The road-tested blues duo Long Tall Deb & Colin John return with Light It Up, out today on VizzTone Label Group. Known for their globe-spanning musical journey and genre-blending approach, the pair deliver a set that leans deep into blues-rock muscle and soul.
Long Tall Deb’s commanding vocals meet Colin John’s raw, shape-shifting guitar work across a slate of originals, along with two sharp reinventions: Willie Dixon’s “Spoonful” and the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams,” reimagined with a Texas blues shuffle. The album was co-produced and co-written with Chris Butler (The Waitresses), who also handles drums and bass on several tracks. Rounding out the lineup are guest turns from Canadian harmonica ace Steve Marriner, drummer Jason Edwards, guitarist Alastair Greene, French bluesman Pascal Fouquet, and backup vocalist Jennifer Milligan.
As the title track so clearly professes, Long Tall Deb and Colin John are ready, willing and able to “start a new kind of fire.” They strike a match on the song and let it burn. With a blues pulse and a video to match, the song calls out the familiar culprits: misinformation, institutional greed, and the long shadow of putting profit over people. These may sound like modern ailments, but the blues has always named them out loud. Amen.
