Dr. John (The Night Tripper) Locked Down

Dr. John's Locked Down is produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach who also plays guitar on all tracks.  The first and title track Locked Down is as humid as summer in New Orleans. It is a thick, thick gumbo. Without trying to recreate Dr. John's psychedelic  swamp classic Gris-Gris this updated version of Dr. John The Night Tripper employs what he terms as "tricknologists" (buy it and read the liner notes) mixes a smooth, hot and tight blend of New Orleans' R & B, '50s Rock & Roll, and swamp blues. This young backing band might just have picked up the gauntlet that The Funky Meters laid down and picked up where they left off. In other words stanky-funky! Tricknology is a feeling employed by the young tricknologists and their master magician voodoo priest, Dr. John.


Auerbach may be the next Clapton He completely submits to learning from a master. He humbles himself and comes out on the other side a master himself by not indulging his guitar playing. In fact it is quite in the background. You can tell he feels himself to be a journeyman. No other track demonstrates this like Getaway, a funked up rhythm-guitar hero, action-packed, true blue, voodoo, hudu guru unselfish guitar coolness. Dr. John has gots to be proud! It's like college talent with professional aspirations. You hear the desire to learn the trade of Mesopotamian origins that predict a historian's discovery of something long hidden, but known to exist. The guitar work is some of his best.

When you have a recording capturing a musician's growth you are capturing "classicism"  in music that you typically only experience with Jazz. And this is where the mastery of Dr. John truly governs the albums production. This is where Dr. John employs his "tricknology" as a magician and a medicine man. Then he passes his craft to the young band and Auerbach with greatest of love for imparting knowledge to eager students. It's a beautiful record.

From the beginning you hear the sounds of swamp birds, then the funky bass lead kicks in on the song Locked Down, you just know this is going to be a psychedelic midnight ride through the back roads of southern Louisiana and the backatown alley ways of New Orleans. You get thrown right into some hard swamp R & B on Revolution, pinning your ears back with a baritone sax swing. Moving down the set list you get a great throwback paean to The Night Tripper that could have been taken right from the Gris-Gris sessions Eleggua complete with voodoo chants and magic shakers.

The great song cycle ends with a faux gospel rave-up God's Sure Good. Dr. John truly counts his blessings with this fine song. The album ends too soon, but that's what the replay button is for; it was my summer soundtrack. I wrote the original draft of the post on May 12, 2012...plenty buzzed up on whatever swamp juice I could muster with the best of tricknology.

Bob Dylan Temepst

From a Facebook post, I'll just make this my official review.

"If I can't work up to you, you'll surely have to work down to me someday." ~Bob Dylan, "Narrow Way, from the new album "Tempest."

New Dylan dropped today. I really like it upon first listen. For fans of late period stuff like "Love & Theft" or "Modern Times" his voice keeps getting rougher, songs keep getting darker, and he just keeps going back in time mining the Americana he helped push into the future. Country and Western, Blues, early Rock-N-Roll, pre-WWII everything, and even a little old world slow Irish jig on "Tempest" the title track.   I particularly like the opening song called "Duquesne Whistle" and "Narrow Way." It's on Spotify.