I have long been an admirer of the passion and innate talent of guitarist Snowy White, especially his solo work. His time in Thin Lizzy is underestimated and overlooked too. When he plays, there is emotion in every note, and just enough notes to convey the desired feeling. The best example of this was when he took the stage at the Nottenden Festival with another guitar genius, Bernie Marsden (so if you can pick up a copy of this bootleg, I cannot recommend it enough).
Fortunately, his studio output is high quality too, and his latest album, Driving On The 44 is no exception with the cover art being just as tricksy as his playing!
With the talents of Max Middleton and Ferry Lagendijkon on keyboards, Thomas White on drums, Snowy on bass, vocals and guitar the blues just pour from every pore with ease, although he does sprinkle it all with rock, some jazz and the odd Latin groove for good measure.
Of the many highlights, the slow build opener is an instrumental; ‘Freshwater’ is packed with genres as the almost fusion intro leads, via layers of gentle guitar to a Hank via Sergio tone solo of beauty, a percussive bridge and a guitar coda of genius. ’Keep On Flying’ is a father and son duo with a deceptively full sound… slow, moody, positive and another example of his spoken/sung vocals that fit so well and the tone he gets from acoustic and electric is enviable, with superb solos.
‘Blues 22’ takes standard blues structures and shapes them anew and solos that will amaze and delight and, as he says, “Just going to play my guitar… here it comes.” The title track has some great double-tracked guitar, sensitive bass and percussion linked up with another simply brilliant guitar solo/duet. The current single ‘Lady Luck (So Mean To Me)’ with its funky blues root has a delicious slide and rounds the album off with yet another great solo.
A criminally underrated guitarist, Snowy once again shows how to play the blues and write songs that have depth and meaning and are not just a vehicle for his considerable guitar talents. If you like blues guitar, do yourself a favour and treat yourself to a masterclass.
