The ever-prolific Popa Chubby returns with a new CD of hard-hitting
rock ‘n’ roll, Deliveries After Dark, a collection of
balls-out Blues/Rock played with reckless abandon, no apologies,
visceral and heavy, with a few surprises thrown in – such as the theme
from “The Godfather” rearranged as a surf guitar instrumental, and the
spacey and evocative “Woman In My Bed Dub,” a reggae tune as thick with
smoke as a Kingston club. Elsewhere, Chubby indulges his need for speed
with the road-raging “Deliveries After Dark,” and revved-up boogie of
“Sally Likes To Run,” while “Let The Music Set You Free” lays out
Chubby’s philosophy over a swaggering, rock solid riff. With Deliveries
After Dark, Popa Chubby continues to rule the road with his
high-octane ax work and uncompromising, in your face attitude,
resulting in a supercharged mix that spits fire at every turn.
Born Ted Horowitz, Popa Chubby is a true native son of the Big Apple.
He grew up in the neighborhood immortalized in Robert DeNiro's film "A
Bronx Tale." His early memories of hearing the jukebox in his parents'
candy store playing the hits of early Sixties soul and R&B and the
neighborhood teens flocking around it made a lasting impression on him.
"When I first heard Freddie King my world was turned upside down. I was
19 and this older cat in the neighborhood played me the Just Pickin'
record and I was knocked out cold. I thought, 'Man, that's what I wanna
be when I grow up.'"
In 1990 the Popa Chubby Band was born. The name was taken from an
impromptu jam with Bernie Worrell of Parliament-Funkadelic. "He was
singing a song called 'Popa Chubby' and he pointed at me." The name
captured the essence of what his music has come to represent. "Popa
Chubby basically means to get excited. The core of my music is about
excitement. I think music should make people feel alive."
In 1994 Popa signed a recording deal with then recently resurrected
O-Keh Records (Sony Music), lured by the prospect of working with Tom
Dowd, longtime Atlantic Records engineer/producer, whose recordings by
Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, the Allman Brothers and
others are legendary. Booty And The Beast was released in 1994, and the
single, “Sweet Goddess Of Love and Beer,” soon swept the country and
became a summer radio hit coast to coast in 1995.
Creative differences left Popa a free agent in 1996, so he began
releasing albums on his own label. On the advice of Dowd he went to
Europe, where his first two CDs were released as a collection by the
French Dixiefrog label. The record was an instant success and left Popa
touring nonstop. The energy and showmanship of his sets earned him
critical and commercial acclaim overseas, and in fact, he's become a
huge star in Europe, where he appears on the covers of magazines and
routinely sells out major venues.
In May 2000, Dixiefrog released How'd A White Boy Get the Blues?
in Europe. Looking for a domestic label that would understand his
unique approach to the blues, Popa brought the album to Blind Pig
Records, which released this seminal blues-rock concept record in
August of 2001. It uses electric and acoustic guitar blends, drum loops
and electronics to show how close the blues, hip-hop and R&B really
are. Calling the CD "a fresh take on the genre," Billboard said "If
Muddy Waters was a modern blues artist, then Popa Chubby is a
post-modern bluesman."
The Good, The Bad, and The Chubby followed in 2002, featuring
thirteen brand new compositions reflecting, in Popa's words, "Love,
Life, Betrayal, Diesel, Jet Fuel, Marriage, Murder, Stress and
Passion!" At the time, Popa's recording studio was about a half a mile
away from the World Trade Center, and he wrote the opening track,
“Somebody Let The Devil Out,” in reaction to the September 11th
tragedy. All Music Guide said the release was "one of the
strongest, most distinctive modern blues albums of 2002."
The next year Blind Pig released a collection of Popa's early work
entitled The Hungry Years, drawn from several out-of-print albums Popa
had released on his own label in the early 90's and including three
previously unreleased tracks. "From the bowels of Greenwich Village to
the Upper East Side, New York from 1991 to 1996 was my very own Rotten
Apple!" Living Blues offered, "Batten down the hatch before putting
this on the stereo - this ain't your granddaddy's blues."
In the election year of 2004, Popa Chubby came up with his lyrically
edgiest record yet, one of the most topical and important records of
the year - Peace, Love, and Respect. Twelve tracks of hard-hitting,
politically inspired songs that run from upholding First Amendment
rights in the hard-thumping shuffle “Un-American Blues," to protesting
the plight of young people dying for the lust of oil and power in
“Young Men.”
2005 saw the release of a live CD and a DVD, Big Man, Big Guitar.
As Popa described it, "I basically gave Blind Pig free rein to choose
the material for Big Man, Big Guitar and was very pleased with their
choices. They really put the focus on my guitar work, the roots of my
music and the energy we generate on stage. I think they not only
captured the best of me as a guitar player and performer today but also
included some of those seminal selections that influenced my career
from the very beginning."
Stealing the Devil's Guitar arrived the following year, and
was Popa Chubby's most guitar-centric studio album to date. As the
Philadelphia Inquirer put it, "Truly a bluesman for the new millennium,
Popa Chubby has an abiding affection for the tradition but uses it only
as a springboard for his distinctive style."
In 2007, Popa unleashed Electric Chubbyland, a live
collection celebrating the work of Jimi Hendrix. Relix magazine said
“Chubby’s searing guitar work is exceptional, and his vocals evoke the
spirit of Jimi. Chubby unleashes some of the fiercest string bending
this side of Electric Ladyland. Tribute albums are a dangerous lot, but
Electric Chubbyland is a safe, enjoyable, mesmerizing listen.”
Long requested by Chubby’s rabid fan base, the albums managed to
capture, as Chubby put it, “that special spark of energy that only
happens between the audience and performer. I love playing Hendrix with
my own spin. Loud and proud for all the people!"
Those same fans will undoubtedly welcome Deliveries After Dark,
Chubby’s latest collection of jet-fueled originals. “I have gotten back
to why I started playing music to begin with,” says the masterful
guitarist. “The excitement and the feeling of raw power. All I can tell
you is you need rock and roll in your soul and I am the man in control.
The Blues are alive and well and Rock and Roll will never die! Are you
ready to rock?