Bluesman’s Prayer (NorthernBlues)
The honest sounding songs on their fifth release draw you to conclude the band is in love with the blues and its lifestyle. Glamourpuss is welcoming and inviting without showing off or being overbearing. Overall, you’ll enjoy riveting songwriting, articulate guitar, simmering keys, and admirable production.
-Tim Holek
Blues Bytes Magazine
January 2007
www.bluesbytes.net
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Bluesman's Prayer (Northern Blues Music)
Moncton, N.B.'s favourite sons, reputed to be the best saloon band in Atlantic Canada, serve up on their fifth recording — and their second for Toronto-based Northern Blues — a heaping helping of big fat roadhouse blues-rock, tinged with raucous Cajun inflections and soulful R&B ballads. Lead track, pianist/organist Roger Cormier's "Leaving On Sunday," is a surprisingly tender and lonesome thing, almost liturgical in construction, and the title track, a loping, minor-key blues, sounds like a relic from a New Orleans wake, thanks to the imagination of producer and special guest Michael Jerome Browne.
-Toronto Star
April 2006
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The New Brunswick band offers their finest effort yet moving easily from soulful ballads to grinding blues and from swampy rock to zydeco. As producer, Montreal’s Michael Jerome Browne has helped Glamourpuss bring focus to their versatility. ***
-Mike Regenstreif
Montreal Gazette
February 2006
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ When we reviewed this band’s CD Wire & Wood three years ago, we predicted an award in the near future. That prediction held true. Glamourpuss received several nominations and awards from the East Coast Music Awards, the Toronto Blues Society and the 10th annual Real Blues Awards. The little band from New Brunswick turned a lot of heads and Bluesman’s Prayer will gather more fans.

This is the band’s fifth album and the second with NorthernBlues. As usual, all songs are penned by band members Roger Cormier, Travis Furlong and Larry Maillet with the exception of Hoagy Carmichael’s “Georgia On My Mind.”

Larry Maillet’s song “Street Walker” is a particular favorite telling the tale of a Chicago lady of the evening. The tune features a fine solo. Glamourpuss is in the habit of announcing their Acadian heritage. The last album offered “Maman Connait Pas Le Zydeco” and the new release heralds “Tu Peux Cogner,” (You Can Knock But You Can’t Come In) a traditional Acadian piece. Naturally, the accordion is prominently featured.

Roger Cormier’s “As Blue As It Gets” is blues in the classic style featuring the album’s producer, Michael Jerome Browne, on piano. The CD’s title tune “Bluesman’s Prayer” strikes a happy medium between blues and country music. Guitarist Travis Furlong penned the tune.

Glamourpuss continues to please a wide audience with their new project. It’s good blues!

-Richard Bourcier
JazzReview.com
January 2006
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Bluesman's Prayer is the fifth album from award-winning New Brunswick blues band Glamour Puss. Their follow-up to 2003's Wire and Wood finds the band in top form, providing a great blend of blues, rock and swing. The album was recorded in an old rural New Brunswick church, and some of the setting seeped into the sound, subtly infusing the tracks with a sense of serenity.
    Nothing about the album feels rushed or unfinished, which is all the more remarkable when you consider that what you're hearing is the first or second take of songs written as recently as the night before the recording was made.
    It might not be possible to precisely define Glamour Puss's sound but it's a sound that works for them - a sound that really comes alive in front of an audience and invites you to sing along. Songs range from silly to serene, from the fun "Drivin' The 401" - a light one, in the classic blues-rock style - to the slower, atmospheric title track, which does something quite unusual for a blues song by allowing the drum work to really stand out. However, as with the rest of the album, all of the instruments work very well together, without a single element overwhelming the others.
    Other standout tracks include "Can't Win For Losin'", a faster song (it's one to dance to!), with some retro-organ fun and cheery fatalism; "Leaving On Sunday", a song about leaving home and finding your way back to where you belong, notable for its relaxed, wistful guitar work; and the "bonus track", a sweet and soulful cover of "Georgia On My Mind" that lets the beauty of the tune speak for itself, and adds a wonderful note of grace to a wholly pleasant album.

-Charlotte Stevens
York University Excalibur
January 2006
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Glamourpuss: Bluesman’s Prayer Northern Blues
Recordings this good don’t seem to come along often enough. New Brunswick’s own Glamourpuss are preaching simple blues gospel through this fast-take gig at the Upper Cape United Church in NB. A wonderful blend of blues, rock and accordion-thumping zydeco, the emotional connection to their music is obvious. The magnificent seven that make up this seasoned group include a mix of vocals from Ron Dupuis—who is also on drums—plus Travis Furlong and Larry Maillet. Special guest Michael Jerome Browne gets blending in with harmonies.

