Robert Jon & The Wreck Troy Redfern - Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh 24th September 2021

Like The Eagles, they’re a SoCal band making beautiful southern-tinged music, but you can add blues, gospel, soul and americana to that jambalaya and that’s why the comparisons they get range from Skynyrd and The Allmans all the way through to Delaney & Bonnie, Aretha and The Blues Brothers. For me, it’s an immaculate blend of five exceptional musicians at the peak of their powers and working in perfect harmony to make sweet, ensemble magic with its own distinctive flavour.

This show was originally booked for May in support of their ‘Last Light on the Highway’ album, but the world was still in a dark place back then. The band used the lost time to record another illuminating album, ‘Shine a Light on Me Brother’, and they’ve brought that and a beacon of positivity for a run of sold-out shows all over the UK and Europe.

It’s a massive but beautifully balanced sound from the start, beginning with “The Devil is Your Only Friend”, followed up with the liberating and rapturous hymn of “Do You Remember” which extols the joys of being free, and it’s a big amen to that from the first Scottish crowd they’ve ever played in front of.

It’s a free-flowing but really tight and precise performance by the band, anchored by the engaging, singing drummer Andrew Espantman and Warren Murrel on the bass is so effortlessly cool that he doesn’t even have to wear his shades indoors, but why not, eh? All the band bar Warren contribute flawlessly on harmony vocals, notably on the hillbilly doo-wop of “Work it Out” and Steve Maggiora is a massive part of that. He also brings an infectious grin and absolutely top-of-the-range keyboard skills. He’s a solo musician in his own right and a big-time session player, hell, he’s even a current member of Toto!

The glorious swell of their most perfect song “Oh Miss Carolina” is an evangelical experience on the night and what an absolute joy to hear these guys in action after being starved of live music for so long. “Tired of Drinking Alone” perfectly encapsulates how we’ve all been feeling throughout lockdown and Robert Jon Burrison reflected on that in his spoken intro, and how the European tour had been a special time for the band, travelling a long way from home together ‘and drinking with y’all’.

But where there is light, there needs to be shade and Robert Jon seems well-versed in the melancholy poetry of love and loss. Beautiful guitar and piano parts set him up to sing his big old heart out on the gut-wrenching “Gold”, he touches your soul on “The Death of Me” and delivers a big, black-hearted but lyrical kiss-off to an ex-girl on the sassy “Old Friend”. It’s beautiful stuff and the main man is a massive talent and a warm, engaging front-man and party starter.

The title track from the “Shine a Light on Me, Brother” album is an obvious show-stopper and the brilliant Henry James (Scheekluth) and his guitar slide it in (right to the top) on that one. He’s in astonishing form all night and he’s all over their set, peeling of stunning guitar licks and solos and interacting brilliantly with the rest of the band in a nuanced performance – a real star.

We’ll never see this band in a venue as small as this again and they’ll need a bigger stage if the budget eventually stretches to a travelling horn section and backing vocalists (Jimmy Barnes’ daughter Mahalia is among the backing vocalists on the current record). It’s like a sauna in the room, and, as with Edinburgh’s saunas which double as licensed-brothels, you’re guaranteed a happy ending – in this case the set closes with a truly phenomenal performance of “Cold Night” which starts with an Allmans style twin-guitar intro and builds to an extended blast of guitar solos and keyboard inter-play. It’s very good; in fact, it’s ‘Freebird at Knebworth’ level good and makes your hair stand on end with its intensity. The encore, “Glory Bound” offers the chance to ‘lay your burdens down’ before band and audience go their separate ways. For The Wreck, it’s on to Aberdeen and Hartlepool but they’re surely on a longer journey to the big time if there’s any justice in the music world.

Troy Redfern opened the show earlier. He’s been getting rave reviews for his current self-funded album ‘The Fire Cosmic’. Troy also did the brilliant comic-book inspired album artwork himself but it’s his first solo record with full band backing and he even wangled a guest appearance from Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal. He’s back in DIY mode again tonight though, using a foot-pedal drum and guitar resonator to back himself. It looks kind of weird, like a cowboy one-man band, missing only an accordion between the knees, but it certainly sounds good, thanks to his smoky voice and especially his exemplary slide guitar playing.

There are plenty good things due to happen for Troy later this year and into next. He’s due out with The Quireboys soon and that will be a full band affair, including Keira Kenworthy on bass, and it will be very interesting to see what he can do with real backing. He’s following that up with further dates supporting the exceptional When Rivers Meet, next year, including an Edinburgh Blues Club date in May. Let the good times roll.