From the Vaults – Till I Turn Blue & Magic Power

 

     Late in May, I got a sonic treat of epic proportions when Gary Tanin, our friend at Daystorm Music in Milwaukee, sent us an early copy of Peggy James’ new album.  First the disclaimer – I have had the opportunity to preview several of Peggy’s albums.  With each and every one of them, I have told Gary, “Wow – this is Peggy’s best record yet.”  I was only halfway through the opening track when I grabbed my phone and engaged in a bit of deja vu.  If the first track pulls me into an album, I am rarely disappointed with the whole package and Till I Turn Blue is no exception.

     Peggy James is a Milwaukee singer/songwriter with so many gifts, it is hard to describe her albums without repeating myself.  She is an artful storyteller.  Her melodies are hard to forget.  The arrangements always make you feel something.  Every time a new layer is introduced in a song’s arrangement, it gets better.  There are only so many superlatives one can use to describe the guitar work I hear on this album because it is all good.  No, not good, it is all great and we will come back to that thought in a bit.

     Listening to a Peggy James song is like watching Bob Ross paint.  Ross would start with a blank canvas and as you watch him add layer upon layer, a picture emerges.  Just when you think it couldn’t get any better, he adds another dab here or there and suddenly, it pops to life.

I can’t think of another artist since Joni Mitchell arrived on the scene who can make the combination of stories, voice, and musical ingredients come alive like Peggy James.  

     The opening track (Compensation) is typical of how Peggy tells stories.  It doesn’t matter if they are based on the real world or come from her imagination because they connect with the listener on many levels.  The bouncy beat coupled with layers of guitar and backing vocals are the perfect vehicles to carry the ‘lead instrument’ – namely Peggy’s vocals.  There Must Be Gold features more of the same and the ‘ya done me wrong’ Texas swing of So Over You puts you smack in the middle of a roadhouse honky tonk.  The ‘pop’ in the accents add a nice touch to First Kiss followed by another chapter in the James book of stories, the rags to riches theme of Eyes on the Horizon.  Eyes starts with a simple strum and builds as layers are added in each new verse.  Lovely tremolo guitar and full chorus vocals add much to the track’s vibe.

     More ‘jangly guitar’ carries A Walk With You and Loneliest Girl, both songs that could have come straight off of a Smithereens album.  Stuck on the Tracks has a clip-clop rhythm and lap steel guitar base that bears witness to the ‘country girl’ in James.  One of the things I loved about The Doors albums back in the day was drummer John Densmore’s ability to introduce jazz and latin beats into their hit songs.  I find the same bounce in the rhythm and guitar lines in the title track, Till I Turn Blue.  O.Winston Link, You’re Still the Highlight, and Isn’t Anybody Coming?  end the record with a strong flourish.  The chorus of the last track seems to be a sad reflection about war (or just about our times) (This is a war that we have not made / How high this price we’ve got to pay? / Isn’t anybody coming to our aid?), but yet it left me feeling like all is not lost.  Whether or not Peggy meant it as a rallying cry to move people past the malaise we might be feeling with things in such turmoil, I heard it that way.  When we are on the bubble, who will come to our aid if we don’t aid others who are in trouble?  The song rises beyond being a simple anti-war anthem for the new millennium – it is a call for empathy we all need to hear.

     I do not think I have been too effusive in my praise of Peggy’s catalog of work.  Her last two albums (Paint Still Wet and The Parade) were released in 2020 and 2021.  Both made it into the Top 100 of Goldmine magazine’s year end list of Fabulous Songs.  Till I Turn Blue is her seventh  album and the fourth produced by guitarist / multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire Jim Eannelli.  He has proven over and over that he and James know how to arrange her songs for maximum effect.

     Eannelli reminds me of a story Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter tells about working with famed studio guitarist Tommy Tedesco.  At one session they worked together, the producer kept changing his mind about what he wanted on a track.  Every time he suggested Tedesco try a different instrument, Tommy would bend down behind the baffle and pick up the requested instrument, be it a baritone guitar, bazzouki, electric guitar, or whatnot.   He would then play a sample for the producer who eventually said, “Yeah, that’s the one I want.”  When the session ended, Skunk looked over the baffle and saw the only instrument Tedesco had with him was one guitar.  Baxter said he learned it was all in Tedesco’s hands and it added a whole new meaning to what the term ‘multi-instrumentalist’ meant.  I am not sure how many instruments Eannelli uses (or if he has worked for the Department of Defense like Baxter did for a while), but I can hear what he brings to the party on Peggy’s albums and it is all good.   

