STERLING KOCH
''LET IT SLIDE''
MARCH 26 2013
47:39
1 Shape I'm In, Pt. 1 00:56
2 Shape I'm In, Pt. 2 03:50
3 Wrong Side Of The Blues 03:26
4 Mercury Blues 03:54
5 Blow My Mind 03:43
6 It Hurts Me Too 04:17
7 Too Sorry 03:40
8 I Don't Know Why 03:15
9 Lonely Avenue 03:24
10 My Baby's Hot 04:57
11 I Wanna Be Your Driver 03:06
12 I Only Wanna Be With You 05:35
13 Working Mans Blues Remix B(M) 03:28
Album Notes
by cdbaby
Sterling Koch returns with a new album "Let It Slide," the follow up to his very successful 2011 release "Slide Ruler." "Let It Slide" includes 13 songs, 8 originals and 5 covers, of varying blues and blues/rock styles. The cover songs include songs by Elmore James, Doyle Bramhall (I and II) and Rick Vito (Fleetwood Mac) as well as the single "Mercury Blues" by K.C. Douglas. "Let It Slide" features Gene Babula on bass and John Goba on drums taking over for Tommy Shannon (Double Trouble) and Chet McCracken (Doobie Brothers) from the "Slide Ruler" album.
Sterling only began to play the lap steel in 2004 as the result of a neck injury, a herniated disk. He had previously played the conventional 6 string guitar for 35 years. Sterling specializes in playing slide guitar blues on the lap steel guitar and is widely acclaimed as one of the foremost propnents of the lap steel guitar. He has previously released 4 solo CDs of steel guitar blues music, "Slide Ruler," "Steel Guitar Blues, "Steelin' Home" and "How I Spent My Summer Vacation."
REVIEW
by John Vermilyea (Blues Underground Network)
Sterling Koch (pronounced Cook) is a nationally recognized Lap Steel Guitar player, whom hails out of Pottsville, Pennsylvania (USA), and specializes in "playing Chicago-style, slide guitar blues in a contemporary style on the lap steel guitar." "Let It Slide" marks his 5th solo album dedicated to steel guitar music, his previous one being "Slide Ruler", which was my first acquaintance to Sterling Koch's music, and which an excerpt of my review of that album was, "All in all, "Slide Ruler" was the huge treat that I thought it would be, and more. Great Vocals and Guitar work by Sterling, along with not only well written tunes on his part, but well interpreted covers for the rest of the Tracks."
"Let It Slide" consists of 13 Tracks, of which Sterling Koch either wrote or co-wrote 8 of them. The other co-writer, on 2 tracks was Freida Gantt. For the 4 covers Sterling chose a very interesting mix, which included, "Shape I'm In" (Marc Benno/Doyle Bramhall), "Mercury Blues" (K. C. Douglas/Robert Geddins), "It Hurts Me Too" (Elmore James/Marshall Sehorn), and "My Baby's Hot" (Rick Vito). Sterling Koch is joined on "Let It Slide" with Gene Babula (Bass) and John Goba (Drums), which make up his touring band. Additional performers for 1 Track each, were Larry Adam on Keyboards ("I Only Want To be With You") and Jennifer Dierwechter, Backing Vocals ("Working Man Blues").
"Let It Slide" starts the ball rolling with a 1 minute opening intro based on "Shape I'm In", after which he lets the fur fly with a Slidefest driven Country Blues feeling number. Those that like the Slide are going to love this one.
"Wrong Side Of The Blues" offers up a really nice 3 piece band feel where one gets a good feel for not only the Guitar playing but also the great full Drum and Bass beat.
With "Mercury Blues", Sterling Koch slows down the tempo a bit on one hand, and on the other, he pumps up the excitement with his grinding Slide work. Exceptionally well done cover of this great song.
"Blow My Mind" brings us all we love from 3 piece bands, such as ZZ Top, with the hypnotic beat of the Drums and Bass, while the Guitar does the job of bringing it all home. Track 8, "I Don't Know Why" Track 10, "My Baby's Hot", also have this really fine grooving feel to it.
"It Hurts Me Too", once again slows it down a bit and lets us all truly absorb not only Sterling's amazing Guitar work, but also his equally great Vocals, which are absolutely perfect for the style of music he performs. This one was certainly one of my favorites.
The remainder of the album spends a lot of time kicking up the volume and the tempo, offering up some really good Rockin' Guitar Driven Blues, of which I particularly loved, Track 7, "Too Sorry", Track 11, "I Wanna Be Your Driver", and the final Track, "Working Man Blues". "Working Man's Blues" also featured great Backing Vocals from Jennifer Dierwechter.
