Warren Storm- Taking the World by Storm review

Warren Storm Taking the World by Storm APO Records

The sticker reads, “A regional roots journey with ‘The Godfather of Swamp Pop.’”

Being more than a little-bit-a-fan of Louisiana sounds of the Bobby Charles variety, I’m an easy in.

Starting strong with a duet with John Fogerty on “Long As I Can See the Light” followed by Marc Broussard on “Mathilda,” this made-with-love album from Louisiana mainstay Warren Storm doesn’t slow down across eleven songs and 36-minutes.

Producer Yvette Landry gathered together a fiery band (Eric Adcock, piano; Roddie Romero, guitar; Derek Huston, saxophone; Chris French, URB; and Gary Usie, drums) to provide the steamin’ sauce needed for such an endeavor. Having performed his entire career in juke joints, clubs, and halls, Storm has perfected the mix of Cajun, rhythm & blues, country & western, and Creole music that makes Louisiana rock and roll as little bit different: swamp pop, it is.

The album contains terrific performances of songs Storm has sung (and recorded) a few times. Fats Domino’s “Let the Four Winds Blow” is taken for a stroll, featuring nice horn accents from Huston. The standards “Troubles, Troubles” and “Lonely Nights” are highlights of the set, but so too are the more country takes, including Charles’ “Tennessee Blues” (featuring Landry collaborators Richard Comeaux—pedal steel—and Beau Thomas—fiddle) and Merle Haggard’s “My House of Memories.” While Storm sounds great throughout, it is on “Tennessee Blues” and “In My Moments of Sorrow” that he truly shines. Storm’s saxman Willie “Tee” Trahan plays on two tracks, “In My Moments of Sorrow” and “Troubles, Troubles.”

Landry joins him on a swampy “Mama, Mama, Mama,” and by the time Storm swings into “Raining in My Heart” to conclude the set, one has another previously-unheard favourite to musically explore. A well-recorded, expertly presented collection of music.

Warren Storm still has the soul that mad him the Godfather of Swamp Pop. Spend some time with him as he is Taking the World by Storm.

From a while back…