David Bromberg – Use Me – (Appleseed)

Folks around these parts have become quite familiar with David Bromberg over the years – from his many performance dates at the famed Main Point coffeehouse in Bryn Mawr – to his appearances over the years at summer festivals like the Philadelphia Folk Festival – to his more-recent activities in and around Wilmington, Delaware. Through it all, one constant remains; his deep abiding love and passion for his music. 

The idea for this new release – which has been released on the West Chester-based Appleseed Records label – began when he was in the studio with John Hiatt. Bromberg wondered if he might impose upon Hiatt to write a song for his new album. This led Bromberg to asking a number of other friends to each write a song for him. Some offered compositions and others contributed in the way of producing or performing with him. Dr. John answered the call and penned “You Don’t Wanna Make Me Mad,” which is a piece of New Orleans funk on which Bromberg’s slide guitar and Dr. John’s piano trade leads. One of the standout tracks here is the old blues tune, “Diggin’ In The Deep Blue Sea,” with Keb’ Mo’ producing and providing some scorching electric guitar work. “Tongue,” the album’s lone Bromberg original, has Levon Helm on drums; Linda Ronstadt puts in a rare appearance on the soulful Brook Benton ballad “It’s Just a Matter of Time;” Los Lobos contribute the Mexican-flavored waltz “The Long Goodbye;” even Vince Gill and Tim O’Brien are here to take care of the country and bluegrass quotient. Bromberg also gets to add his own style to the proceedings, by employing his trademark ‘scatting’ on the the title track – an ad-lib concept brought forth during his session work with Joe & Phil Nicolo (The Butcher Brothers), who teamed up once again for this project.

Bromberg’s idea of appealing to his friends for help proved to be inspirational. He has created a diverse and entertaining piece of work that cuts across a lot of styles. Use Me is an interesting piece of work that will bear repeated listens.