Homebrew

Guitarist Mark Turner's Homebrew is less a band than a platform upon which a swarm of Denver's best-known (and best) blues and R&B players can cut loose. And despite the disc's title, smoke and mirrors aren't required.

Related Content

• Barstool Messiah
  October 20, 2011
• Mile Highlights: Denver/Boulder area concert news, local radio playlists and top album sales
  October 4, 2011
• Lineup for 5 Points Jazz Festival announced
  May 9, 2011
• Five infamous monuments named after musicians of questionable moral character
  August 5, 2011
• DeVotchKa, FaceMan, Churchill spun this week on local radio. See who else got spins.
  February 8, 2011

More About

• Mark Turner
• Pete Wentz
• Erica Brown
• A.J. Salas

The sounds on display here aren't of the gutbucket variety. Instead, the disc presents brassy, frequently up-tempo showtime blues designed with crowd-pleasing in mind. A few of the tracks try too hard to be endearing -- particularly "Infrastructure Blues," a coy number about T-Rex traffic, and the overly cutesy "Down the Tracks." But Erica Brown, one of the area's most underappreciated belters, elevates the raucous "Bad Suspicion" and "Fandango in Paris," a slinky tune that pits her against Turner's string-bending. And A.J. Salas's "Sweet Tooth/Hobcam" is a captivating change of pace that segues from New Orleans-style piano striding to full-fledged blues-rock blowout.

Homebrew goes down smoothly, but it's got quite a kick.