The BluesPowR Blog
The new home for confessin' the blues
← Music Maker Relief Foundation celebrates silver anniversary with Blue Muse CD compilation featuring Taj Mahal, Eric Clapton, Dom Flemons & others, graphic novel, and more
Shake That Thing →
Screenwriter John Fusco returns to the crossroads with superb self-titled debut recording
Posted on February 26, 2019 by Mike
The first time New England native John Fusco came to this crossroads, as a young musician who had already had the honor of meeting and learning from blues masters such as Frank Frost and Sonny Terry, he ended up deciding to head back north to pursue another of his passions, filmwriting.
And though you could take the man out of the crossroads, you apparently couldn't take the crossroads out of the man, with Fusco's first screenplay in fact telling the tale of a young classically trained guitarist (played by Ralph Macchio) who ventures south with an old bluesman in search of a long-lost song from blues master Robert Johnson, who, legend has it, promised his soul to the devil during a visit to the crossroads in exchange for the ability to play better guitar.
From that 1986 Crossroads (which included Fusco's old friends Frost and Terry among the musicians featured either on the screen or soundtrack, along with Otis Taylor, Arlen Roth, Terry Evans, Ry Cooder, and Steve Vai), Fusco went on to write other projects such as Young Guns, The Babe, Hidalgo, and the recent Netflix show Marco Polo, as well as the soon-to-be-released Kevin Costner/Woody Harrelson film The Highwaymen. After wrapping shooting for that latest movie in New Orleans in early 2018, Fusco decided to head once again for the crossroads of Mississippi, this time to visit with bluesman Cody Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars, The Black Crowes), the son of late Memphis music producer Jim Dickinson, with whom Fusco worked on Crossroads along with the film's music supervisor Cooder.
While the 2018 visit with the younger Dickinson wasn't planned as anything more than a meet-up for old times' sake, the producer in Dickinson ended up unable to resist capturing the magic that was happening as he and Fusco jammed in Dickinson's Checkerboard Lounge studio, with Fusco eventually contributing vocals, Hammond B3, piano, organ bass and acoustic guitar and Dickinson, guitar, dobro, bass, piano, electric washboard, and drums; Risse Norman providing some strong backing vocs; and a few other friends adding harmonica and horns to create Fusco's rootsy debut album under the name of John Fusco & The X-Road Riders (Checkerboard Lounge Records).
It's pleasantly surprising how good this album from Fusco is, ranging from soulful, swaying tracks like "Hello, Highway", "A Stone's Throw" and "Can't Have Your Cake", to gruff, harder-edged numbers such as the opening "Rolling Thunder" and horn-blaring "Poutine", to the album's only cover song, a memorable closing take on Robert Johnson's "Crossroad Blues" that features Dickinson's brother Luther on slide guitar, gospelish backing vocals from Norman, and a middle verse from rapper Al Kapone. Also worth checking out are a shuffling "Drink Takes the Man" — the song that led Dickinson to jump up from his drums to hit the record button during the two musicians' impromptu jam session — with its interesting transitions, a gritty, creeping "Boogie on the Bayou", and the hit-the-road southern country anthem "Once I Pay This Truck Off".
With Fusco's husky, soulful vocals and deep, southern-sounding keyboards and Dickinson's soaring guitar, the album has a loose, Allman-esque quality, with shades at times of ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Joe Cocker and others.
For Fusco, "this record is about going back to the crossroads but taking a different turn this time, taking the road I didn't take." And anyone who hears this album will be glad he did. While we've certainly enjoyed some of the projects Fusco has written for the screen over the past decades, this album just may be his best work yet.
This entry was posted in Albums and tagged Cody Dickinson, John Fusco, Luther Dickinson. Bookmark the permalink.
BluesPowR Radio
Times are Getting Tougher
http://api.spreaker.com/download/episode/22308076/times_are_getting_tougher.mp3
Still cookin' after passing of acclaimed keyboardist, Phantom Blues Band serves up some gourmet Blues for Breakfast
2022 Highmark Blues & Heritage Festival pics now posted!
2022 Blues & Heritage Festival scores high marks with performances from Fantastic Negrito, Shemekia Copeland, Ruthie Foster and more
Four decades later, Nine Below Zero unearths band's first-ever studio recording on Back in the Day
Blues-rockers Catfish move on from lockdown with acoustic EP Bound for Better Days
Billy Branch
Billy Price
Bob Corritore
Bob Margolin
Bob Stroger
Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival
Jimmie Vaughan
John Primer
Jonn Del Toro Richardson
Kenny Beedy Eyes Smith
Lurrie Bell
Monster Mike Welch
Nick Moss
Ronnie Earl
Sugaray Rayford
Sugar Ray & the Bluetones
Tedeschi Trucks Band
Tom Hambridge
BluesPowR Radio Hour
Mojo Risin'
Tune into the Weekend
Archives Select Month October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 February 2021 May 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 June 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 July 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009