Art by J. James McFarland / Concept by Reverend Freakchild
“Spiritually positive songs, faithful covers, great choice of players!!”
- David Gans, author and radio host (The Grateful Dead Hour)
"Reverend Freakchild has released a new album, titled The Bodhisattva Blues. The album features an all-star cast of supporting musicians, including Melvin Seals, and Mark Karan and Robin Sylvester of RatDog. In addition, Chris Parker (who has played with Bob Dylan and Stuff among others) provides drums for the album, with Jason Hann of String Cheese Incident providing extra percussion … Hugh Pool, A.J. Fullerton and Jay Collins also contribute to the album. The tracklist is made up of “Blues and classic rock tunes,” including “Yer Blues,” “Friend of the Devil,” “I Know You Rider” and “Imagine."
“With album number 12, the good Reverend Freakchild gives thanks to a number of artists that influenced him early on. Of course, it’s one thing to do an album of covers, but quite another to diversify the choices and reboot them in a way that effectively melds with the artist’s own singular style. An early disciple of the Grateful Dead, he sings their praises with three different offerings, while also offering homage to a number of other idols - among them, the Beatles, Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, and another reverend of special stature, Reverend Gary Davis.
While Reverend Freakchild’s ties to the Dead are especially apparent - his collaborators include several alumni of the band’s musical circle, among them keyboardist Melvin Seals, guitarist Mark Karan, bassist Robin Sylvester, as well as like-minded souls including Chris Parker (Bob Dylan’s resident drummer) and percussionist Jason Hann (of String Cheese Incident) - the variety of the material found throughout The Bodhisattva Blues is generally quite striking. He approaches Muddy’s I Can’t Be Satisfied and the Beatles’ Yer Blues like a man tormented, adding a verbosity that accelerates the agitation of the originals. His take on Friend of the Devil and I Know You Rider retain a certain familiarity factor, but his reimagining of John Lennon’s Imagine veers so dramatically from the original that it’s practically unrecognizable given its transformation from balladry to blues. The Reverend’s one original, a revisit to a song he recorded a decade ago titled Sweet Sweet You, proves an appropriate closer in its praise of musical heroes gone too soon - supposedly sung from a perch at Robert Johnson’s gravesite.
His handle aside, Reverend Freakchild takes his sacrament seriously, from the opening incantation of Om Mani Padme Hum to the flute and bottleneck guitar duet that turns Death Don’t Have No Mercy into a solemn prayer about saving grace. Coupled with the a cappella And We Bid You Goodnight, the Dead’s traditional set closer. The Bodhisattva Blues offers the impression that this Reverend is conveying a certain sanctity. It ought to have even nonbelievers conceding that, in this particular case, the soul and the spirit have never been so fully in sync.”
- Living Blues Magazine