Wyly Bigger
Broken Telephone
Madjack Records
Blues-rock artist Wyly Bigger releases his debut album, Broken Telephone, recorded on Memphis label Madjack Records at the historic Shelby Foote Mansion in midtown Memphis and produced by local singer/songwriter and producer Mark Edgar Stuart.
Hailing from Marion, Arkansas, which is just across the river from Memphis, Bigger began playing piano at age four, teaching himself by ear. Later, he learned the blues from Pinetop Perkins and Bob Margolin.
The title track of the record made Wyly a finalist for the Memphis Songwriter of the Year in 2021. The album features the crème de la crème of Memphis musicians: Matt Ross-Spang, Danny Banks, Mark Edgar Stuart, and Jim Spake.
Broken Telephone comprises nine tracks, and from a purely subjective viewpoint, highlights include “Ain’t The First Time,” a deliciously sleazy blues tune featuring a braying saxophone and a dazzling piano. The rhythm, raw and voluptuous, infuses the tune with a luscious sway.
“Hello, Is That You” summons up suggestions of Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis with its rocking flow and deep saxophone that gives the song low, rumbling textures. “I’m Lost Without You,” a heartbreak song, rides a bouncy rhythm tinted with touches of Latin beats. Bigger’s vocals, surprisingly upbeat, narrate a poignant tale of his aching heart.
The title track oozes with slow, bluesy aromas atop an almost floating rhythm. Sentimental brass tones imbue the melody with melancholy coloration as Bigger’s voice drips with despondency.
A personal favorite, “Chicago Wind” harks back to the ‘50s and ‘60s, traveling on an elegant yet gloomy piano that almost talks and reveals the wretchedness of losing one’s lover on a frigid night.
“For as quickly as I found you / Our love was whisked away again / I lost my heart in the cold Chicago wind.”
Talking about the song, Bigger shares, “This song was an interesting one for me creatively. It’s sort of a combination of some emotions from my own romantic experiences, things unfold in some of my friends’ relationships. The song touches on my love for old jazz standards. When I’m not playing the blues, I like to write songs in that genre as well.”
Broken Telephone is a Delta Blues record — thankfully, obviously, and unapologetically. And it’s darn good.
