Review: Peter Veteska & Blues Train ‘So Far So Good’

Peter Veteska Blues Train

By Martine Ehrenclou

New York Blues Hall of Fame inductee, Peter Veteska & Blues Train are set to release their new album So Far So Good on January 21, 2022 via Blue Heart Records, a twelve-track contemporary blues album featuring eight originals.

Peter Veteska & Blues Train’s acclaimed 2021 release Grass Ain’t Greener On the Other Side was chosen by the Jersey Shore Jazz and Blues Foundation as their entry in the best self-produced record competition at the 2022 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN.

So Far So Good presents a fiery groove-based blues album with Veteska at the helm with powerful, soulful vocals and distinctive guitar chops. The tight rhythm section includes Coo Moe Jhee on bass, Alex D’Agnese on drums, and revolving bandmates Jeff Levine on Hammond B3 and piano, Mickey Junior on harmonica and vocals, Roger Girke, Rick Prince, Jenny Barnes and horn players Tommy LaBella, Steve Jankowski, and Doug DeHays. The band teamed up with Joseph DeMaio at Shorefire Recording Studios.

So Far So Good brims with catchy blues hooks and grooves and a formidable rhythm section. Peter Veteska’s vocals lead the way, gritty, tough and ultimately soulful.  You’ll be hard pressed to turn away from this fun, energetic band and their unique approach to the blues. Vibrant and varied, there’s a lot to love about Peter Veteska & Blues Train. They’ll certainly lighten your load if you’re bogged down with heaviness of the current events of our time.

The album kicks off with some killer drumming and organ on the driving, funky blues roots/rock tune,  “Done With Bad Luck” and one helluva groove and guitar hook. A seasoned vocalist and feel guitar player, Peter Veteska’s vocal phrasing is right on it. He sings, “If I stumble to the ground, You know I get right back up.” And you’ll believe him. Gary Neuwirth’s harmonica and Levine’s Hammond B3 add such sparkle and shine to an already great track. If  this doesn’t send you to the dance floor, I don’t know what will. This is one band to see live. With their energy and top flight musicianship, Peter Veteska & Blues Train is all-out fun.

“So Far So Good is my sixth album since 2014 and captures the period from January to July of 2021, a time when I felt driven to write music, explore influences old and new, and create an album that reflects where I’ve been as an artist as well as where I’m headed,” says Peter Veteska.

After a hiatus from the music scene, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Peter Veteska put together the original Blues Train in 2013. The band released its first album, Peter V Blues Train, followed by On Track (2016) and one each year thereafter. Along with drummer Alex D’Agnese and bassist Coo Mo Jhee, Veteska’s Blues Train released the acclaimed Grass Ain’t Greener On The Other Side in 2021.

Changing things up a bit is the acoustic guitar and piano blues tune with swing “I’ve Got The Blues This Morning.” There’s something very appealing about Veteska’s vocals—he’s present, 100% in it, as if he’s singing directly to you. Mickey Junior on harp graces this rhythmic tune about yearning for a love to ease the blues, along with Levine’s superb piano.  The acoustic guitar solo delights and sways before the memorable guitar hook reels you in.

Following is the Chicago blues shuffle “I Miss You So” featuring a duet between Veteska and Jenny Barnes, a powerful vocalist in her own right and a good match for Veteska. On “My One And Only Muse,” a blues number with swing, Peter declares his inspiration, fortified by hot blues harp from Mickey Junior, who also joins him for a tribute to James Cotton with his Rhumba “Young Bold Woman.”

More lively and inventive guitar abound on Veteska’s blues party with “East Coast Blues” featuring Paul Roddy on slide guitar. The crew stretches out and trades solos on the funky title track “So Far So Good,” a road house blues romp about rear view relationships but hope for a new romance. The band is an impressive, tight unit that banks plenty of grooves.

A feel-good must have.

Listen to “Done With Bad Luck”

 
Pre-order link for ‘So Far So Good’ 

Peter Veteska & Blues Train website