Patrick Sweany: That Old Southern Drag (Nine Mile Records, 2011)

I probably know more about underwater rugby than I know about blues music, but there’s no doubt in my mind that Patrick Sweany’s soulful blues rock is just damn brilliant.  That Old Southern Drag is Patrick’s fifth album. I haven’t heard the earlier ones. A couple of them were produced by Dan Auerbach from The Black Keys and even on the new album some of the songs fall around the same neighbourhood as The Black Keys. However, Patrick’s blues-rock is often more old-fashioned and soul-tinged and therefore someone like James Hunter is a closer match at times. The key thing is the variety. 50’s rock’n’roll, old blues, soul, indie rock and country. It’s all there and everything sounds extremely convincing. Every song is a winner. Check out a couple of samples below and stream the album at Bandcamp or Spotify.

Patrick Sweany Website
Patrick Sweany at Bandcamp

And a big thank you to Now This Sound Is Brave for turning me on to Patrick Sweany.