I love it when hard work really begins to pay off. I love it even more when that hard work starts to get recognised and the enlightened word begins to spread further afield. It has, in many ways, been a long time coming but because of that, the attention that Danny Bryant's RedEyeBand is now getting tastes all the sweeter. Of course it is not just hard graft that has given this band their long awaited wider recognition - it is that, ability
and total respect for the blues genre that they grace.

With his Black and White album (Rounder Records 2008) surely at long, long last Danny Bryant's time has finally arrived.

A few years back I first caught up with Danny playing a blues gig in a club in England's, Essex. I stood mesmerised by the sheer attention he commanded, the total absorption of the audience, the controlled ferocity of some amazing blues guitar licks and the incredibly exhausting list of upcoming gigs on the flyer that I picked up. I have bought everything by Danny since and have never, for a moment, been disappointed. It is that philosophy of
always satisfying your audience no matter how many miles you have just travelled to be there that makes Danny and his band stand out from the pack. That and a searing blues sound that will have you thirstily needing more like some stray dog.

With this album he has received reviews that, if the world was a bluesier place, would have been his a while back. Let's have some background. Danny Bryant's RedEyeBand has been together for nine years. They originate from England but have steadily taken on Europe with regular appearances in Germany, Italy, Holland and Switzerland and as a result have built a loyal and smugly knowing following. Smug may seem a strange word to use but they can afford to be because they have been sitting on one of the untapped, so far largely unrecognised and best kept secrets in British blues. Along that road he has performed with such names as ex- Rolling Stone Mick Taylor, Mr. British Blues himself John Mayall, Peter Green, Patti Smith, Buddy Guy, Greg Allman, Jeff Beck, Joe Cocker and Walter Trout who dueted with Danny on his last album Days Like This.

The obvious question is what can all these luminaries know that a lot of others seemingly haven't yet realised? Well listen to the album opener "Tell Me" and the only question that remains is how the hell have we missed out on this for so long? That must change - Black and White is ready to take this band out to an even wider audience and propel them altogether onward and upward. 

Black and White, the band's sixth album release, contains all the elements that make up a great Danny gig or CD but seems to somehow have an extra ingredient that makes it stand up proudly and demand its rightful place. The sound is superb and the RedEyeBand comprising of Ken Bryant on bass and drummer Trevor Barr provide the perfect backdrop for the scorching searing blues on offer here. How can I avoid such well worn superlatives as 'scorching' and 'searing' when that is exactly what it is? So, excuse the pun, take it as read Black and White deserves those accolades - even the overused ones.

It can drive you crazy when an album drops through your door to review and despite every best intention you can't stop replaying track one. Such is the case with "Tell Me" but when I finally went further into the un-chartered water of the rest of the album I was far from being disappointed. The album maintains a quality and excitement that is just so simmeringly good (an example of making up your own superlatives if the old ones no longer work).

Second up "Between The Lines" highlights Danny's now club worn voice superbly. The slower tempo "Love Remains" has me standing forlornly alone at the end of the bar as last orders ring - a wonderful piece of blues. Every track on this album is written by Danny - no covers - it is all material he has no doubt worked up during his endless touring schedule. "Twenty-One" reflects that work ethic and it's pointless to say that it contains a superb
Danny Bryant guitar solo - they all do! 'Seven hundred miles down the road', he sings,  'seven hundred miles left to go. I want to see my girl, seven hundred miles and I'll be home'. Wonderful.

"Any Wonder" slows us down again with a heart wrenching stand out moment before "Low Down Blues" launches us back into standard blues territory. "Walk Away" and "Old Blues Song" are both late nighters tugging at the life scarred heart strings as only quality blues can. "The Last Goodbye" rattles in picking up the pace superbly with another track of the highest quality. The album ends with the title track itself. "Black and White" is a
beautifully trimmed down acoustic soother. It concludes a masterful and magical set.

If you have heard Danny Bryant's RedEyeBand before you will be pleased to know that a track from his Danny Bryant Live  album now sits proudly on a recent compilation which puts him alongside Gary Moore, Albert Collins, George Thorogood, Johnny Winter and ZZ Top.  With this album he deserves to be among that calibre of company.

At last the 'secret' is out, so much so, that if you are a lover of the blues - you really need to be aware of Black and White. Quite simply you will not be disappointed.

By Jeff Perkins www.blogcritics.org