Sounds Like Ours: Absher goes back to his blues in latest CD
JOHN WOOLEY AND MATT GLEASON World Scene Writers
Tulsa World - 06/09/2005
Rhythm and blues singer/guitar slinger Brad Absher, who's a former Tulsan now living in Houston, tried to distance himself from the blues on his last record but it called him back like a sweet woman in a short dress for his band's latest release "Gulf Coast Soul."

On the new CD, the 42-year-old Absher, whose vocals are reminiscent of blind guitar maestro Jeff Healey's, sings songs about the kind of gals who'd make you forget there was even a sky above your head, like his wife of almost two decades.

He'll release his CD in Tulsa on Friday night at the Venue, 18th Street and Boston Avenue.

Although Absher returned to his blues roots on "Gulf Coast Soul," he wasn't afraid to dabble a bit with sampling. For instance, on "Slip Away," a tune by Southern soul man Clarence Carter, Absher inserted an instrumental snippet of the Staple Singers' classic "I'll Take You There" toward the end of the song.

For those who might raise a questioning eyebrow at Absher's sampling, he had this to say.

"I love the modernization of modern music as long as it doesn't get in the way and as long as you're not trying to cover for the lack of something," he said. "I hate hearing people use electronica because they're (expletive) players."

Absher, needless to say, isn't a (expletive) player and neither is Hammond organ player Bill Willis, who lives in Broken Arrow and played on Absher's record.

Willis' impressive resume includes playing bass on Freddie King's classic "Hide Away" and playing organ for Jimmie Vaughan.

"He literally just walked in, sat down and put the headphones on," Absher said. "He played through each song once. All I told him was what key it was in. He said 'Man, I'm just going to do a bunch of stuff and if you like it, tell me and if you don't, tell me.' "

In about two hours Willis was done.

Other prominent local artists featured on the disc are Rocky Frisco's piano work on "Damn Your Eyes" and FridgeBuzz singer Danell Phillips on "Kissing My Love."

One of the funny stories that came about during the making of "Gulf Coast Soul" happened when Absher thought he had a precious, mostly unheard find in the song "Do Ya?" That is until backup singer Karen Vance proved him wrong.

"I'm thinking I'm unearthing some rare jewel of a shuffle that I'm going to spring on the world and it's going to go to number one," Absher said, "and she hears it and goes 'Yeah, I know it. Let's do it.' "

Turns out "Do Ya?" wasn't very rare after all. It was actually a K.T. Oslin tune.

"I thought it was really going to scoop the world," Absher said, "and come to find out everybody knows it."

-- M.G.