Blues Bis­cuits’ Jim Kanavy gives our new live CD, Live at Blues Now!, high marks in his review of the album, not­ing that “this is rock & roll blues at its best.” Here’s the full review:

“Chris O’Leary is the for­mer front man of Lev­on Helm’s Barn­burn­ers. The Chris O’Leary band was formed in 2007 around a tight group of road war­riors. Chris’ years spent with the Barn­burn­ers, back­ing up an eclec­tic mix of musi­cians at Lev­on Helm’s New Orleans club, and tour­ing the coun­try after­ward, turned him into a musi­cal medi­um. He chan­nels a mul­ti­tude of blues & soul styles author­i­ta­tive­ly. It’s hard to believe he grew up clos­er to Albany, New York than New Albany, Mis­sis­sip­pi. The blues pours out of his fuzz-drenched, raspy harp and his band is right there with him at every twist and turn. After two suc­cess­ful and acclaimed stu­dio albums, this red hot com­bo has unleashed a siz­zling live album.

“Live At Blues Now! has tunes from both stu­dio albums and a groov­ing, bounc­ing ver­sion of Bil­ly Boy Arnold’s “Wish You Would.” Chris sings some of it through the harp mic and his vocals take on a Howl­in’ Wolf snarl. I was real­ly excit­ed to have a live ver­sion of “Tchoupi­toulas” (that’s “Chop-ih-too-liss” to you and me). If “Tchoupi­toulas” doesn’t get you mov­ing you may be dead. Have some­one take your pulse imme­di­ate­ly. Admin­is­ter mouth to mouth as desired. It should have you singing and danc­ing like you’re down at Tipitina’s with the sec­ond-line hot on your heels. The whole album, from the open­er “Give It” to the clos­er “His­to­ry” has incred­i­ble drum­ming. The beats are almost trib­al, churn­ing and chop­ping, like waves of the sea surg­ing and reced­ing, thrust­ing the band for­ward, reel­ing rock­ing in rhyth­mic ecstasy.

“On “Trou­ble,” spe­cial guest gui­tarist Alex Schultz rides the rhyth­mic waves like a man who’s con­quered the Pipeline. Chris O’Leary’s harp cuts through like a thrust­ing oar and keeps the band on course. The shim­mer­ing gui­tars of “Louisiana Woman” and lone­some harp con­jure a hoodoo mist across the bay­ou and “Water’s Risin’” swings, rocks and reels. This is rock & roll blues at its best, com­bin­ing gospel vocals, Chuck Berry rhythms, and duel­ing gui­tars into a spicy gum­bo of Amer­i­can music which pret­ty much encap­su­lates the Chris O’Leary Band. This band is the real deal. Bring the band into your liv­ing room, car, or bay­ou back porch with Live At Blues Now!”

[http://www.bluesbiscuits.com/2014/08/fresh-biscuits-friday-fast-five-cd-reviews-august-15–2014/]