
(Cleopatra) Pat Travers and Bob Dylan. It's a marriage made... if not in heaven, then at least in a place where dreams come true and the blues keep rolling. On March 20, 2004, early a tour that would keep them on the road across North America and Europe until July, the Pat Travers Band headed to Houston, Texas, to record what would become one of the most exhilarating live albums of his career, Snortin' Whiskley..
Accompanied by southern rock maestro Greg T. Walker (Lynyrd Skynyrd/Blackfoot) on bass and former AC/DC skin basher Simon Wright on drums, Travers would lead this ruthlessly stripped back trio deep into their roots.
The result, releasing on June 26, is a Texas-sized slab of electrified blues packed with epic versions of fan favorites "Boom Boom Out Go The Lights" and "Snortin' Whiskey"; barnstorming work-outs... including a colossal 13-minute version of "Born Under A Bad Sign"; and well-chosen covers - the Allman Brothers' "Statesboro Blues," Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return); and - released as a single today - Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited."
Not that their rendition of the title track from the bard's second album of 1965, has much in common with Dylan's original - as Travers warns at the outset of the song, "we're gonna kick your ass." And then this leanest, meanest line-up of them all slams into a Mach 2 firestorm, percussion and bass setting up an irresistible pace and rhythm, while Travers. Plays like a man possessed, his guitar spilling liquid fire over all around.
Hungry and raw, the energy never dips. If anything, it gets even more intense as the show rolls on, until that closing salvo of "Born Under A Bad Sign" and "Statesboro Blues" makes it clear that no-one on earth could have followed it, and that includes the band.
Cleopatra Records and Pat Travers go back a long way, with close to two dozen releases highlighting both his most recent recordings and a string of historic live albums dating back to 1980. Is Bluesed Out in Houston the best of them all? That's for you to decide.
Hear Pat Travers Rock Bob Dylan's 'Highway 61 Revisited'
Chris Poland's Nuclear Messiah Shares 'For Mad Men Only' Feat Joe Lynn Turner and Pat Travers
Hear Pat Travers' Statesboro Blues (Live In Baltimore 1982) Title Track
Jason Bonham Leads The Lineup For Whole Lotta Rock Camp Volume II
Cruise News: Monsters of Rock Cruise 2027
Caught In The Act: Lit and Sponge
Live: Lou Gramm Rocks The Arcada Theatre
5 Star: The Rolling Stones - Foreign Tongues
Sites and Sounds: Tulsa Installs 'Musical Road' on Route 66
Guns N' Roses Recap North American Tour Kick Off
Greta Van Fleet Announce New Song And Rare Intimate Show
Hear Foreigner's New Live Album 'In The Eye Of The Storm'
Watch Good Charlotte's 'We Are Done (Live from the Motel Du Cap Tour)' Video
Rock Legends Turn Out For Mark Weiss' Ozzy Osbourne Exhibition Opening
Iron Maiden Frontman Bruce Dickinson Does Surprise Jam With Billy Joe Armstrong
Watch Johnny Marr's New 'Ophelia' Video
Stream Desmond Child Rocks The Parthenon - The Live Concert Album
Classic Hole Albums Coming To Vinyl and More
Singled Out: Bay Simpson's Summertime Classics
Watch Ghost's '2 BIG TO RIG' Trailer
Sleep Token Strike Platinum With 'Take Me Back To Eden'