I must say, I really enjoyed Sterling Koch's previous release, "Slide Ruler", and was really looking forward to hearing his next release. With "Let It Slide", my anticipation was greatly rewarded, as Sterling Koch and crew, have once again put together a real winner, and certainly have showed us why Sterling is considered amongst the very best Lap Slide Guitarist going.
OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY
Sterling Koch is a nationally recognized lap steel guitarist who is a touring/recording solo artist and session musician. Sterling specializes in playing Chicago-style, slide guitar blues in a contemporary style on the lap steel guitar. He has recorded 4 solo albums of steel guitar music including "Steel Guitar Blues", "Steelin' Home" and "How I Spent My Summer Vacation." with the most recent release being "Slide Ruler."
The "Slide Ruler" album features legendary blues bassist Tommy Shannon (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Winter) and Grammy nominated drummer Chet McCracken (Doobie Brothers). The album includes 12 tracks covering blues legends as diverse as Elmore James, John Lee Hooker and Otis Rush and features a cover of Santo & Johnny's steel guitar standard "Sleepwalk." The album has received stellar reviews from such noted blues magazines as Blues Matters, Blues Blast Magazine and Blues In Britain magazine as well as airplay throughout the US, Canada, UK and Europe. The single, "If You Wanna Rock & Roll" written by Dion Demucci, was featured on the nationally syndicated radio program, "Blues Deluxe."
Sterling has appeared as opening act for Savoy Brown, Rick Derringer and Blackfoot among many other major touring bands and just opened the 3 day, nationally recognized Pennsylvania Blues Festival 2011. He has also performed at many nationally known venues including The Bitter End, Kenny's Castaways and Cornelia Street Cafe (all in New York City) as well as Stanhope House and Bubba Mac's Blues Shack (both in New Jersey) and at Daytona Bike Week 2005.
Sterling has had the support of the legendary steel guitarist Calvin Cooke (mentor to Robert Randolph of "Robert Randolph's Family Band") when first starting on steel guitar and now can claim internationally known steel guitarists Darick Campbell (The Campbell Brothers), Aubrey Ghent and Freddie Roulette as friends and mentors.
WEBSITE
''LET IT SLIDE''
MARCH 26 2013
47:39
1 Shape I'm In, Pt. 1 00:56
2 Shape I'm In, Pt. 2 03:50
3 Wrong Side Of The Blues 03:26
4 Mercury Blues 03:54
5 Blow My Mind 03:43
6 It Hurts Me Too 04:17
7 Too Sorry 03:40
8 I Don't Know Why 03:15
9 Lonely Avenue 03:24
10 My Baby's Hot 04:57
11 I Wanna Be Your Driver 03:06
12 I Only Wanna Be With You 05:35
13 Working Mans Blues Remix B(M) 03:28
Album Notes
by cdbaby
Sterling Koch returns with a new album "Let It Slide," the follow up to his very successful 2011 release "Slide Ruler." "Let It Slide" includes 13 songs, 8 originals and 5 covers, of varying blues and blues/rock styles. The cover songs include songs by Elmore James, Doyle Bramhall (I and II) and Rick Vito (Fleetwood Mac) as well as the single "Mercury Blues" by K.C. Douglas. "Let It Slide" features Gene Babula on bass and John Goba on drums taking over for Tommy Shannon (Double Trouble) and Chet McCracken (Doobie Brothers) from the "Slide Ruler" album.
Sterling only began to play the lap steel in 2004 as the result of a neck injury, a herniated disk. He had previously played the conventional 6 string guitar for 35 years. Sterling specializes in playing slide guitar blues on the lap steel guitar and is widely acclaimed as one of the foremost propnents of the lap steel guitar. He has previously released 4 solo CDs of steel guitar blues music, "Slide Ruler," "Steel Guitar Blues, "Steelin' Home" and "How I Spent My Summer Vacation."
REVIEW
by John Vermilyea (Blues Underground Network)
Sterling Koch (pronounced Cook) is a nationally recognized Lap Steel Guitar player, whom hails out of Pottsville, Pennsylvania (USA), and specializes in "playing Chicago-style, slide guitar blues in a contemporary style on the lap steel guitar." "Let It Slide" marks his 5th solo album dedicated to steel guitar music, his previous one being "Slide Ruler", which was my first acquaintance to Sterling Koch's music, and which an excerpt of my review of that album was, "All in all, "Slide Ruler" was the huge treat that I thought it would be, and more. Great Vocals and Guitar work by Sterling, along with not only well written tunes on his part, but well interpreted covers for the rest of the Tracks."
