Blue Morning

Bill Wasserzieher, Blues Revue

The Mystix, at least name wise, sound like a band in one of Lenny Kayes’ NUGGETS collections, more akin to The Standells’ of “Dirty Water” fame than to Muddy Waters. But the players in The Mystix are veteran hardcore New England bluesmen, with Jo Lily, of Duke and the Drivers, on vocals, the two Martys– both Ballou and Richards from all those Duke Robillard albums– handling the rhythm section, Bobby Keyes (not the Stones sideman) on guitar, and Tom West and guest Kenny White on keyboards.

Lily’s nasty-throated vocals are the prime focus on this 10-song 40-min. disc. Songs range from the deep Delta slide blues to New Orleans cross-rhythm funkers, with interesting oddball covers spicing up a field of strong original tunes. There’s even a crying-in-my-beer lament called “Which Side of Heartache” that Nashvillers will love.

The opening track, Lily and Keyes’, “Yolanda”, gets things bumping along at a fast pace, with Lily singing about a vamp who’s got him hooked, gaffed, and ready for an emotional broiling. Keyes and Lily trade licks as the rhythm section cranks the BTUs to high. It’s the sort of kickoff track that’s likely to keep listeners tuned in to what follows. Lily’s back-to-back compositions “New Orleans” and the title track provide the album’s centerpieces, the first bursting with Mardi Gras energy and the latter as stately as a funeral procession. For variety, the band turns to the Jimmy Reed songbook for “I’m a Love You” and reaches into the classic rock hamper for “Rattled”, a Traveling Wilbury’s tune that doesn’t sound a lot like the original; it sounds better.

Hal Horowitz, All Music Guide on The Mystix

The Mystix frontman Jo Lily is the kind of raspy-voiced vocalist who sounds like he started smoking cigarettes and mainlining bourbon as a toddler. I mean, you wouldn’t mistake him for Tom Waits, but he could be Tom’s long-lost Boston cousin.

When a group combines rock, R&B, blues, and country, they risk coming off like just another bar band. On their follow-up to Satisfy You, this Beantown quintet succeeds in dodging that particular bullet-not as handily as Waits and crew, but close enough.

Granted, “the kids” aren’t likely to dig Blue Morning, but I doubt The Mystix are losing any sleep over their lack of youth appeal. And by kids, I don’t just mean young’uns, but listeners of all ages who only gravitate towards the newest, hippest, most cutting-edge sounds.

That said, the record does include a couple of covers. I didn’t realize they weren’t originals until I checked the liner notes, which is always a good sign. They’re Jimmy Reed’s “I’m a Love You” and “Rattled,” which credits Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty-Traveling Wilburys alert! Clearly, catering to the hipster crowd isn’t their primary objective.

The outfit is rounded out by Bobby Keyes (guitar), Marty Richards (drums), Marty Ballou (bass), and Tom West (keyboards). Lily, who doubles on slide, conjures up Duane Allman on “Yolanda,” specifically “One Way Out”-my favorite Allman Brothers performance next to “Midnight Rider.” Separately, the musicians have played with Jerry Lee Lewis, Ben E. King, Duke Robillard, and John Hammond. These guys have paid their dues. And it shows.

Aiding & Abetting

Almost 20 years ago, I took my then-new girlfriend (and now wife) down to a local joint in Columbia, Mo., and saw the Nighthawks tear up the place. The crowd was mostly thirty and forty-something townies. We’d never seen “old” people get so hot and bothered about music. I mean that literally. The folks were sweating so much that dancing became something of a Twister match. I think that was kinda the idea.

The Nighthawks still tear up the joint wherever they play. And The Mystix remind me a lot of that night years ago in Columbia, even if they and (especially) singer Jo Lily remind me a lot more of Bob Dylan’s recent output.

Not so much in the lyrics—Lily takes a more traditional and stripped-down approach to those. But the rollicking blues sound is in the same general corner of the universe, though The Mystix are certainly more rambunctious. Bobby Keyes’s guitar work is stellar, impressive both in terms of skill and feel. He knows how to set the table—and when to snatch the tablecloth from underneath the settings as well.

I’m sure these boys would be a good time down in the corner saloon, and they’ve put together an exceptional album as well. And now that I’m the same age as many of those “old” people I saw grooving to the Nighthawks all those years ago, I understand that it’s not only possible for us oldsters to get down, but that sometimes it’s absolutely necessary. And bands like the Mystix make it much easier for us to do our duty.

Warren Allen, PERFORMER Magazine

Boston-based band The Mystix has produced some good Southern fried soul music with the new release BLUE MORNING. Made up of Massachusetts and New York musicians, the group makes roots music with an ecstatic and loving sound. Singer and guitarist Jo Lily’s hoarse field calls practically beg to be heard in open air. He growls, purrs and shouts with a sound that isn’t quite country, isn’t quite New Orleans blues, but draws on both, with a helping of gospel thrown in.

