Richard Norton - I Can Stand A Little Rain

Richard Norton - I Can Stand A Little Rain Nortunes 1995 Independent Artist
	Review Published Oct 1, 1998 Visit the official Richard Norton Website	Sound Clips, Discography
Track Listing 1 - I Can Stand A Little Rain 2 - Watch Your Step 3 - Tombstone Sunset 4 - Welcome To The Real World 5 - My Old Pal (The Blues) 6 - The Gangster's Back In Town 7 - Pay Day Rag 8 - My Wicked Ways 9 - I'm Guilty EB Rating - 4.0	Southern California guitarist Richard Norton wrote all the songs and co-produced his independent release I Can Stand A Little Rain. The blues and blues/rock style guitar playing on this CD is excellent, as good as much of what can be found on numerous small blues labels. Vocals, also performed by Richard, are ok. He does sing on key, but his voice is not particularly notable, and doesn't match the quality of his playing. For most songs, the band consists of guitar, bass and drums. Three songs include keyboard. There are several different elements on this CD. Of the blues-rock tunes, I Can Stand a Little Rain and Welcome to the Real World are most notable. The later features some nice slide guitar. Tombstone Sunset and Pay Day Rag are solo acoustic instrumentals. My Old Pal (The Blues) and I'm Guilty fill the straight blues category, and both are excellent. My Wicked Ways is a Texas shuffle variation, and my personal favorite from the CD, The Gangster's Back In Town, is an up-tempo, wah-wah driven, SRV style instrumental.
All in all, I think this is a very good effort. I Can Stand A Little Rain is the best independent CD I've heard so far. Five of the songs are in the very good to excellent category, with the rest of the songs rating OK to good. There are no truly poor songs. ElectricBlues Herm
New Website and Guitar Giveaway Promotion The Richard Norton Band has just launched a new website at http://www.richardnorton.com where you can check out a bio and CD info. Also, Mr. Norton apparently doesn't spend ALL his time working on his chops. He's rather accomplished with an artist's brush as well. You can see his work at the site. He has originals and limited prints for sell. Find something to buy (art, prints, CD) and enter the Fender Guitar Giveaway promotion, with a drawing planned for the spring of 1999 to determine the lucky winner.