Vintage Guitar ‘Train Back Home’ Album Review

HIT LIST. August 2023. “In his early 40s now, for some folks around Austin, he’ll always be “Guitar Jake.” When Andrews was eight years old, he sat in with an impressed Albert King at Antone’s blues club and by the time he hit puberty he’d played with such Texas blues greats as Long John Hunter, Grey Ghost, T.D. Bell, and Jimmie Vaughan. He subsequently recorded with Guitar Shorty, Jerry McCain, Manfred Mann’s Paul Jones, and others.

For his sixth solo album, he enlists producer Carla Olson for an all-instrumental affair with bass, drums, and keyboards that should attract and dazzle blues-and rock-guitar fans alike. The title track shows Andrews’ facility without gratuitous showboating, and the whole set has an immediate, live feel.

He opens “Pipeline” with a nod to Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan, quoting their instrumental “D/FW” until the surf classic enters around 2:30. It’s a heavy-duty take on the Chantay’s hit, recalling Stevie’s duet with Dick Dale in Back to the Beach, but proves the durability of the iconic number. Covers of “Apricot Brandy” and “Burning of the Midnight Lamp” are welcome inclusions, and illustrates that Jake is indeed a mature artist.” - DF