Live at the Green Parrot

Well, now, this is interesting, indeed. Recorded in November of last year at a popular watering hole in Key West, Fla., Bill Wharton (the “Sauce Boss") puts on a skillful demonstration of slide guitar chops. Though he’s not going to live long enough to be as good as the ever-more-astonishing Roy Rogers, he’s still pretty damn slick on the slide, and he’s got a solid blues voice, and a great back story to go with it. He tells some of that personal tale on the opening track, “Killer Tone,” and his signature song, “Let the Big Dog Eat,” is also featured here. A blues man with a career that stretches back three decades, the Sauce Boss has served up over 180,000 bowls of free gumbo in homeless shelters and put out 13 previous albums, not a one of which ever made it to my turntable, tape deck or CD player. So I got to know him on this, his first live album, and I’m happy to have made his acquaintance. The Sauce Boss appears in a chef’s toque on the album’s cover, and he’s really cookin’ here, serving up a good-time musical gumbo that includes humor, authoritative blues licks and a flavorful blend of commentary about everything from Google to grace.