Bullets In The Bonfire, Vol. 1
Iko - Iko
Label: Little Silver Records
Release Date: September 02, 2014
Review Date: October 12, 2014

Some of the best music one can ever hear is often in one’s own backyard. Sure, big name acts will perform in your town or burg but, unless you’re really looking into your local music scene, odds are that you’re missing out on some pretty amazing music.

That all said, if you’re in the Miami, Florida, area and haven’t checked into the fabled, local blues scene, then odds are that you  still may have heard of Graham Wood Drout’s li’l blues band, Iko – Iko.

Iko – Iko is considered a bit of a legend due to their involvement for thirty-some-odd years in the Miami blues scene that centered around the fabled blues venue, Tobacco Road.  So much so, they’ve earned the title, “Miami’s House Band,” which allowed them to jam with the likes of Ronnie Wood, Bobby Keys, Bo Diddley, Albert Collins, David Bromberg, John Lee Hooker, and Sun Ra as well as with Jimmy Buffet on his musical, “Don’t Stop The Carnival.”

As would be expected with a band if Iko – Iko’s stature, they’ve put out their own albums over the years. Their newest release is “Bullets In The Bonfire Vol. 1,” which is a musical anthology of some of their best and most popular music. Consequently, this makes the CD an excellent introductory sampler of Iko – Iko’s music to those of us outside the region. And with 15 amazing tunes available for $8.99 (an amazing $0.60 per song!), “Bullets” is the best blues deal this year.

As tough as it was to do, here are three randomly chosen Boomerocity favorites to highlight:

• “Late Hours” is a dark and moody, harmonica heavy instrumental that earned a near infinite number of slaps of the repeat button. One can almost feel the fog in your face and see a cat run across an empty, dimly lit side street while listening to this song.
• Another great, dark, creepy/bluesy tune is “Walk With The Zombie.”  The name pretty much nails it.
• Despite what one might expect with the title, “Ghosts of Mississippi,” this is a great, acoustic rock n’ roller that kept me mesmerized as I listened to it (repeatedly, of course).

If you’re like I am, if you listen to this “Bullets In The Bonfire Vol. 1,” you’ll become an instant fan and one for life, at that.