Ronnie and the Broadcasters at the Boston House of Blues grand opening
"When it's time for spiritual rejuvenation, it's time for a visit from Ronnie Earl, pastor at the church of tone ... Come in, listen, and be healed!" ~ Eric C. Shoaf, Vintage Guitar
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Living in the Light debuts at #4 on Billboard's "Top Blues Album" Chart
Reviews for Living in the Light ~~Rev. Keith A. Gordon, About.com Blues Imagine your favorite vintage soul band or artist from the 1960s and '70s, and understand that hearing Living In The Light for the first time is like taking a trip back to a musically hallowed time. The album begins with the gorgeous "Love Love Love," an Earl original sung by the talented Mr. Dave Keller. While Earl embroiders his fluid six-string leads throughout the song, Keller belts out the lyrics with gospel fervor.
About half-way through the song, it breaks down into a slow-burning jam. Led by Dave Limina's ethereal keyboard riffs, Earl picks out a tale of instrumental heartbreak. Keller kicks in with a minute or so left, the song amping back up into a joyous finish as every player chimes in with a glorious din. It's an invigorating eight minutes that flashes by quickly, leaving the listener exhausted but happy. Read more
~~Brian Holland in Modern Guitar "S.O.S." and "River Charles Blues" are superb treats in which Ronnie soars off into blues guitar heaven, with the Broadcasters rhythm section in brilliant, unadulterated support. "Recovery Blues" is a melancholy melody highlighting recovery from alcohol and drug addiction, another topic Ronnie's passionate about. A guitarist known for purity in sound, one that needs no effects, his guitar's straight-to-amp resonance is placid and clean throughout, and totally fitting to the "clean" in body and mind premise of the song.Living In The Light closes contentedly with a beautiful slow blues instrumental, entitled, "Pastorale." Read more ~~Mark S. Tuckerfor the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange “The 12 cuts here are as alive and kicking as anything he's ever done. The man's overwhelmed to be alive, happy, married, and clean, and every minute of this CD is testament to it. With the usual quartet format, he fills out the disc with long involved solos and interplay—and, whoo-hoo, can that Dave Limina push his Hammond to the edge!”Read more
~~Grahm Clarke, Blues Bytes Living in the Light is easily Earl’s most personal album, based on the song selection and the passion and sincerity he brings to each guitar solo.The seven instrumental tracks are diverse and spectacular, featuring Earl’s highly distinctive and original playing as well as his interplay with Limina’s B3 and piano.What has amazed me about Earl’s albums is the fact that the most recent ones have featured nearly eighty minutes of guitar work and there’s never a dull moment.You’re on the edge of your seat waiting for his next solo. Living in the Light will please not only fans of blues and jazz guitar, but music fans in general.This is real soul music of the finest kind. Read more
