Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King Live in Woonsocket:Spring Rolls and The Blues

At one point during their blistering set  Saturday night (5/5/12) at Chan's in scenic downtown Woonsocket, Bnois King mentiioned that he and Smokin Joe Kubek had been playing together for 23 years, which probably explains why the two guitarists effortlessly trade off leads, delivering a potpurri of styles sounding at times like Jimi Hendrix, Bo Diddley, BB King, Chuck Berry and/or Eric Clapton. The "Blood Brothers" (The title of their first Alligator CD) always serve up a heaping plate of down home roadhouse blues with a dash of jazz, funk and exceptional slide guitar. Although it always seems a bit incongruous to go to a blues show in a Chinese restaurant, Chan's has become an outpost for some of America's best blues and jazz musicians on the road between New York and Boston. After the years I spent sitting in the mud at various outdoor concerts or fighting for standing room at a crowded bar, the idea of comfortably sitting at a table eating, drinking and listening has a lot of appeal. Predictably, the crowd is a bit older, contentedly munching away on Chinese comfort food, but reverting to a mini-arena audience as soon as Smokin Joe and Bnois took the stage. John Chan provided his usual efficient but affectionate intro, and the band took over.

Both Kubek and King are fully capable of fronting their own bands which is evidenced by the constant interplay between the two, pumping up "My Dogs Still Walkin'" with seamless breaks, then launching into a rollicking Chuck Berry style romp for "My Heart's In Texas" (Title track from their live CD). Their trademark brand of tongue in cheek social commentary is the focus of "Payday in America" (From "Have Blues, Will Travel") but Smokin Joe managed to squeeze in some fluid slide breaks that had the audience clapping frantically, a motif that reverberated throughout the set every time one of them finished a particularly impressive riff. "Texas Cadillac" matched a stinging psychedelic lead evoking Jimi Hendrix with a sly vocal and a driving beat, followed by another heavy duty crowd pleaser, "Burnin' To The Ground".

By the time I had polished off my spring rolls and started to eviscerate the chicken wings, I noticed that the place was full. The band switched gears slightly with "I Saw It Coming," Bnois King's wistful vocal underscored by the haunting refrain, before both guitarists went into a long slow blues punctuated by Bnois' nimble runs up and down the neck , trading leads with Smokin Joe's molasses slow slide much to the audience's delight. Their version of "Two Trains Running" basically turned the song inside out, at least compared to the Paul Butterfield version I'm familiar with, segueing into a dramatic build up that had the crowd wanting more. Smokin Joe and Bnois King always deliver, and their one night stand at Chan's was no exception.