn't Have to Go All the Way," and "Holding Pattern," all the while drawing on a diverse repetoire of influences including country, rock, blues, and even some Hawaian...Read more