Black Diamond Heavies

While on paper they sound like yet another post-White Stripes blues duo, on record the Black Diamond Heavies offer an impressive range of musical material. Whiskey-soaked ballads give way to rollicking, floor-stomping tunes with ease. Sounding occasionally like Tom Waits on a mean bender, vocalist John Wesley Myers’s singing offers a distinctive flavour to the group’s songs. Rather than focus on a standard guitar and drums duo format, Black Diamond Heavies make keyboards the central instrument with both Fender Rhodes electric piano and Hammond B3 organ figuring prominently in their songs. The result is a textured and soulful sound that helps makes Every Damn Time an impressive album from this Tennessee duo.