GARY HOEY – Neon Highway Blues (2019)

Talented guitarist GARY HOEY will release his new album “Neon Highway Blues” on March 15, 2019. Starting with 2013’s Deja Blues and continuing with 2016’s Dust & Bones, Hoey has tapped into his early musical influences and applied his own feral skills to take the format in a unique direction.
He stays in the same lane on his latest endeavor, with “Neon Highway Blues” steering its 11 tracks with the confidence and assuredness of a veteran and the freshness of someone who’s still in the process of discovery and refinement — with the help of famous friends such as Eric Gales, Lance Lopez, Josh Smith and Hoey’s 17-year-old son Ian.

While Hoey – initially a ‘shredder’ back in the ’80s/90s – keeps digging deep into his blues roots here, still put some other songs there that the die-hard, long-time fans would like, some instrumentals and some hard rockin’ stuff.
He’s played with more A-team guitarists than you can throw a stick at, all of which goes a long way to explaining why this album feels as if he’s found a natural home for his blues influenced material.
And while his last album ‘Dust & Bones’ was arguably one of his most accessible, the splendidly titled ‘Neon Highway Blues’ finds him dipping his toes into noir titled blues genre that is well suited to his ability to evoke an array of emotions with his guitar playing.

His focus here is on songwriting, meaningful solos and great band interplay on tight arrangements. He revels in playing with a handful of special guests who all leave their imprint on a diverse, but musically coherent album with a blues heart.

He opens with the funky, harmony guitar riffs and tension build of ’Under The Rug’, on which he trades licks with his sometime tour partner Eric Gales, who also sings. The following blues ‘Mercy Of Love’ finds him paired with Joss Smith on an imperious blues outing full of space, contrast and kick-ass licks.
Interestingly, one of his guests is his son Ian, who steps up to the plate on a muscular blues ‘Don’t Come Crying’, which is full of a big toned attack, counter-weighted by some mellifluous interplay.
Hoey Sr. switches to slide for an Elmore James style intro on ‘Your Kind of Love’, and he’s in his element on the beautifully crafted ‘Almost Heaven’. The latter is an acoustic into electric guitar-driven love song, full of subtle textures and a swelling melody that drips with emotion in the way that Hoey’s instrumentals often do.

He extends his tonal range on the heavier ‘I Felt Alive’ which crackles with venom, before he coolly switches to a contrasting mix of soaring slide and a clean toned attack leading to a drone style hook.
The refreshing thing about this album is the way Hoey uses blues as a catalyst for his own musical style. His material never panders to cliché and his guitar playing rises from the understated to the majestic.
Hoey would be the first to admit he’s not the world’s strongest vocalist. But when he teams up with special guest Lance Lopez on the rocker ‘Damned If I Do’, his vocal phasing makes up for any lack of range on an impressive power shuffle.

This album feels like a musical journey with interesting pit stops, including the buzz toned, riff driven ‘Living The High Life’ which has a southern rock sounding stuttering rhythm track.
Everything flows and leads naturally to the closing title track, which is a twangy Hawaiian guitar sounding instrumental, soulful and fun.
It’s the perfect bookend to an album that constantly searches for new musical expression and finishes with the cinematic feel of the album title.

‘Neon Highway Blues’ is a blues inflected musical journey which gives Hoey enough creative avenues to strike a balance between his own musical vision and what the market demands.
Produced by himself, Hoey takes every opportunity to embellish it with intricate sonic detail. He doesn’t waste any notes on songs that emphasize plenty of contrast in both his guitar playing and the tracks as a whole.
He rocks hard and relishes the chance to lock horns with some well chosen guests and let’s his guitar do his talking for him.
Highly Recommended

01 – Under The Rug (feat. Eric Gales)
02 – Mercy Of Love (feat. Josh Smith)
03 – Your Kind Of Love
04 – Don’t Come Crying (feat. Ian Hoey)
05 – Still Believe In Love
06 – Almost Heaven
07 – I Felt Alive
08 – Waiting On The Sun
09 – Damned If I Do (feat. Lance Lopez)
10 – Living The Highlife
11 – Neon Highway Blues

PRE ORDER:
www.amazon.com/Neon-Highway-Blues-Gary-Hoey/dp/B07MLWPSKJ
.