Paul Boddy and the SlideWinder Blues Band

Friends of Tuesday
Slide Records

From the downbeat of the first song on this EP – “Over the Hump” – you know you’re in for a bumpy, but fun, ride. And while this is the first album for Paul Boddy and his irreverent SlideWinders, it sure ain’t their first rodeo. 

The band from Doylestown, Pennsylvania  — just outside Philadelphia – takes its name from a weekly open blues jam (“The Every Tuesday Funk ’n’ Blues Jam”) that started at a club in their hometown. But all the members of the band have earned their own names by years of hard work and paying their blues dues: 

n     The British-born Boddy (vocals and guitar) grew up listening to his grandmother singing in London blues clubs, enjoying family barbecues with the Bay City Rollers and sitting in while his uncle’s band – which included a guitarist who went on to join Judas Priest – rehearsed in a warehouse. And Boddy’s dad worked with Mark Stevens of The Dovells and the late Don Kirshner. In addition to founding Cayman Records in 1999 and producing Bob Lowery’s “Yellow Light” album, Boddy has put in 40-plus years of performing, writing and recording music in multiple genres. 

n     Lori Gaston, whose vocals wrap nicely around Boddy’s, started singing in a funk band at 16, and she hasn’t stopped moving since. She’s jumped in and out of disco and R&B bands until joining the SlideWinders three years ago. 

n     Organist and pianist Glenn “The Wizard” Hale, uncle of Lzzy and Arejay Hale of rock’s Halestorm band, has played music across the country for half a century. 

n     Bassist Chip Hearne, a SlideWinder since 2018, adds another half-century of performing experience, including two decades with the Flamin’ Harry Blues Band and the Craig Thatcher Band. He also laid down the bass line for Leslie West’s “Mystic Fire” album. 

n     And drummer Dave Hollinsworth, who joined the band last year has toured with Todd Wolfe, performed with Leslie West and Geoffrey Whitehorn of Procol Harum, and sat behind Dickey Betts, John Mayall and Wishbone Ash’s Andy Powell. 

With Boddy’s bawdy vocals leading the way, the Slidewinders roll through five songs that’ll have you turning up the volume and hitting replay more than once. 

The album is full of the time-honored blues tradition of all-in-fun double-entendre lyrics (“I might be over the hill, but I’ll never get over the hump”) and titles (sorry, kids, but “Pretty Kitty” isn’t really about a cat), and the polished, lively sounds jump right out of the box. 

Tight rhythms, cinched up with the steady hands of some seasoned pros, make this one an out-of-the-chute champ. 

Count us in as some of Tuesday’s closest friends. 

Total Time: 20:18 

Over the Hump / Love Me Darlin’ / Money On Love / Knock My Boots / Pretty Kitty / Makin’ Me Cry