Produced by Grammy award and Blues Music Award winner Tom Hambridge with special guests: harp master Billy Branch, Sax Gordon, The Chicago Horns, and drummer Tom Hambridge
“Dave Weld & the Imperial Flames weave an original tapestry of pure Chicago blues tradition with a forward-looking sound and energy.”
Chicago blues is Dave Weld’s lifeblood. From his beginnings mentored by JB Hutto to his decades with Lil Ed Williams and his Blues Imperials, he has taken the blues around the world. Weld and his Imperial Flames have a brand-new album titled “NIGHTWALK,” their third for Chicago’s Delmark Records. “NIGHTWALK” deepens the forward-thinking sound and energy of their contemporary blues albums past, weaving an original tapestry of old and new traditions. Highlights include “Mary Who”, an authentic musical tour de force and vivid portrait of urban life and his tribute to JB Hutto, “Don’t Ever Change Your Ways”. Weld told Blues Blast Magazine that, “It’s about how he schooled me, and prepared me, for the good parts of this industry as well as the bitterness. His advice was don’t let anybody tell you you can’t make it, not your job, your girlfriend, your mother or father, your friends, nobody! That has stuck with me. The song is about him leaving Georgia and coming to Chicago to be a bluesman, and meeting him when I was a young man. That is when he told me to never change my ways.”
The Imperial Flames are a big, horn-driven band and Weld shares vocal duties with his partner Monica Myhre and his drummer Jeff Taylor. Longtime friend Billy Branch contributes harp on the Hutto original, “Now She’s Gone” as well. Weld brought Tom Hambridge in to produce. Hambridge is Buddy Guy’s longtime drummer and producer and has won two Grammy Awards along with multiple nominations for his work with Guy, Susan Tedeschi, James Cotton, and Kenny Neal.
A native of Lake Forest, Weld studied history and journalism at New Mexico State University before returning home for the blues life. He initially earned his keep playing with ex-Hound Dog Taylor sidemen Brewer Phillips and Ted Harvey at Sweet Peas, then joining up with several former bandmates of Howlin’ Wolf in the house band at the 1815 Club. Weld‘s affinity for the blues was apparent to those wary, seasoned veterans. An early supporter was Hutto, a highly regarded slide guitarist.
Weld‘s comfort with urban blues was further illustrated when he took on rhythm guitar duties in the fast company of his slide guitar-playing friend Lil Ed Williams in the raw-and-rowdy band they called The Blues Imperials. The acclaimed 1986 album ROUGHHOUSIN’ captured their incandescent spirit. Weld was with The Blues Imperials for about ten years before branching off in the late-1980s to lead his own outfit. To date, The Imperial Flames have performed in 26 states, 11 countries, and at about three dozen festivals, among them the Montreal Jazz Festival and, naturally, the Chicago Blues Festival.
Dave Weld SLIDE LEAD (2, 4, 6, 7, 11, 12) LEAD/RHYTHM GUITAR (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) LEAD VOCAL (1, 2, 4, 6, 11, 12) • VOCAL CHORUS (1, 2, 12)
Monica Myhre LEAD VOCAL (3, 5, 7, 8, 9) BACKUP VOCAL (1, 8, 12) • VOCAL CHORUS (1, 2, 12) TAMBORINE (2, 10) • HORN ARRANGEMENTS (8)
Harry Yaseen PIANO (1-6, 8,11, 12) PIANO SOLO (4, 5)
Graham Guest B3 (3, 5, 6, 7, 8) • PIANO (9)
Kenny Pickens BASS GUITAR (ALL TRACKS)
Jeff Taylor DRUMS (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) LEAD VOCAL (10) • VOCAL CHORUS (1, 2 )
Tom Hambridge DRUMS (4)
Tony Carpenter PERCUSSION (4, 8)
Sax Gordon BARITONE SAX (1, 10, 12) • ALTO SAX (10)
Rogers Randle, Jr. ALTO SAX SOLO (8) ALTO SAX (5, 8) • HORN ARRANGEMENTS (5)
Kenny Anderson TRUMPET (5, 8)
Bill McFarland TROMBONE (5, 8)
Billy Branch HARP (6)
1. MARY WHO 6 : 1 3 Dave Weld / Monica Myhre (Welder Music, BMI)
2 . DON’T EVER CHANGE YOUR WAYS 4 : 1 9 Dave Weld / Monica Myhre (Welder Music, BMI)
3 . DON’T TELL MAMA 5 : 0 3 Monica Myhre / Dave Weld (Welder Music, BMI)
4 . RED HOT TABASCO 3 : 0 4 Dave Weld / Monica Myhre (Welder Music, BMI)
5 . TRAVELIN’ WOMAN 4 : 4 0 Monica Myhre / Dave Weld (Welder Music, BMI)
6 . NOW SHE’S GONE 6 : 0 0 J.B. Hutto (Original Recording, Chance Records 1953)
Musical Arrangement: Dave Weld
7. CRY, CRY, CRY 4 : 2 2 Monica Myhre / Dave Weld (Welder Music, BMI)
8 . DONDE VAS 4 : 5 3 Monica Myhre / Dave Weld (Welder Music, BMI)
9 . SHE WAS A WOMAN 5 : 4 7 Monica Myhre / Dave Weld (Welder Music, BMI)
10 . HIT BY THE 103 4 : 4 3 Monica Myhre / Dave Weld (Welder Music, BMI)
11. LOVING YOU /JELLY ROLL BLUES 4 : 2 0 J.B. Hutto / Bukka White Arrangement: Dave Weld
1 2 . MARY WHO (EXTENDED VERSION) 7: 3 7 Dave Weld / Monica Myhre (Welder Music, BMI)
ALBUM PRODUCTION AND SUPERVISION BY JULIA A. MILLER AND ELBIO BARILARI
PRODUCED BY TOM HAMBRIDGE
RECORDED AT JOY RIDE STUDIO, CHICAGO, IL, BY BLAISE BARTON • JANUARY 20-22, 2021 PRODUCTION/EDITING/OVERDUBS ENGINEER: BRIAN LEACH
MIXED AT THE SWITCHYARD STUDIO, NASHVILLE, TN, BY TOM HAMBRIDGE AND MICHAEL SAINT-LEON
POST-PRODUCTION BY ELBIO BARILARI AND JULIA A. MILLER AT DELMARK RIVERSIDE STUDIO, CHICAGO, ILMASTERED BY JULIA A. MILLER AT DELMARK RIVERSIDE STUDIO, CHICAGO, ILCOVER ART “LOWER MICHIGAN AVENUE NIGHTMARE” BY JUSTIN KERN
GRAPHIC DESIGN BY AL BRANDTNER, BRANDTNER DESIGN
CD RELEASE DATE: MAY 27, 2022
CATALOG NUMBER: DELMARK 874
“THE IMPERIAL FLAMES are a KILLER veteran all-star, real deal Chicago Blues band at its house rockin’ best!! Led by the Hound Dog Taylor and JB Hutto taught guitarist and vocalist Dave Weld, Weld’s band is one of the hardest working, longest running and most talented and cohesive Chicago blues bands around!!!”……………Kevin Johnson, DELMARK RECORDS