I was so impressed with both the simplicity of the lyrics and the high-quality sound recording. It is like I have heard these songs before on an old crackly blues recording but now they are recovered and brought to modern light. Ironically, the only cover on the whole thing is ‘Georgia’ at the very end, and it is a must listen. Ray Charles himself would not turn this sound down, no way!

Favourites, well, I had many to choose from these blues experts. ‘Leaving on Sunday Morning’ eases me into quicker-paced tunes like ‘Addiction’ and ‘Drivin’ the 401’. Who doesn’t need to call upon a higher force when driving the racetrack we call the “collectors lane”.

Not surprising is how many Atlantic-Canadian music awards these fellas have to their credit. I wish them many more but mostly, want all of Canada to hear such sweet blues tunes. There is nothing like the real boppin’ thing and they are surely it!
-Sue Andreychuk
701.com
June 2006
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This fun-loving Canadian five-piece weighs in with their first full-length collection of blues and zydeco. Guitarist Travis Furlong leads Glamour Puss on the album's opener, the salacious "Kitty Kitty", which is punctuated by mean horn blasts and a stomping organ sound. The band creeps its way through fourteen slinky originals -- Furlong and keyboard/accordion player Roger Cormier share most of the songwriting duties -- and a gravely take on John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom"; while their cover sounds fine, my money is on hot-sounding originals like "Million-Air" and "You're Rich and I'm Poor". Another "don't miss" tune: the title track, which features mean acoustic guitar picking courtesy of guest performers Michael Jerome Browne and Charlie A'Court."
-AL
Living Blues
May, 2004
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"...this is as good as modern Blues gets. With a blessed absence of unending, masturbatory solos, an incredibly sweet-sounding production, lyrics that aren't too clever to be cool, and musicianship to-die-for, this CD, Wire and Wood is a phenomenal and thrilling oasis of state-of-the-art Blues in the desert of the genre's overdone mediocrity."
-P. Kellach Waddle
Blueswax
January 14, 2004
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"Glamour Puss's "Wire & Wood" is quite possibly the most upbeat CD I have heard in a long time. This Canadian 5 piece, consisting of Ron Dupuis (Drums / Vocals), Travis Furlong (Guitar / Vocals), Paul Boudreau (Bass / Vocals), Roger Cormier (Keyboards / Accordian / Harmonica / Vocals), and Dan Rodgers (Sax / Vocals) are all extremely talented and run the gammet with a musical stew of Rock / Blues / Zydeco / and All-Around-Party Band. Most would be confused by a CD that crams 15 songs of various styles into a CD running less then 53 minutes, however Glamour Puss pull it off, and pull it off flawlessly."
-Brian Cohen (Founder)
Are You Blues
Autumn, 2003
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"...After listening to their latest CD release, "Wire & Wood", I have come to two conclusions: Glamour Puss loves the blues and they love to party! There is a unique kind of irony on this CD however. On the one hand the lyrics express difficult life situations like painful relationships, loneliness, misunderstandings, disappointment, etc., elements that are essential to blues writing. On the other hand the majority of the music supporting the lyrics is upbeat, electric, fun and even danceable."
-Darryl Styres
Monkeybiz.ca
September, 2003
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"Unexpected and somewhat bizarre, this blues / rock / zydeco / R & B record is strong, strong, strong. The first great strength evident to the listener is the record's layered rhythm. Double-time bass working closely with drums, a precise horn section and a fat-bottomed organ sound give the band, in essence, three rhythm sections, so when one of the three distinct rhythm entities decides to drop out and explore the front line world of lead every so often, it doesn't detract from the song's drive at all.

"Among the record's 15 tunes are numbers definitely emphasizing the separate musical genres performed by the band, but few of the tunes are purely "blues," "zydeco," or whatever. Glamour Puss impressively blends genres that often conflict in other hands. I can think of no musician friends with whom I would not happily and enthusiastically share this release.

