Spencer Kilpatrick & The Sand Gators - Bobby 
Jackson EP
Release Date: Out Now
One of the best things about writing this blog over the last 13 years or so has been discovering artists that make you fall in love with their music to the point where you become an actual, honest-to-goodness fan. American bluesman Spencer Kilpatrick is one such artist so I was delighted that he'd teamed up with his Sand Gators again to create the 'Bobby Jackson EP'. Now, for non-American and/or non-Basketball loving readers, all the songs on this EP are named after Basketball players which I had to Google so excuse me if I miss any key reference points.
The first of the four tracks is title track 'Bobby Jackson' (he started his career with the Denver Nuggets) and immediately we're on the road with a scratchy blues riff, dirty melodies and the kind of beat that is still recovering from last night as it shuffles on down the street to the tune of the horniest sax you ever did hear. 'Vlade Divac (Small Town, Big Water)' is up next with a real streets-of-Detroit sound and a downtrodden energy that is matched by the group vocals which could be coming from the unemployment line during the Great Depression.
With 'Doug Christie' (a Sacramento Kings legend, by all accounts), the sax takes the lead on a sultry little number that sits in the space between slow dance and up-tempo giving you space to talk while your hips do another kind of talking - if you follow my drift. The EP finishes up with 'Scott Pollard' (OK, I've found the pattern, Sacramento Kings is the connection) and I'm honestly expecting Shaft to appear somewhere in between the oh-so-funky guitar and too-cool-for-school rhythm section. Kilpatrick has, yet again, knocked up an effortless collection of tracks that sails past anything anyone else is putting out there at the moment. I mean, here's a guy who's written and EP about former players and coaches of the Sacramento Kings Basketball team and it's brilliant. Who even does that?
More information: https://spencerkilpatrick.bandcamp.com/