SRV sideman Reese Wynans is about to get a “Sweet Release” through overdue star-studded solo debut
Reese Wynans has a rich musical history of bringing the blues to the people, playing with members of The Allman Brothers Band, Boz Scaggs, Joe Bonamassa and Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Double Trouble, amongs others. He has also done 500 recordings with Willie Nelson, appeared on Captain Beyond’s “Sufficiently Breathless” and made three albums with Carole King.
His piano and Hammond B3 work has been heard by many through to the work of Larry Carlton, Delbert McClinton, Los Lonely Boys, Jerry Jeff Walker, Joe Ely, Doug Sahm, Brooks & Dunn, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride, Hank Williams Jr, Buddy Guy and hundreds more. But never on a solo record – until now!
“Sweet Release” – to be released on March 1st – contains stellar musicianship on classic material with a guest list that includes Keb’ Mo’, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Warren Haynes and Bonamassa himself on production. Vince Gill, Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave), Jack Pearson (Allman Brothers), Jimmy Hall (Wet Willie) aswell as Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon of Double Trouble also appear on the album.
“These songs are windows back into different eras and different times of my career. It’s a collection of the songs I’ve played with musicians in the past, and it shines a light on a couple of blues bands that I think need a little bit more recognition”, says Wynans. And of course, the Vaughan songs on Sweet Release – “Crossfire”, “Say What!”, “Riviera Paradise” and “Hard To Be” – are a tribute to him.”
The first single is Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Crossfire” with soul legend Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave fame) on vocals. It can be downloaded for free at
Watch the trailer here:
Sweet Release
1. Crossfire
2. Say What!
3. That Driving Beat
4. You’re Killing My Love
5. Sweet Release
6. Shape I’m In
7. Hard To Be
8. Riviera Paradise
9. Take The Time
10. So Much Trouble
11. I’ve Got A Right To Be Blue
12. Soul Island
13. Blackbird
Release date EU: March 1, 2019
Available formats: LP, CD and Digital
Wynans’ roots in ’50s Florida are given a tip of the hat in the form of two tracks by Tampa Red: the local blues legend whose piano-men, Thomas Dorsey and Big Maceo, would figure highly amongst Wynans’ early influences. “I loved the tinkly old blues piano stuff,” he remembers. “Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnnie Johnson with Chuck Berry – something about the piano always did it for me. When I got in my first band, The Prowlers, I bought an electric piano and I never thought about doing anything else. It was the way my brain worked. I wanted to play piano in a rock ‘n’ roll band.”
So the die was cast. By the late-’60s, Wynans was playing alongside future blues-rock royalty in Florida up-and-comers, the Second Coming. “Dickey Betts was one of our guitar players and our bass player was Berry Oakley,” he says. “We had a house gig at a club in Jacksonville, learning to jam and make more out of the blues, exploring the Hendrix and Cream catalogues. Duane Allman was in Muscle Shoals at the time and he heard about us, and would come down on a weekend and sit in with us. Duane ended up hiring Dickey and Berry and breaking the band up to form the Allman Brothers. But that’s OK, y’know, because we went on to do other things. For Sweet Release, we covered the old Les Dudek song, Take The Time, which reminds me of being back in Jacksonville during the dawn of that Southern rock era.”
Other songs salute the ’70s, when the keys man could be found flanking Boz Scaggs as the rising songwriter established his reputation on the West Coast. For Wynans, one song in Scaggs’ acclaimed catalogue shone brightest, and decades later, it gives Sweet Release its title track. “I thought it was a great song back then,” he reflects, “and through the years, I’ve been waiting for people to cover Sweet Release. But no one ever did, so I suggested it for this album.”
Of course, the Sweet Release tracklisting wouldn’t be complete without a nod to the great Stevie Ray Vaughan. In 1985, Wynans’ world changed forever when the iconic Texas bluesman drafted him into the Double Trouble band for the era-defining Soul To Soul and In Step albums. “It was unbelievable to play on a stage with those guys,” he remembers. “I have to tell you that I hardly ever heard Stevie play a bad note. He was on his game every single night. It was daunting, because I had to step up every night as well.
