Jesse Dayton (from the album The Hard Way Blues

Jesse Dayton (from the album The Hard Way Blues

Jesse Dayton (from the album The Hard Way Blues available on Blue Elan Records)
Legendary sideman Jesse Dayton takes the spotlight on his latest solo album, The Hard Way Blues. With three decades of experience playing and touring with Outlaw Country and SoCal Rock luminaries like Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson, Social Distortion, and X, you might expect Dayton to showcase his Outlaw creds on this release. You’d be wrong. This album is straight up Blues Power. A sonic synergy between Texas and Chicago Blues, The Hard Way Blues draws from the same well as Albert Collins, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Taj Mahal.
“Navasota” recalls Jesse Dayton’s small town Texas roots. Fittingly, Stevie Ray Vaughn inspired guitar licks start the song with a bang. Setting the scene, Dayton sings ‘I’m driving back to Navasota. Gonna let my freak flag fly’. But he’s soon hassled by preachers who condemn him for playing the devil’s music and bigots who taunt him for dating a Creole girl. Following the ups and downs of his small-town encounters, the guitar riffs morph to John Lee Hooker, then to more intense Tinsley Ellis style Blues. Finally, Dayton realizes ‘I never fit in Navasota, had to split town on the sly’. The fiery guitar work captures the righteous anger and frustration of being persecuted just for being who you are.
Jesse Dayton adds a touch of his Outlaw Country background to “Huntsville Prison Rodeo”. The song details the plight of lifers with nothing left to lose. Their only hope is for ‘three seconds of freedom between the hospital and the morgue’. “Ballad of Boyd Eder” is a slow burning tribute to the legendary Texas ‘art-law’ who designed the cover art for the Eagles’ One of These Nights and Greatest Hits albums. Dayton turns the knobs to eleven on the Rock infused Blues of “God Ain’t Makin’ No More of It” and “The Hard Way”. The latter of which is a full tilt celebration of living life on your own terms. Jesse Dayton pays tribute to Taj Mahal on the Piedmont Blues inspired “Night Brain” and the lilting “Baby’s Long Gone”.
“Talkin’ Company Man Blues” is a swampy fusion of raw Delta Blues and electric Chicago Blues. Dayton adds touches of Folk to the haunting “Esther Pearl”. The story of a voodoo priestess who worked on the Underground Railroad, the song slinks along with foreboding tension until it reaches its tragic conclusion. The song is both powerful and poignant. Turning from sorrow to joy, Dayton finds the bright side of the Blues on, “Angel in My Pocket”. A touching, accordion-laced love song finds Jesse Dayton waxing poetic ‘now the universe is smiling. It’s got other plans for me. It put an angel in my pocket and brought you home to me’. In Jesse Dayton’s reckoning, the Blues are anything that keep you from your home. Whether that be a place, a person, or a state of mind. But the music of the Blues is what helps you navigate that journey home. It chronicles your hardships and heartaches, and when you ultimately succeed in your journey, it commemorates your strength and perseverance in overcoming The Hard Way Blues.
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