I’m going to meet up with a few buddies tomorrow. Our conversation will inevitably turn to Kansas City’s music scene. Few of my pals share my affinity for improvised music, so my advocacy of new albums by the likes of Mike Dillon and Torches Mauve won’t be appreciated.
A couple guys will also dismiss my admiration of Nick Schnebelen’s latest release. Succeeding in its humble mission to provide an hour of good-time blues-rock, What Key Is Trouble In? is a bracing shot of undiluted Kansas City spirit.
A tribute to the venerable blooze purveyors Ten Years After sets the hard-driving tone. The rest of the original down-and-dirty compositions performed by the guitarist’s trio are bolstered by Schnebelen’s searing solos. Keyboards, organ and saxophone supplement a few tracks.
My friends will likely point out What Key Is Trouble In? is simply more of the same straightforward, no-frills boogie Schnebelen has been creating as a solo artist and with Trampled Under Foot for more than 20 years. They’ll be right- and that’s precisely what makes the album emblematic of our town.