The top-10 Iowa musical acts you need to here - ROCK ROADS BLOG by Fredrick Love

Number 1:  Joe and Vicki Price - I've often heard people describe Robert Johnson's guitar playing as if it sounds like two guitarists rather than just one.  I'd argue that Iowa blues legends Joe and Vicki Price sound like two guitars being played by a single, unified mind - with tone that would make Hound Dog Taylor blush.  And their live show is an absolute joy to behold.  Their warmth and humor draw the audience in to make everyone feel like they're at a party with all their best friends.  I never tire of watching the way Joe stomps and slides his feet around with all the irresistible rhythms.  Listen to "High Blood Pressure" from their 2015 album "Night Owls" to get a sense of what I'm talking about.   March 21, 2019

REVIEW "NIGHT OWLS"

Energetic, rich, yet no-frills guitars and vocals blues from Joe and Vicki Price is what makes up the new recording of 10 originals.  There's plenty of slide guitar in the mix and both their instruments take turns thumping, plucking, droning, screaming, swishing and scratching for some the best toe-tappin' front-porch friendly blues music you'll ever hear.  Joe's voice is sandpapery, while Vicki's soprano is sometimes languid and in lounge mode - perfect for the type of music the duo performs.  Sometime the music is crackly, dusty, ready and even sleepy - but always excellent.  The CD starts out the "Honey" and sets the tone with an old-timer blues-jazz kind of feel to it.  Vicki's drawling lyrics pulling you in, slowly...then..Joe's high-pitched slide hits the accelerator and you can't help but practically bounce in your seat if you're still sitting.  The songs are all quite good, although a couple of others could bear mention.  For pure energy and feel-good clap-your-hands-stomp-around fun, there's "Airline", a slide heavy instrumental that channels the soul of Hound Dog Taylor and a more rough edged Elmore James with its "Shake Your Moneymaker" kind of beat.  As the Dog would have termed it, "house-rocking' music".  Further down the list is what almost sounds like Chet Atkins, an instrumental called "Whoopee Pie". And to show just how "blues" this blues CD really is, the final track "Beer Away", with a typically bluesy beat and chord progression, although a little more lighthearted than most, has these lyric.  "He calls me up, he needs a ride.  He's at that bar and he's too drunk to drive. I said 'Get another beer and drink it slow by the time you finish, I'll be ready to roll.  I'm a beer away...call me night or day, I'm only a beer away." So get yourself a cold one and get ready to enjoy the ride.  - Les Reynolds - Kentucky Blues Society

 

REVIEW "NIGHT OWLS"

A husband and wife that sound like they like each other is a pretty big event right there.  About the music this duo makes?  It doesn't get any more duo that this, they both pick guitar formidably with the heavy lifting done by Joe while Vicki does the heavy lifting on vocals sounding like a thrush from a speakeasy on the wrong side of town in the 1920's.  Serving up blues based roots music throughout, this is one of those little treasures we've been hiding out here in the heartland waiting for the rest of you to catch up with what people with the blues in Iowa can deliver.  A really great, heartfelt diversion from the mainstream. Check it out. - Chris Specto - Midwest Record

REVIEW "RAIN OR SHINE" WINNER OF THE INDEPENDENT MUSIC AWARD BEST CD OF THE YEAR

"Iowa may not be known as a blues Mecca, but from the opening of "hornet's Nest," it's clear that Waterloo native Joe Price is the real deal.  He beats his National Steel with the kind of power associated with Bukka White, Big Joe Williams or Mississippi Fred McDowell and sings in a style that is as lowdown as it needs to be without sounding at all affected...Somewhere Hound Dog Taylor is smiling."  -Daniel Forte - Vintage Guitar Magazine 9/009