Singer/guitarist/songwriter Brad Wilson offers eight original songs and six covers on his latest album. Working with several blues bands that provide his soulful guitar and vocals with a proper backdrop, he delivers. Wilson is no stranger to the blues. Originally from Carmel, California, he’s now local to the Southland, and has carried the blues torch far and wide. Mixing classic songs with his originals, the artist provides a varied program.

Elmore James’ “It Hurts Me Too” works wonders. Classic blues is getting its due respect, and Wilson carves the song with pride. “Dead Flowers” by the Rolling Stones comes with a free rhythmic feeling that we’ll never forget. Wilson ends the album with Willie Dixon’s “Groaning the Blues,” a sure highlight. The lyrics point to a heavy heart and a powerful love that may or may not survive. Wilson’s guitar and his vocals bear the emotion clearly, and the mood suits Dixon’s lyrics comfortably.

Songwriting remains one of Wilson’s strong points. His “Monterey” celebrates the kind of action that Californian’s live for. Through his fiery guitar and the band’s mesmerizing rhythm, Wilson gives the song its magic. His “Goin’ Home” and “Back Roads” reveal a love for his home state, which continues to provide the artist with imagery like no other place. Proud to be a Californian, Brad “Guitar” Wilson translates what he sees and feels into beautiful music.

--Jim Santella

Brad “Guitar” Wilson returns with “The Californian , ” an album that condenses the soul of the blues amidst golden sunsets and aimless roads. It’s not simply a tribute to the sound of the American West Coast, but a living affirmation of what the blues can be when caressed by the Pacific breeze.
Recorded at ICP Studios in Brussels—far from the Californian heat, but with the fire alive—this work brings together world-class musicians who amplify the warm, passionate style, with a rebellious wink, that has defined Wilson for decades.
With fourteen pieces that range from heartfelt covers to his own compositions, the album accurately captures the balance between the classic and the contemporary . There is introspection, rhythm, and freedom in equal measure: the riffs are luminous, but not complacent, and songs like “Back Roads” and “Going Home” reveal a more intimate and contemplative side of the guitarist.
The presence of drummer Tony Braunagel and keyboardist Chris Rhyne adds weight and character to a production that never loses its emotional pulse. And so, "The Californian" becomes the perfect soundtrack for hot afternoons, roads that disappear into the horizon, and nights when the soul needs to whisper songs.
An album to listen to slowly, ideal for those who understand that the blues isn't nostalgia, but possibility.
RECOMMENDED SONGS: Say You Wanna Dance, Back Roads, Summertime Blues, Groaning the Blues, Going Home.

“Excellent guitar player derseves to use the word guitar in his moniker”

Brad “Guitar” Wilson  The Californian  Cali Bee Music

Joining Brad, guitar and lead vocals, are Toto Poznantek and Tony Braunagel on drums, Chris Rhyne, Luca Catalfamo, and Frankie Virens on Keyboards, with Hal Cragin, Brian Beal and Fabrizo Erba on bass. Marieke de Vaan (Marie K) provides harmonica.

The inviting and satisfyingly, mournfully sounding guitar and piano led rolling opener, is Tampa Red’s 1940 and Elmore James’s 1957, ‘It Hurts Me Too’.  ‘Lightning In A Bottle’, continues the mood, Brad’s warm, low key, urging guitar sound, is very easy on the ears.

The Rolling Stones ‘Dead Flowers’, ‘Say You Wanna Dance’, and organ led ‘Monterey’, have a definite guitar rocking Stones feel, with a lively, goodtime, raucous rollicking piano sneaking in.   The organ led, prowling ‘Heartbreaker’, and Mott The Hoople’s 1972 Mick Ralphs composed ‘Ready For Love’ has definite pleasant echoes of the band, Free.

The enticing, guitar led ‘Back Roads’ is a gentle, comfortable rocking blues.  Eddie Cochran’s ‘Summertime Blues’, possesses a genuine, sun kissed summery atmosphere.

‘Goin Home’, is a gentle, country guitar blues concerning the urge to return home, to family and loved ones.

The rolling, shuffling blues of ‘I Work Alone’ aptly describes the solitary, soulless life of a trucker on endless, roads.

