The Phantom Blues Band is about to release their latest CD entitled Blues for Breakfast on the Little Village Foundation label. This might be the most obnoxious band in the world. Let me explain…

I did an interview with Jim Pugh of the Little Village Foundation a few years ago. While we were discussing his recording credits, I pointed out that he glossed over much of his resume. He said, “It is pretty cool to recite your credits when you are young, but by the time you get to 60, your resume just becomes obnoxious.”

Since that interview in 2016, Pugh’s resume has become even more obnoxious. In addition to all of that, he is the newest member of The Phantom Blues Band. The other five members of this all-star ensemble also have very impressive resumes and recording credits. I think it is safe to say, even if you are just a casual music listener, it is possible (even likely) that you have heard a recording that featured one or more members of this six-piece band at some point during your day, every day of your life. Talk about ‘obnoxious’…

Many of our readers are likely most familiar with this band as the ensemble that has occasionally backed up blues man Taj Mahal on recordings and in live performances for almost thirty years. However, calling Taj Mahal a blues man misses the point entirely. This wildly eclectic musician has summoned the talents of The Phantom Blues Band when he decides to go down his rhythm & blues rabbit hole. These first call musicians turned out to be greater (which is saying a lot) than the sum of their formidable parts and can follow the muse of their leader wherever that may lead. Taj Mahal calls them his secret weapon.

The band made its debut under its own name in 2006, on their Delta Groove Music release entitled Out of the Shadows and have followed that up with three other albums, when they weren’t recording or touring with various icons of American music. The core band included guitarist Denny Freeman who left the ensemble after Out of the Shadows to record and tour with a guy named Bob from Hibbing, Minnesota. 

The remaining members were made up of guitarist and vocalist Johnny Lee Schell, Joe Sublett on sax, Tony Braunagel on drums and percussion, bassist and vocalist Larry Fulcher, Darrell Leonard on trumpet and keyboard player Mike Finnigan. Finnigan whose main focus was the Hammond B3 organ has been described as being one of the greatest soul singers of all time.  You will get no argument from me on that assertion.

On August 11th, 2021, Mike Finnigan succumbed to cancer at the age of 76. He is irreplaceable but, what The Phantom Blues Band did was rally. They inserted Jim Pugh into what one could consider a rather intimidating chair behind the keyboards. Let’s just say, at 6’6’’ Pugh can reach the foot pedals. Les Lovitt has replaced Darrel Leonard on trumpet.

Like ordering a chili omelet with hash browns at 11:30 at night in a 24-hour diner, Blues For Breakfast goes down good at any time. The Phantom Blues Band which of course isn’t a blues band at all, hence the “Phantom”, is in fact, one of the great soul ensembles to mount a bandstand. Heck, those are just labels and descriptive shortcuts anyway for lazy scribes. Soul, blues, rhythm & blues, pop, gospel, world music, The Phantom Blues band plays it all. Like so many of the great players of the past, many of whom have moved on from our mortal sphere, The Phantom Blues Band plays everything as if their lives depend on it. Seeing them perform live has been one of the great joys of my life.

The band brought their “A” game to Blues For Breakfast which includes the instantly recognizable sense of joy they bring to their performances. In keeping with that tradition, The Phantom Blues Band opens the album by setting the bar extremely high and taking on the classic Stax sound of Sam & Dave’s I Take What I Want. They meet this Issac Hayes/Dave Porter penned number head on in a demonstration that is equal parts testicular fortitude and sublime execution. While the vocal tandem of Johnny Lee Schell and Larry Fulcher is no match for the Sultans of Sweat, it doesn’t have to be.

On the next eleven songs the band careens between interesting interpretations of songs originally written and performed by Curtis Mayfield, Little Milton, Ike Turner, Sonny Thompson (via Freddy King) Sam Cooke, Jimmy McCracklin and others. These songs are taken out for a joy ride as this six-member wrecking crew rolls down the windows, revs the engine and lets ‘er rip.

Along the way a few guests drop by perhaps most notably Curtis Salgado sings and blows harp on a couple of tracks and Bonnie Raitt adds her vocals to that great old Freddy King classic, Country Boy.

A bittersweet treat for long time fans of the band is hearing Mike Finnigan’s voice and organ on the tune OK, I Admit It. To further cement Mike’s already prodigious legacy, his son Kelly actually takes an organ solo on the album’s final track. A lovely touch...

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that this recording is dedicated to the memory of Mike Finnigan and all proceeds from sales are being donated to the scholarship program at the Mike Finnigan school of music in Salina, Kansas.

I enjoyed Blues For Breakfast but truth be known, I could consume this band for breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as a few in between snacks and dessert. Now, look whose being obnoxious.

- David Mac