The sound of warbling slide guitar in “Yolanda” and the groovy “Another Kind of Love” get the album started right. There are also covers of Jimmy Reed’s “I’m a Love You” and the Traveling Wilburys’ “Rattled”, both well-done, though not as memorable as the energetic originals by Lily and Bobby Keyes. Clumsy fade-outs mar a few tracks just when things seem to be getting good, but by the end the songs are given a chance to say all that they need to.

Bobby Keyes on electric guitar takes some adventurous solos and really grabs at the best parts of the blues. There are tunes (the lonesome country ballad “Which Side of Heartache” being one) that could fare better if it was just Keyes and Lily at work, without backing vocals or the rhythm section. That said, Marty Ballou on bass and Marty Richards and Dennis McDermott on drums do a fine job of laying roots and groove. Without them, the album would lose a healthy dose of honky-tonk bounce.

This is fun music that’ll have you wishing for summer, a cheap radio and a station that puts this kind of tasty stuff on the air. (MYSTIX EYES RECORDS) – Warren Allen

Mike Loce, The Noise

As the Mystix intrudes upon my morning awakening, I really can’t grab the words at first. This band, as early morning, go-to-the-job background, well, it really leaves a space between the mind and brain. For those who work the early, or “normal” shift of slavery to acquire the monies to pay thy rent and booze, I heartily recommend this. Okay, enough weird talk, this album GROOVES in the CCR way, funky low down blues-grooves with slide guitar-really great songs that could serve as an ass-kickin’ smooth drivin’ soundtrack for some new classic American film. Real pro musician quality (whatever that may be; make your own decision) permeates every song, and I love that twangy surf guitar. These guys know how to play, and they know how to play together. It’s refreshing to hear a veteran band like this in the midst of the Boston scene. Some bands got it, and the Mystix has it and uses it.

Jay N. Miller, The Patriot Ledger

The Mystix – who were known as The Mystics before they discovered how many soothsayers that would conjure up on the Internet – have been together less than three years, but they have plenty of experience.

Frontman Jo Lilly was better known as Sam DeLuxe when he was fronting legendary Boston rockers Duke and the Drivers. Guitarist Bobby Keyes has worked with a long list of bands, often behind the scenes, but his most visible gig was probably with New Kids on the Block, although he’s also worked with rock ‘n’ roll legend Darlene Love, soul man Ben E. King and Jerry Lee Lewis.

More recently, Keyes’ NKOTB connections led to a relationship with popster Robin Thicke, whose album last year “The Evolution of Robin Thicke” featured a lot of Keyes’ songwriting and studio help. That in turn led to more studio work, with artists as diverse as soul queen Mary J. Blige and rapper Li’l Wayne.

For the Mystix, Lilly writes most of the songs in rough versions, and then brings them in to Keyes’ Saugus studio where the two polish them into finished products.

The Mystix rhythm section features the two Martys: drummer Marty Richards (Peter Wolf, Gary Burton, Duke Robillard) and bassist Marty Ballou (John Hammond, Robillard, Roomful of Blues). Keyboardist Tom West is another Beantown music vet who’s worked with Wolf, Susan Tedeschi, Duke Levine and Barrence Whitfield. As this lineup might suggest, the Mystix sound is a panoply of American roots music, but mostly a swampy, groove-oriented kind of rock, blues melting into country, New Orleans cruising through Nashville on the way to Chicago.

A new CD

The new album has much to recommend it, with “Yolanda” evoking Little Feat as Lilly/s gravelly vocal tells a world-weary love story, riding a slide guitar figure that is contrasted with tart bent note runs.

The guitars on “Another Kind of Love” suggest a spy movie theme, as Lilly sings with a 1960s pop feel and mock drama a la Chris Isaak. “Change in Jane” has a definite electric Dylan feel, a bittersweet love song with exquisite keyboard work.

Elsewhere the CD has the syncopated slide guitar romp “New Orleans” and the haunting ballad that is the title cut, “Blue Morning,” a simmering tune with swirling rhythms and a Springsteen-like gravitas.

“Rattled” is a delightful cover from the Traveling Wilburys catalog, done here as a fast-paced shuffle with superb tongue-in-cheek tone. “Which Side of Heartache” is a tearjerker country ballad, kind of like a Charlie Rich song sung by Merle Haggard, but it is one of Lilly’s most unforgettable outings.

Kevin R. Convey —Boston Herald

Boston-based Mystix makes lunch-bucket roots rock with a working-class ethos – lots of heavy lifting but no wasted motion. Fronted by Jo Lily (aka Sam Deluxe of Duke and the Drivers), the band of guitarist Bobby Keyes, drummer Marty Richards, bassist Marty Ballou and keyboardist Tom West is a collection of erstwhile hired guns who have backed local luminaries such as Peter Wolf, Susan Tedeschi, Duke Robillard and Barrence Whitfield. While Lily’s apocalyptic croak is so Dylanesque as to inspire confusion, there’s nothing confusing about the passion, commitment and economy the Mystix brings to its mix of blues, r & b and country.