The Colorado-based Kings have been pumping out music since their 1984 founding by Daniels, with the band membership shapeshifting along the way. The Kings of this album are: Chris Daniels, vocals, electric, acoustic, slide and synth guitars; Freddi Gowdy, vocals; Steve Ivey, drums; John Thornburg, bass and vocals; Colin “Bones” Jones, guitars; Bob Rebholz, alto sax and flute; Darryl “Doody“ Abrahamson, trumpet and vocals; Darren Kramer, trombone. Daniels and Gowdy share the vocals all through the tracks. Guests adding their talents throughout include Christian Teele, percussion; Mark Oblinger and Linda Lawson, vocals with Robert Johnson and Kenny Andrus; Sam Bush, mandolin and fiddle; Hazel Miller, vocals; Tom Capek, B3 and keyboards; Steve Conn, accordion, B3; and Sonny Landreth, slide guitar.

It’s fitting, then, that this exuberant session opens with horns blasting into the lively “Jump (When My Baby Says),” with Daniels and Gowdy on vocals – “Now my baby says jump, jump, jump / And I’ll say how high, high, high you want me to / Jump, jump, jump,” with a swinging Sam Bush fiddle. Background vocals from Miller, Oblinger, Lawson, Johnson and Andrus behind Daniels and Gowdy help put the funk in the highly danceable Gowdy original, “I Like Funky Music” – “I like funky music / Something about the beat / Come on grab your partner now / This music will move your feet.”

The Daniels’ original “Everybody’s A Millionaire” snaps to life behind lively percussion and sharp horns with its message: “Everybody’s a millionaire / It’s what’s inside, what you can share.” Pulsing rhythms highlight an urgent bid for better times in “I Need Some Good Luck Bad” with the plea: “Sister fortune won’t you smile on me / I’m as ready as a man can be.” As if you need to be reminded of the album’s purpose, Gowdy’s “Dance, Dance, Dance” steps out: “When I hear that rock and soul music / I want to dance, dance, dance, dance.” Sonny Landreth adds fierce slide guitar to a song he co-wrote, “Congo Square,” where “It might be superstition, but some kind of somethin’ / Goin’ on down there / It’s an old-time tradition when they play their drums at night / In Congo Square.”

The gently swinging “Stealin’ Candy” slows the pace with a lilting guitar intro followed by the sweet lyrical vibe of “Stealin’ candy / From my baby / You know it’s easy as can be / And it’s always so delicious / The way she steals it back from me.” Landreth takes another turn in the whimsical “I Like Your Shoes,” co-written by Gowdy – “Now there is no need to go out and plead in the parking lot /No 2 a.m. last ditch routines / You just compliment your partner on those fine-looking shoes.”

“Under Pressure,” also co-written by Gowdy, adds some social commentary to a throbbing beat: “Tryin’ to be the man you are / You know that just can’t be / Systems got you all tied down / Why can’t they let us be free.” The joyous, foot-tapping shuffle “When You’re Cool (The Sun Shines All the Time),” wraps everything up in a blanket of sassy horns and smart lyrics: “You can shuffle right through that rainstorm / Don’t you pay it no never mind / It’s got a lot to do with the attitude / Of leaving your blues behind / When you’re cool, boy, the sun shines all the time.”

Chris Daniels says of his music: “Our goal from the start was to bring the incredible energy of ‘call-and-response’ between a singer and the horn section to a new audience….” And forty years later, the Kings are still bringing that incredible energy!

Jim White (a former music writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette & now writes the Blues Roadhouse)