I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Anderson play guitar in a lot of different rooms, from a tiny honky-tonk environment to a 10,000-seat auditorium, and even when standing in Dwight Yoakam’s shadow, he could always deliver 100% on whichever guitar he chose to play. For my money, Yoakam hasn’t sounded nearly as incredible since the duo split, but on the flip side, it’s allowed Anderson to pursue his own career, and that’s resulted in his newest solo release, “Even Things Up.”
Pete Anderson usually doesn’t step up to the mike, knowing his strengths are in what he can do with those strings; in some ways, he’s right. His rough tenor will never make him a so-called great vocalist, but it’s a good, solid voice for the fusion Detroit-blues/honky-tonk sound he’s pulling out of his new collection of songs. Anderson wrote (or lent his pen along with others) all twelve of them, from the kickin’ opening track “Honky Tonk Girl,” a hard-driving Americana tune that blends true Detroit blues with a down home country feel, all the way to the sultry, smokin’ closer, “Prophet for Profit,” a gritty pure-out blues tune with some serious picking and generous harmonia riffs (also provided by Anderson).
Anderson’s been known for years as an amazing honky-tonk guitarist and Americana producer, helping make the careers of people from Yoakam to Michelle Shocked, Rosie Flores, Lucinda Williams, Moot Davis, and newcomer Adam Hood. His hand as a producer is marvelous, with a sharp ear for the balance between instruments, a talent which is again in evidence on this disc. Anderson’s also sharp at spotting and choosing the talents best suited to his projects, blending his amazing guitar with the Hammond organ, electric piano, percussion, drums, and bass (played by a variety of talented blues players, from Michael Murphy to Jeff Donovan, Lee Thornburg to Herman Matthews), alternating between instrumental pieces with the vocal songs. Michael Murphy sings lead on the laid-back, multi-layered “Room With A View,” a tune so interwoven with harmonies it’s hard to think about writing down words while listening to the piano and guitar singing to each other. Anderson’s genius with his axe comes to the forefront with the delicious Blue Guitar, an almost jazzy blues tune that might feature more than a few instruments, but there’s no mistaking who the star is.
It’s occasionally struck me what a crime it is that so many Americana artists don’t get the recognition they deserve; even for a name as big as Pete Anderson’s. While he’s only released a handful of solo efforts, each one is a soaring tribute to a true guitar god, someone whose name belongs with Clapton, Hendrix, Harrison, and Stevie Ray Vaughan; only so few seem to realize it. For myself, I can never pass up a chance to sit in a darkened room and watch Pete Anderson play guitar.
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