DO RIGHT LOUIE: Push on Through

Push on Through is Rich Wiley’s first album with his hometown power trio Do Right Louie. There’s one problem with the ten-song collection: it is way too short.

Wiley is a blues rocker in the best sense of that tradition. He could, but does not dominate the songs with lengthy solos. Rather, his Telecaster is short and sweet and packs a gritty punch. Okay, he shows his mammoth chops off a bit in “Play with You” and later in “Wheels of Fire,” but this is a full-band album, not your typical rock ‘n’ roll power trio in which bass and drums hide behind a guitar that over-plays everything.

Produced by Wiley and the band, Push on Through was recorded at the legendary Earthling Studios by Mike Kamoo and features Wiley on guitar and vocals, bassist Bill Salisbury, and Jack Hoole and Toby Ahrens splitting the drumming.

Styletones’ veteran Ben Moore also shows up on piano and Hammond B3, with Tom Whelan handling additional percussion. All of the material was written and sung by Wiley, who has worked for years as a composer and a session guitarist.

Like any guitarist who came of age during the golden era of rock ‘n’ roll, Wiley’s own music is informed by the culture that would shape our generation: the Faces, Leon Russell, the Kinks, Booker T, Al Kooper, Delaney and Bonnie, and Wilson Pickett. You can almost hear Otis Redding singing on “Do What You Gotta Do.”

Almost.