     With a release date of June 27, 2025 on Happy Growl Records, look for the album at record stores or at E-Bay.com.  More information can be found at facebook.com/PeggyJamesMusician.

     Many thanks to our friend Gary Tanin at Daystorm Music for sending us an advanced copy of Till I Turn Blue.  It is high time that Peggy James’reputation as a gifted Americana singer/songwriter spreads out from the cozy confines of the mid-west and Nashville.  

     As I was working my way through Till I Turn Blue, I read that a band from across the border had a new album coming out in early June.  The band was Triumph, the Rock & Roll Machine. Having recently discussed their guitarist, Rik Emmett (FTV:  Lay It On The Line – 2-5-25), I couldn’t help but put in a pre-order.  The day I posted the Peggy James album review on the WOAS-FM website, Magic Power – All-Star Tribute to Triumph magically appeared in my mailbox.  Okay, it was ‘USPS magic power’ and I couldn’t wait to crack it open.

     In the liner notes, producer Mike Clink described how the whole thing started:  “I was on my way to Los Angeles from Huntsville, Ontario, where I had been working.  When I arrived in Toronto, all the flights had been cancelled due to the weather.  I checked into a hotel near the airport, getting the last room available.  I called Gil [Moore, Triumph’s drummer] to say hello, and when I mentioned that I was snowed in for the evening, he told me to be in the lobby in an hour because he was on his way to take me to dinner.  Three feet of snow on the ground and driving was a challenge, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer.  [Triumph Bassist] Mike Levine joined us, and as we caught up with our lives, they told me about the documentary about the band that was in the early planning stages.  “Wouldn’t it be great to have an album to coincide with the documentary?” Gil asked.  And that is the genesis of how the record started.”

     Another disclaimer before we continue:  Tribute albums where other artists perform the honoree’s greatest hits do not always do the songs justice (in my humble opinion).  Perhaps this happens because the guest artists try too hard to put their own spin on the material?  I am happy to report that Clink’s guiding hand produced an album of exceptional quality with a roster of equally exceptional artists.  In his book Lay It On The Line, Emmitt made a statement that I disagreed with.  He claimed that Triumph was a good band but he always viewed them as a kind of ‘second tier’ rock ‘n’ roll band.  With the effort this diverse group of musicians put into Magic Power, I will lay odds they would also refute Rik’s comment.

     Though the album was released in June of 2025, we only need to look at the time line to see the obstacles Clink and company had to overcome to get it done.  Clink again:  “On paper, it looked easy enough:  enlist the best musicians possible and record Triumph’s biggest hits with a modern twist and new arrangements.  What happened next, no one could have predicted;  Covid arrived, and the world ground to a halt.  It was a strange and challenging time for everyone, including the music business.  Recording studios were locked up, tours were canceled, and everyone searched for a way to work and make a living.”  Nothing like a world-wide pandemic to derail a great idea, right?  On the plus side, the down time gave Mike and the band extra time to  plan and organize the project.  With a list of songs in hand, they began matching which musicians would work best with the songs they picked from Triumph’s vast catalogue of hits.

     Clink’s initial idea was to have a core band do the tracks and rotate the lead singers.  Triumph has two gifted singers in Gil and Rik, so the door was open to a variety of vocalists.  After  further discussion, Mike and the band decided to have as many musicians involved as possible. All were given the latitude to put their own unique interpretation on their appointed tracks, but most stuck pretty close to the arrangements from the iconic songs.  Clink’s preferred method is to record the band(s) together in the studio so they can play off each other.  The list of collaborators on each track is too long to reproduce here, but some of the choices were interesting.  I  couldn’t wait to hear what they laid down.  The singers we will discuss in a bit but among the groupings listed were drummers Brent Fitz, Kenny Aronoff, Josh Freeze, Brian Tichy, and Tommy Aldridge.

