Dog Eat Dog
Billy Price
Label: Gulf Coast Records
Release Date: August 2, 2019
Dog Eat Dog is the new studio album (on Mike Zito’s Gulf Coast Records) from soul blues singer, Billy Price. After the critically acclaimed success and Blues Music Award nomination of his last album, Reckoning, Billy was excited and eager to get back into Greaseland Studio in San Jose, California, with producer, Kid Andersen. Kid and Billy’s mutual love for the music and commitment to making an original contribution to the soul blues genre is evident in this new collection of recordings.
Kid and Billy assembled a first class group of musicians on Dog Eat Dog, which features Price on vocals along with Andersen (guitars and assorted instruments), Alex Pettersen (drums), Jerry Jemmott (bass), Jim Pugh (keys), Eric Spaulding (tenor sax), Jack Sanford (baritone sax), and John Halblieb (trmpet). Andersen added congas to most tracks, covered by Jon Otis (son of the great Johnny Otis) and Vicki Randle (Jay Leno Tonight Show Band, Mavis Staples). Randle also provided background vocals along with Lisa Leuschner Andersen, Charlie Owen, and the Sons of the Soul Revivers gospel group. Dog Eat Dog also features guest appearances by Rick Estrin, Alabama Mike, and Mike Zito. Estrin plays harmonica on the title track, which he wrote and recorded on one of his earlier albums. A big fan of Alabama Mike, Price was thrilled to share the lead vocals with Mike on Dog Eat Dog. Mike Zito also contributed a scorching guitar solo on All Night Long Café.
The album contains 12 songs, 8 of which are original compositions. The album opens with Working On Your Chain Gang, co-written by Price and his longtime collaborator, keyboardist, Jim Britton. Price and Britton also co-wrote the atmospheric Lose My Number, All Night Long Café, and Toxicity (with Executive Producer, Guy Hale), and Britton wrote Walk Back In. Price teamed with another longtime collaborator, French guitarist, Fred Chapellier, to write, Remnants, a great new blues song, and the tuneful sweet soul track, More Than I Needed. Price worked with Bill Troiani, writer of Reckoning for the last album, on a great new blues for this album titled, You Gotta Leave. The covers, in addition to Dog Eat Dog, are Bobby Byrd’s We’re In Love, the Otis Rush blues classic, My Love Will Never Die, and Same Old Heartaches, first recorded by the Impressions and written by Price’s friends, the songwriting team of Melvin and Mervin Steals, best known for writing, Could It Be I’m Falling in Love by the Spinners. The Otis Rush song, a staple in Price’s live repertoire, was added after Andersen saw a YouTube video of Price performing the song and suggested recording a new version of it.
A 2016 Blues Music Award Winner, Billy Price first attracted national attention during his three-year association with guitarist, Roy Buchanan. Price is the vocalist of two of Buchanan’s LPs, That’s What I’m Here For and Live Stock. Since then, with the Keystone Rhythm Ban, the Billy Price Band, and solo projects, Price has recorded and released a total of 17 albums, CDs, and DVDs. In April 2016, he was officially recognized and inducted as a Pittsburgh Rock ‘n Roll Legend at an award ceremony. Price’s album, This Time for Real, with the late Chicago soul singer, Otis Clay, received a 2016 Blues Music Award in the category of Best Soul Blues Album of 2015. Billy’s last album, Reckoning, was released in June 2018, and nominated for a Blues Music Award for Best Soul Blues Album of the Year.