The instrumental ‘Love and Peace’, originally recorded by the Jazz Crusaders in 1968 is a delightfully mellow, lyrical guitar and Hammond organ piece, that simply floats, into the ears.

‘Teaser’, is from the score of the John Carpenter film, ‘Vampires’.  It is a loud, crashing and pounding guitar led rocker, as would heard in the eighties.

Willie Dixon’s slow burning ‘Groaning The Blues’, recorded by Otis Rush in 1957, is here, led by a mournful, wistful harmonica entwined with an equally melancholy, lyrical guitar.       

Recommended!

Brian Harman.  

Guitar-slinger Brad “Guitar” Wilson just might be the toughest musician to come out of Carmel, Calif., since two-fisted blues piano fan Clint Eastwood was elected mayor of that seaside city in 1986. Wilson has been earning that “Guitar” nickname by punching out a fistful of tough, hard-rocking blues for years.

Singer/songwriter Wilson has toured frequently with Chicago, and has opened for the likes of Buddy Guy, Cheap Trick, .38 Special, Marshall Tucker Band and Tommy Castro. Not content with the concert stage, Wilson has taken his songwriting talents to the big screen, scoring the song “Teaser” for John Carpernter’s film, “Vampires.” He’s also worked that magic for the music to the movie “Ghosts of Mars,” and TV shows “The Young & the Restless” and “Passions.”

His latest album, “The Californian,” is not only geographically appropriate, but keeps the music flowing with a vibrant session of rocking Wilson originals, embellished by a handful of smartly executed covers.

Joining Wilson and Grammy-winning producer Francis Buckley in keeping the vibes fresh throughout are Toto Poznantek and Tony Braungel on drums, Chris Rhyne, Luca Catalfamo and Frankie Virens on keyboards, Hal Cragin, Brian Beal and Fabrizo Erba on bass, Marie K on harmonica, and additional contributions from Galen Keith.

Everything fires up with a slashing guitar intro to the classic blues of “It Hurts Me Too,” first recorded in 1940 by Tampa Red and reshaped by Elmore James in 1957. It’s driven hard by Wilson’s fierce vocals and bandmates crackling with full-blues energy. Wilson’s original “Lightning in a Bottle” follows, catching the spirit of its title in its own musical bottle. The high-spirited blues-rock of Wilson’s “Say You Wanna Dance” invites cutting up the dance floor to razor-sharp guitar: “Say you wanna boogie, say you wanna swing, say you wanna rock,” and the answer can only be “Yes!”

Next, Wilson captures the countrified roadhouse essence of the Rolling Stones’ “Dead Flowers” complete with well-Stoned backup vocals. The original “Monterey“ rolls majestically out in an anthemic ode to another California city, with its “waves on the rocks, seagulls in the sky.” Then Wilson’s “Heartbreaker” churns with torchy emotion on the perils of romance: “You can’t eat, you can’t sleep / the fever is so strong / you take a chance on love/ it’s a heartbreaker.”

Mick Ralphs wrote “Ready for Love” for Mott the Hoople in 1972, and Wilson leans into this striking cover with a sensitive vocal turn. Back to the originals with “Back Roads,” a journey down the less-traveled highways fueled by an elegant guitar solo. “Summertime Blues” covers the 1958 rock ‘n’ roll hit by Eddie Cochran with all of its teenage angst still intact. “Goin’ Home” is a gently eloquent Wilson ballad, with the band building to an emotional high : “Goin’ home to all that I know / goin’ home to all that I Iove.”

“I Work Alone” is Wilson’s romantic take on the eternal truck-driving theme: “Driving this truck, rollin’ along, thinkin’ about holdin’ you close.” The lyrical “Love and Peace” is a gorgeous instrumental cover of the Arthur Adams song first recorded by the Jazz Crusaders in 1968, with Wilson’s guitar gently weeping the melody. The haunting strains of “Teaser” follow, a reprise of the exotic “Vampires” score. For the closer, Wilson’s gritty vocals and deep blue guitar reach back for a passionate version of Willie Dixon’s “Groaning the Blues,” an Otis Rush chestnut from 1957.

Riding the waves of “The Californian,” Brad “Guitar” Wilson’s heady blues-rock crashes over you like the surf on Carmel beaches. Come on in, the music is up, and it’s plenty tough enough.