"Let It Slide" consists of 13 Tracks, of which Sterling Koch either wrote or co-wrote 8 of them. The other co-writer, on 2 tracks was Freida Gantt. For the 4 covers Sterling chose a very interesting mix, which included, "Shape I'm In" (Marc Benno/Doyle Bramhall), "Mercury Blues" (K. C. Douglas/Robert Geddins), "It Hurts Me Too" (Elmore James/Marshall Sehorn), and "My Baby's Hot" (Rick Vito). Sterling Koch is joined on "Let It Slide" with Gene Babula (Bass) and John Goba (Drums), which make up his touring band. Additional performers for 1 Track each, were Larry Adam on Keyboards ("I Only Want To be With You") and Jennifer Dierwechter, Backing Vocals ("Working Man Blues").
"Let It Slide" starts the ball rolling with a 1 minute opening intro based on "Shape I'm In", after which he lets the fur fly with a Slidefest driven Country Blues feeling number. Those that like the Slide are going to love this one.
"Wrong Side Of The Blues" offers up a really nice 3 piece band feel where one gets a good feel for not only the Guitar playing but also the great full Drum and Bass beat.
With "Mercury Blues", Sterling Koch slows down the tempo a bit on one hand, and on the other, he pumps up the excitement with his grinding Slide work. Exceptionally well done cover of this great song.
"Blow My Mind" brings us all we love from 3 piece bands, such as ZZ Top, with the hypnotic beat of the Drums and Bass, while the Guitar does the job of bringing it all home. Track 8, "I Don't Know Why" Track 10, "My Baby's Hot", also have this really fine grooving feel to it.
"It Hurts Me Too", once again slows it down a bit and lets us all truly absorb not only Sterling's amazing Guitar work, but also his equally great Vocals, which are absolutely perfect for the style of music he performs. This one was certainly one of my favorites.
The remainder of the album spends a lot of time kicking up the volume and the tempo, offering up some really good Rockin' Guitar Driven Blues, of which I particularly loved, Track 7, "Too Sorry", Track 11, "I Wanna Be Your Driver", and the final Track, "Working Man Blues". "Working Man's Blues" also featured great Backing Vocals from Jennifer Dierwechter.
I must say, I really enjoyed Sterling Koch's previous release, "Slide Ruler", and was really looking forward to hearing his next release. With "Let It Slide", my anticipation was greatly rewarded, as Sterling Koch and crew, have once again put together a real winner, and certainly have showed us why Sterling is considered amongst the very best Lap Slide Guitarist going.
OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY
Sterling Koch is a nationally recognized lap steel guitarist who is a touring/recording solo artist and session musician. Sterling specializes in playing Chicago-style, slide guitar blues in a contemporary style on the lap steel guitar. He has recorded 4 solo albums of steel guitar music including "Steel Guitar Blues", "Steelin' Home" and "How I Spent My Summer Vacation." with the most recent release being "Slide Ruler."
The "Slide Ruler" album features legendary blues bassist Tommy Shannon (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Winter) and Grammy nominated drummer Chet McCracken (Doobie Brothers). The album includes 12 tracks covering blues legends as diverse as Elmore James, John Lee Hooker and Otis Rush and features a cover of Santo & Johnny's steel guitar standard "Sleepwalk." The album has received stellar reviews from such noted blues magazines as Blues Matters, Blues Blast Magazine and Blues In Britain magazine as well as airplay throughout the US, Canada, UK and Europe. The single, "If You Wanna Rock & Roll" written by Dion Demucci, was featured on the nationally syndicated radio program, "Blues Deluxe."
Sterling has appeared as opening act for Savoy Brown, Rick Derringer and Blackfoot among many other major touring bands and just opened the 3 day, nationally recognized Pennsylvania Blues Festival 2011. He has also performed at many nationally known venues including The Bitter End, Kenny's Castaways and Cornelia Street Cafe (all in New York City) as well as Stanhope House and Bubba Mac's Blues Shack (both in New Jersey) and at Daytona Bike Week 2005.
Sterling has had the support of the legendary steel guitarist Calvin Cooke (mentor to Robert Randolph of "Robert Randolph's Family Band") when first starting on steel guitar and now can claim internationally known steel guitarists Darick Campbell (The Campbell Brothers), Aubrey Ghent and Freddie Roulette as friends and mentors.
WEBSITE
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