Guitar Stylist Rich Chorné Releases His Sixth Album

Following the successful release of Rich Chorné's album Mas in 2020, the guitarist's passion and energy gained momentum as he entered the studio with a follow-up CD, Bringin' in the Blues.

Within that time frame he also helped produce and write two EPs with fellow singer/songwriter Kathy Lyon, who lives in Florida after beginning her career in the Washington D.C. area. Heading up the team was producer/singer Richard Cagle, owner of Texas and New Mexico based Montrose Records.

While Cagle originated his producing endeavors in Houston he is also well known for his singing in the award-winning band, the Voodoo Choir, and working with Texas artists such as Annika Chambers and Carolyn Wonderland. Deciding to move to the cool mountains of Ruidoso, NM far from the Houston heat he quickly established a well-equipped high-end studio and began working with surrounding talent.

He and Chorné met soon after and became collaborators and colleagues. The two made phone calls and some class "A" band members were more than happy to make the trek to Ruidoso to record Chorné's Bringin' in the Blues, a 12-track compilation that stacks up well with his previous album, MAS. Bringin' in the Blues is a rockin' blues album featuring Cagle, Lyon and Washington D.C.'s Tommy Lepson on vocals including Chorné on vocals and guitar, Fort Worth's Gary Grammar on harmonica, Ruidoso's Sam Shackleford, El Paso's Ricky Malichi on drums, Daniel Becker, and Erik Unsworth on bass, along with Roswell's Bud Hewitt and Ruidoso's Paul Goad on keyboards.

All this is punctuated by a horn section provided by Cagle associate, Anthony Terry, on the song "What Are We Doing?" Chorné penned nine new songs for the album. "As a songwriter, I draw from life experiences for the subject of many of my songs," Chorné said. "You Gotta Have Faith" is truly what my father advised.

"Borderland Blues" is about growing up in El Paso. "Voodoo Woman" is about a on a psychic woman I met in New Hope, Pennsylvania. "Please Come Home" is a yearning from loneliness. "Let's Do It" comes from an appeal for good-time music. "What Are We Doing" refers to the frustrations of insane repetition."

Chorné called on his roots background to include classic blues covers Sonny Boy Williamson's "Checking Up on My Baby" and "Oh Pretty Woman," made popular by Albert King. "Those songs were part of my deep-rooted early-blues listening," Chorné says. "These bode well with the classic electric guitar blues audience and it plays well from start to finish." Vocalist Lyon contributed three songs, including "Favorite Fantasy," and co-wrote the slow blues song "I'd Rather Sleep Alone" with Chorné.

Cagle's vocals were emotional and at times smooth as in the slow blues tune, "Please Come Home," and at times gritty as in "Walkin' With My Baby." The session work involved 21 songs, some of which appear on Kathy Lyons' jazz EP, Who Knew, and her blues EP, Texas Highway. Chorné co-produced both with Cagle.

"We basically double-downed on the songs as we shared them on three CDs and hopefully reached a wider audience," Chorné says. "We also narrowed the distinction between blues and jazz on Kathy's songs across these genres." Chorné's earlier career found him touring the U.S. with Jay Boy Adams as his bass player and opening for ZZ Top in the early 1970s. He also toured as a keyboard tech for Hall and Oates and started out playing with El Paso Blues legend Long John Hunter, to name a few.

He formed his own bands in Maryland and New Jersey and produced five CDs which received extremely favorable reviews. He grew up in El Paso and now lives in Alto, NM, after stops in Texas, Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland - all while staying in his roots of rock and roll with a blues accent, culminating in Bringin' in the Blues.

Listen to the new single here: