The problem with most jam bands is that they get so excited about improv-ing a tune that they forget to actually finish writing the song in the first place. That is a pitfall which the Kings of the Delta -- who, despite their bluesy name, are very much a jam band -- mostly avoid on their debut disc. The group is largely made up of unheralded local players, the most prominent being, perhaps, drummer Brett Broadway of Joecephus and the George Jonestown Massacre, and ubiquitous woodwind ace Hope Clayburn. That the group has fashioned such a mature, fully developed sound out of nowhere on this debut disc is remarkable. Give a lot of the credit to songwriter/guitarist/vocalist Gregory Lackey Jr. His compositions give the soloists, including guests like guitarist Kirk Smithart, keyboard/accordion player Rick Steff, and multi-instrumentalist Eric Lewis, plenty of meat to feed on. The disc kicks off with "Goin' Home," a lovely Irish jig-style ditty before launching into the tent revival of "Down In the Water." Later the ensemble bests Santana on the salsa-driven "Barcelona Marsala," which is then followed by "Grace Extended," which plays like a lost Curtis Mayfield masterpiece. The affair is not as schizophrenic as all that genre-jumping might suggest, however. The instrumentalists give the proceedings a uniform feel and the strong hooks mean the improv bits actually grow organically out of the songs instead of the players' bag of tricks. Cut at Midtown's Yellabrick Recording Studio, a room that should be too small for a sound this big, Ten Mile Bayou is an impressive coronation. . Mark Jordan(Commercial Appeal Playbook)
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