Over the past six years, since the release of the debut recording, Delta Grooves, HowellDevine has matured into one of the hardest working and most distinctive blues groups in Northern California. On the trio’s latest and fourth CD, Howl (released by Little Village Foundation), Joshua Howell (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Pete Devine (drums, washboard, jug), and Joe Kyle, Jr. (bass) offer their take on songs by Sonny Boy Williamson, R.L. Burnside, Robert Johnson, Hound Dog Taylor, the Meters, Blind Blake, and Steve Cropper/Don Covay, adding a couple of thoroughly convincing originals, as well.
“With time, we’ve naturally branched out a bit,” Devine told music journalist Andrew Gilbert for Berkeleyside. “With our live shows Joe Kyle picks up electric bass sometimes and we focus more on grooves and slip into some long jams, a trance, vortex situation that’s really fun to dance to. It’s not typical blues you hear in a blues bar these days. We get a lot of kids and people in their 20s.”
With Tony Ferro engineering the sound, HowellDevine will perform live on The Hear and Now in the KPFA performance studio and chat with host Derk Richardson. Sample their music here. For their full concert calendar, click here.
In the second hour, folk-rock singer-songwriter Dirk Hamilton visits for another episode of the ongoing, occasional “Dirk and Derk” show, in which he’ll sing a few songs in advance of his appearance this Saturday, July 21, at the Back Room in Berkeley.