Peter Frampton Band
All Blues

How much emotion and swagger and history can you fit into four simple notes? Peter Frampton and his barnstorming backing band cram as much as they can into the opening riff on their cover of Muddy Waters’ “I Just Want to Make Love You.” His snarling guitar collides with Rob Arthur’s barrelhouse piano and Dan Wojciechowksi’s pummeling drums to create a short but intense overture: loud, brash, and lusty. Rather than update the 1954 hit to 2019, however, they do something remarkable: They make the song sound present tense, as though that riff and the song that follows had been thought up right there on the spot. It’s a fitting introduction to All Blues, their ambitious yet affectionate survey of this complex musical form.

“I’ve always loved the blues,” says Frampton. “It’s been a part of me since I started playing guitar.” He calls the album his “blues thesis,” a means of further educating and challenging himself. “We wanted to pay homage, so we went back to the original versions of these songs. We listened to as many versions as we could and picked the best ideas. I listened to these songs deeper than I’d ever listened to them before.”

In ten songs, Frampton and his band—which also includes guitarist Adam Lester—devise a very loose definition of the blues, ranging from rural acoustic blues to electrified city blues, from rhythm & blues to jazz. They find new corners to explore in B.B. King’s epochal “The Thrill Is Gone” and add fresh swagger to the boasts of Slim Harpo’s “I’m a King Bee.” They render Ray Charles’ “Georgia on My Mind” as an instrumental, retaining its intense melancholy while emphasizing Frampton’s rich guitar tone and elegiac phrasing. “He’s a mentor of mine when it comes to vocals, but I could never sing like him. I didn’t feel comfortable doing a vocal for that one, so we did it as an instrumental. That’s my forte. Guitar playing is where I’m the most expressive. That’s where I do my talking, and my emotions come out more when I’m playing guitar than when I’m talking.”

All Blues is Frampton’s first full blues album, although his expansive catalog—with Humble Pie and as a solo artist—is peppered with the occasional cover. It’s also the first album he has recorded with his touring band. “They are as responsible for how good this record sounds as I am, and that’s why I wanted to credit the Peter Frampton Band. It’s not a solo album.” They recorded live at Frampton’s Studio Phenix in Nashville, with a minimum of overdubs and second takes. “When I play one note, somebody else is affected by that one note and they play something that maybe they wouldn’t have played otherwise. We’re talking to each other musically, which is so important. When you’re playing blues, it should be as live as possible, at least in my mind, because that’s what the blues is all about. You need to be in the moment, and it needs to be different every time.”

That comes through most clearly on perhaps the most unexpected cover: Miles Davis’ “All Blues,” which showcases not just the range but also the nuance and sensitivity of their playing. “My desert island album, without a doubt, is Miles’ Kind of Blue. There are enough melodies on there for however long I have to stay on that island. And I might not want to be rescued! And kudos to the band for being able to go from ‘I Just Want to Make Love to You’ to ‘All Blues.’”

The blues is about connection and, of course, commiseration; it’s about the expression of a hurt that cannot be easily soothed. Yet, it is also about celebration: In declaring their pain, blues artists are also proclaiming that they are alive, that they exist in the world. That’s especially crucial to Frampton, who was recently diagnosed with inclusion body myositis (IBM), an inflammatory disease that weakens and atrophies the muscles in the arms, hands, and legs. “I’ll always be able to sing, but at the moment I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to play guitar. Fortunately, I have a bunch of friends who can play guitar and help me out. Some of them are pretty good, too!” Frampton’s sense of humor remains intact, as does his determination to combat this and other diseases. “My main thing outside music is the fund-raising I’m doing for myositis research at Johns Hopkins. I hope to become the face of IBM and be able to raise awareness for it and all auto immune diseases.”

All Blues doesn’t dwell on that diagnosis or worry about the future… except for one song. On his version of “Going Down Slow,” written by St. Louis Jimmy Oden but popularized by Howlin’ Wolf, Frampton assesses his predicament stoically: “If I never get well no more, I have had my fun… Oh, my health is fading. Oh yes, I’m going down slow.” Remarkably, he didn’t make the connection between that sentiment and his own situation until the band got ready to record. “I’ve always loved that song, and it’s remarkable no matter what the sentiment. But I didn’t really think about it until I started singing it with the band. Nobody said anything. They just dug in more. It was a very poignant moment in the studio.”

It’s also a very poignant song, one that encapsulates perhaps the biggest lesson Frampton learned during his blues thesis. “We all have our own battles, whether it’s disease or tragedy or some struggle. It might be happening to us or to somebody we love, but it’s happening. And that’s why I think everybody can relate to the blues.”

For more information please contact Cami Opere or Carla Sacks at Sacks & Co., 212.741.1000.