Review: Kinsey Report Live at Luther's Blues Madison WI February 9, 2001

By Gary Storck

While Madison's weather on Friday February 9th was decidedly frightful, the live blues of the Kinsey Report at Luther's Blues was nothing short of delightful. I've seen the Kinseys on a number of occasions, including at the UW Union Terrace on a much warmer evening last June, but this show seemed to top all the others. Although the turnout was light, considering the city was reeling from a snowstorm that had moved through a few hours earlier, with wind chills hovering around zero in it's aftermath, it was definitely worth venturing out to see this band.

Featuring guitar hero Donald Kinsey on lead, a veteran of stints playing with Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Albert King, to name a few, the Kinseys cover a lot of musical ground, from blues to reggae to hard charging rock, funk and a few other styles thrown in for good measure.

Donald is backed up by brothers Ralph on drums and Kenny on bass, with Dave Miller on rhythm guitar.

The first set included a taste of the band's originals off their latest release, "Smoke And Steel", with a hard blues-rock edge punctuated by Donald's guitar histrionics. 

Thrown into the mix were gems like Percy Mayfield's "River's Invitation", from their 1989 "Midnight Drive" album, sung with soul by the multi-talented Donald. The band also did justice to the blues classic, "Outskirts of Town", with an extended performance that included a number of long sweet solos by the man Albert King called his "son" on his "Blues at Sunrise: Live at Montreux" album after a particularly impressive solo by Donald Kinsey.

The band delved into the realm of funk with a playful cover of James Brown's, "Make it Funky", featuring some fine bass work by Ken Kinsey. His bass talents were again highlighted during a fine rendition of the Bob Marley standard, "Stir it Up".

The second set opened with an electric-charged version of "Look over Yonders Wall", popularized by the Butterfield Blues Band, who covered it on their classic first album.

Donald showed some of the licks he picked up playing with Albert King on, "Breaking up Somebody's Home" covered by King on a 1972 Stax release.

The band also did "Rock me Baby", this time invoking the sound and style of another of the Kings, B.B. B.B. is apparently one of Donald's earliest influences; An Alligator records internet bio of the band notes that at thirteen, he was already an accomplished guitarist, performing with his father, Big Daddy around his hometown of Gary Indiana as Big Daddy Kinsey and B.B. King, Jr.

An excellent version of "Little Red Rooster" followed, with a riveting interplay of guitars and bass that made for some fine sounding blues.

On "I'm a Howlin' Wolf", Donald summoned the spirit of Muddy Waters, stinging his Gibson SG with slide work that made Muddy come alive again.

The band then switched gears and headed back into reggae, with a "Get up, Stand up" that brought back memories of Peter Tosh to the appreciative audience.

After a standing ovation, the band closed a sizzling night of music with a heartfelt "No Woman, No Cry", with brother Ralph coming out from behind the drums to join Donald in a moving vocal performance of this Marley classic, that made this wonderful night of music even sweeter.

Madison is truly blessed to have a club as nice as Luther's, and with the number of high caliber artists coming through the club, our once music-starved town now has a full table of great acts playing our fair city every week.