"The band sounds at different times like Huey Lewis & the News, Sam & Dave's backing act, the Edgar Winter band or the Saturday Night Live orchestra. Altogether rewarding."
-September, 2003
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"This is an exciting group ... I'll be very surprised if Glamour Puss doesn't garner an award nomination of some sort in 2004."
-Richard Bourcier
Jazzreview.com
September, 2003
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"... music of joyful self-expression ... dance music ... to take away the blues."
-David Kidney
Green Man Review
September, 2003
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"Glamour Puss Wire & Wood NorthernBlues NBM0018/Festival Album number four and proof positive that this band deserves its new national status. Roaring out of the block with three straight rockers, they then stay true to their New Brunswick roots with a blend of Cajun, French and acoustic blues originals. First time producer Michael Jerome Browne has done a marvelous job with the recording and the performances, adding guitar, fiddle and harmony vocals and generally taking things a step higher. The drive and spirit, though, belong to the long-standing lineup of Ron Dupuis on drums & vocals, Travis Furlong on guitar & vocals, Paul Boudreau on bass & vocals, Roger Cormier on keyboards & vocals and Don Rogers on sax & vocals. Phillipe Lucy & Roland Bourgeois augment Rogers for a horn section throughout. Newcomer Charlie A'Court guests on acoustic guitar along with Browne on "Wire & Wood", Furlong's paean to his guitar. Cormier's "(Elle est) Dangereuse" has a most effective melody line and the list of 12-bar blues with French lyrics is not a long one. John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom" gets the Animals treatment, capturing every bit of the energy in that version. "Maman Don't Play No Zydeco" gives Browne's fiddle a workout in a Doug Kershaw-styled arrangement that get re-done at the end in French, a fifteenth song on a fourteen song CD. Just before that though comes "Million-Air", another excellent Furlong song about some self-inflicted blues. All the songs here could be called thinking-while-dancing music because the lyrics go far beyond the usual. Check out the first page again for their dates here and make sure you get there early!"
-John Valenteyn
Toronto Blues Society
September, 2003
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"This is the fourth release & debut for NorthernBlues by Glamour Puss, a Blues/R&B/Funk/Rock/Zydeco & swing outfit. The New Brunswick-based got together in 1994, and here has come up with a varied repertoire of acoustic & electric tunes. Canada's acoustic Blues champion Michael Jerome Browne is not only the CD's Producer, but plays kick-ass acoustic guitar on the title track, syncopated fiddle on two tracks, rhythm guitar & some backing vocals. All the band's lyrics are included in the inlay booklet along with John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom". Though the two Zydeco tracks employ the same tune their dance inducing rhythm hypnotises your feet to tapping. I feel the funky opening track though a nice enough number it isn't really a track to set things in motion. A couple of bouncier tracks I feel admonishes my last comment with first a heavy Peter Gunn-styled guitar piece, followed by a stingingly toned guitar & buzzing B3 organ, that's vocally in a Jim Morrison-esque kinda way. "You're Rich I'm Poor" is a jaunty acoustic cum electric frame; a wry black-comedy that lightens the listener to take on board the first Zydeco tune that follows. The percussive title track skips along at a swift canter in which Michael Jerome Browne totally steals the spotlight. "If You Miss Me" mellows things right down in the form of a reflective Blues/Soul lament. The album's swing number doesn't belt right out of the speakers at you, noodles along very tastily. "Dangereuse" is just that a French lyric with brooding saxophone-d menace and feed-backed guitar. "Six Feet Down" with its music is fun attitude probably is the album's flag-waver, while "Million-Air" has that classic Chicago B.B. King influenced sound with a talkin' 'n' buildin' vocal. On the solo acoustic guitar instrumental Travis Furlong lays a heavy bass line under string ringing lead that is an attention grabber. Glamour Puss' "Wire & Wood" is a thoroughly entertaining show on a colourful little disc."
-Billy Hutchinson
Blues Matters
August 28, 2003
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"A bunch of roadhouse Canucks well deserving of wider recognition here. They've been cleaning up awards and recognition north of the border and it's impossible to see why there hasn't been any rumblings here yet. This is a smoking, killer date that fuses all the indigenous styles ala blues, zydeco and rock attitude. Wildly attention getting, this high octane performance is sure to grab your attention and turn you into a believer spreading the word as well. Smoking stuff that won't be stopped."
-Chris Spector
Midwest Record Recap
August 28, 2003
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"Moncton's blues ambassadors are back with their fourth album, and it's a cooker. On Wire & Wood, Glamour Puss meld their various influences - blues, Acadie folk, zydeco - into a stew of New Orleans-flavoured stomp. Guitarist Travis Furlong is in fine form, tearing up the fretboard on songs like "Don't You Worry," and they go deep down in the bayou for "Maman Don't Play No Zydeco." Wire & Wood should continue to cement the band's reputation across Canada. (3 out of 4 stars)"
-Dave Gauvin
Moncton Times & Transcript
August 13, 2003
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"...I still wasn't quite prepared for what awaited me on Wire & Wood, the band's first studio album in four years and their initial offering for Fred Litwin's highly regarded NorthernBlues Music label. Wire & Wood is without question Glamour Puss's finest offering to date, a career-making album from a band that has grown immeasurably in the seven years since guitarist Travis Furlong, drummer Ron Dupuis, bass player Paul Boudreau, keyboard player/accordionist Roger Cormier and sax player Don Rogers, all seasoned players, first put their heads together."
-Doug Gallant
The Guardian
August 16, 2003