Reed Turchi is sharing a new live-in-studio video for ‘Junior’s Boogie,’ taken from the forthcoming 15th-anniversary reissue of his album ‘Road Ends in Water.’

Originally recorded during Turchi’s early years working within the Mississippi blues tradition, ‘Road Ends in Water’ will be released on vinyl and CD via Gitcha Records on October 9. The new edition marks the album’s first appearance on vinyl and digital platforms and features Luther Dickinson of North Mississippi Allstars.

Speaking about ‘Junior’s Boogie,’ Turchi says:

“Lyrically, this song is the re-telling of a dark tale from my Mississippi days — a man who had lost his wife to heart attack, and sunk into a unconsolable state for decades, until he eventually perished in a cooking fire, burning his own house down around him. Musically, this song emerged as I was deeply stepped in the RL Burnside style, particularly on the ‘Burnside on Burnside’ album, and on an amazing bootleg recording of Burnside, along with Kenny Brown and Cedric Burnside, performing at The Grove in Oxford, Mississippi. But, guitar riffs aside, what really makes this song boogie and bounce is the Bonham-esque loose-groove of Cameron Weeks (drums), and the elephant-stomp-shake-down bass line of Chris Reali. Thinking back to when we recorded the album, I really can’t remember where the bass line came from (I remember talking about drum influences with Cam), and this bassline really jumps out as an interesting, and non-obvious kinda boogie line that gives this song its swing. As ever, I am indebted to the musicians who collaborated with me to make something way cooler than I could have on my own.”

For the new live version, Turchi returned to the song with a different arrangement:

“‘Junior’s Boogie’ was the first song we re-learned and re-arranged from the original recordings, and was the first track we filmed in the studio at Atomic Sound.

On the album version, Chris Reali is playing the slide licks and I’m playing the rhythm track, but for the re-arrangement I took over the slide parts and Eric Burns came up with his own rhythm part, which gives the song an even heavier syncopated groove.

Atomic Sound is one of the few rooms in New York left with a big, open, wooden tracking floor, and we maxed out the room mics as much as we could to try and get a big swampy sound — those thirty-foot wood-paneled walls really make a difference, and the studio is in the old Red Hook Fire Station which gives the space a storied, and high-ceilinged, history.

Also, while it may sound huge, it’s worth noting that Eric and I are both playing tiny guitar amps — I’m playing a modded out Fender Champ reissue with a 5″ speaker, and Eric is playing an old Silvertone amp with a 6″ speaker — no pedals, just raw sound. It’s funny how small amps make a guitar sound huge.”

Headline credit: Alysse Gafkjen

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