     Bassists involved included John Spiker, Todd Kerns, and Tony Franklin.  The list of guitarists  is equally impressive featuring Phil X, Alex Lifeson, Slash, Paul Gilbert, Bumblefoot, Dave Amato, Joel Hoekstra, Reb Beach, and Nita Strauss.  The musicians from Canada were less familiar to me but just the same, it was an all-star cast supporting an equally all-star group of vocalists.  Some of the musicians were primarily on hand as vocalist including drummer Deen Castronovo (Journey), guitarists Ann Wilson (Heart) and Kyle Gass (Tenacious D), and bassists Jack Blades (Night Ranger) and Jason Scheff (Chicago).  Some vocalists Clink approached balked at tackling Triumph’s signature songs and declined to participate.  Clink did adjust a few of the tracks by taking the key a step or two down.  Gil  Moore’s songs tended toward the down and dirty blues/rock end of the spectrum, but Rik Emmitt’s high tenor range made his songs a bit more of a challenge.

     The album kicks off with Sebastian Bach (Skid Row) covering 24 Hours a Day and Rock & Roll Machine.  Anthrax’s Joey Belladonna takes on Magic Power with Starship’s Micky Thomas covering Spellbound.  Both Belladonna and Thomas performed Emmett’s vocal highwire act without missing a beat.  One of the first tracks that gained traction on the internet was Dee Snider’s (from Twisted Sister) take on Lay It On The Line which also included Tenacious D’s Kyle Gass on background vocals.  Snider admits in the liner notes that with Emmett’s vocal range, he had to make some adjustments and do it ‘my way’.  Somebody’s Out There featured Styx keyboardist/vocalist Lawrence Gowan while current Journey drummer/vocalist Castronovo easily handles Never Surrender.  Both of them are not ordinarily lead singers in their bands but they did a great job on Magic Power.  Gowan took on the unenviable task of replacing Dennis DeYoung in Styx and Castronovo’s voice can carry Steve Perry’s original vocals when he spells Journey’s current singer Arnel Pineda.  They definitely have the pipes to tackle Triumph songs.  

     Tesla’s Jeff Keith covers the vocals for  Hold On and turns in another outstanding performance.  Jason Scheff holds down the fort on Just One Night, and I Live For The Weekend vocals are shared by Dorothy and Tyler Connolly.   I turned to the album’s insert for help identifying the vocalists on Fight The Good Fight (Nancy Wilson), Follow Your Heart Jack Blades, and Allied Forces (Phil X who also handled all the guitars on the track.  Alex Lifeson’s appearance with his new band project Envy of None proved to be the only self contained band to perform.  They also put quite a bit of their own spin on Blinding Light Show. The album wraps with an encore of Fight The Good Fight featuring Dino Jelusik on vocals and Joel Hoekstra on lead guitar.  With a few more listening sessions and some internet snooping, I will be interested to learn more about the other contributing artists I was not familiar with..

     The day that the album was released, a modified version of Triumph performed a short three song set at the Rogers Festival in Edmonton, Alberta to coincide with the Florida Panthers – Edmonton Oilers NHL Stanley Cup Finals game.  The National Hockey Association had been airing a promotional video for the league featuring Lay It On The Line during the 2024-25 season.  The idea was to emphasize the importance of the five Canadian teams that are still in the NHL.  This campaign to connect NHL fans with the Canadian teams during the Stanley Cup Finals using Triumph’s music was a slice of promotional genius.  When the band latched on to the NHL campaign to spread the word about the tribute album, it proved their initial pitch to Clink (about having an album to release with the documentary) was right on target.  Indeed, that is exactly how I heard about Magic Power in the first place.

     Bassist Mike Levine was unable to make the show in Edmonton due to a long standing medical appointment he had previously scheduled.  He explained the Canadian medical system is great (“Living in the land of free medicine,” Levine called it) but it takes a long time to get some appointments.  Therefore, he could not reschedule and had to miss the reunion.  Emmitt and Moore were joined by drummer / keyboardist Brent Fitz, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Todd Kerns for their first live public performance since 2008.  They had played an ‘by invitation only’ set for rabid fans at Moore’s Metal Works Studio for the 2022 documentary.  This was all hush-hush and even the invited fans, who thought it was going to be more like a ‘fan convention’, were surprised when the band took the stage.  This outing did feature the three original members.               

     I will say it again;  this Tribute album is hands down one of the best I have heard and my hat is off to Mike Clink.  Once WOAS-FM 91.5 has the new tower bays installed, listeners can plan on hearing both Magic Power and Till I Turn Blue in heavy rotation as we test the equipment.  WOAS-FM is tentatively slated to be back on the air for the All School Reunion at the end of July.

Top Piece Video:  Sorry, Oilers fans, but there was still optimism prior to the Cup final game two – but works here to explain the Triumph connection.